The name styled in lowercase underlined the deceptively unassuming character of a car replete with tasteful design details that evoked the illustrious past of Italian sports cars, enhanced with finely tuned mechanicals and the chassis of a thoroughbred spider.
During the 1990s, Fiat CEO Paolo Cantarella expanded the brand's production by introducing cars that were full of personality, eye-catching and exciting to drive. Almost at the same time as the Fiat Coupé was being developed, the decision was made to create an open-topped sports car.
It was developed around the “Type B” chassis—which was smaller than that of the Coupé—even before the debut of the Fiat Punto, which would also be built on this new platform. Greek designer Andreas Zapatinas, who joined Fiat in 1988, recounted that on Christmas Eve 1990, the then manager of the Fiat Style Centre, Mario Maioli, tasked him with designing a spider on the chassis of the car that was set to replace the Fiat Uno.
Two competing teams were formed at the Fiat Style Centre, staffed by talented, young designers who demonstrated their free spirit by assigning their respective projects nicknames taken directly from a pizzeria menu: the team led by Chris Bangle called theirs “Diavola”, while Andreas Zapatinas and his group came up with “Marinara”. The first proposal was for a spider variation of the Fiat Coupé, which itself had been penned by Chris Bangle's team and was slightly further along in the design process; the second was stylistically less innovative and drew on various stylistic elements of famous Italian spiders.
The Fiat management opted for the latter proposal, also to differentiate the car from its sister model, with its sheet metal roof. The wheelbase was 17 cm shorter than the future Fiat Punto, so the passenger compartment was set back behind the long bonnet. The contours were gentle and rounded. The car’s generally unassuming appearance and lack of frills kept its weight as low as possible, although it did have a number of more or less sophisticated details that recalled illustrious sports cars of the past. Its name was the Fiat barchetta, styled in lowercase and inscribed in italics on the dashboard glove box.
The choice of name was explained by Paolo Cantarella himself in an intriguing promotional video produced at the time, in which the Fiat CEO was interviewed by actress Catherine Spaak, celebrity endorser of Fiat’s new spider:
“Barchetta is a concept of automobile: a definition. A barchetta is defined as an open car with a closed driving position [...] and the passenger compartment is tightly enclosed by the colour of the car.”
In the video, the chief executive described the vehicle’s striking stylistic details. He defined the first one as “a historic throwback”: he was referring to the flush door handles, which were inspired by those of the Cisitalia Pinin Farina, a car exhibited at the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) in New York and acclaimed as a sculpture in motion. The faired-in headlights were another nod to spiders of the past, while “the side rib that runs the entire length of the car” was a throwback that recalled “the first Italian barchetta, the most famous, the progenitor: the Ferrari 166 (MM) from the late 1940s, with Touring coachwork”.
Refined in its stylistic features and equipped with a sporty chassis and a sophisticated engine developing over 130 HP, the Fiat Barchetta entered production at the end of 1994. Its public debut at the 1995 Geneva Motor Show brought immediate success, including internationally.
The passenger compartment was short and the canvas soft-top was concealed under a cover that hugged the two sporty bucket seats, befitting of a true sports car. The three-spoke, almost vertical steering wheel afforded perfect control and made it easier to read the instrument cluster, with its central tachometer and two dials on each side, while the short gear lever was located close to the steering wheel.
Cantarella also highlighted two interior details, the first being the body-coloured elements, similar to the Fiat Coupé, on the door panels and on the lower part of the dashboard, an area that was by tradition poorly finished. The second was an unprecedented feature on a Fiat, namely the built-in dashboard radio, situated between round air vents and three circular climate controls that replicated the design of the instrument cluster in terms of their layout and proportions.
The chassis underwent numerous modifications to improve its torsional rigidity in the absence of a hard-top roof: several side members and boxed cross-members strengthened the floor, while the frame surrounding the front windscreen also acted as a roll bar. Great attention was paid to safety, but above all, meticulous research went into ensuring a pleasurable drive. Lacking the enjoyment of rear-wheel drive, the car instead compensated with front-wheel drive that offered greater control in low-grip conditions To this effect, springs and shock absorbers were calibrated to provide a sporty set-up.
Under the hood was a 1.8-litre, 16V four-cylinder engine. For the first time on a Fiat car, a phase variator was incorporated into the intake of the engine, which was known as the Pratola Serra engine after the municipality where its production plant was located, in the province of Avellino. This variable geometry allowed for more rounded performance: brilliant torque from the low revs, but also good acceleration up to 6,300 rpm and a peak horsepower of 131 HP. The braking system was matched to the power output: effective and responsive, it ensured the stopping power required by a thoroughbred sports car.
Production began in late 1994 on an assembly ‘line’ that was geographically dispersed over a large radius surrounding Turin: the ILCAS company in Sparone formed and welded the sheet metal, Maggiora assembled the cars in the former Lancia plant in Chivasso, also fitting the engines from Pratola Serra, while the gearbox and differential came from the Termoli plant. Finally, the bodies were painted at the Bertone bodyshop in Grugliasco.
The car’s presentation to the international press took place in February 1995 in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, home of the Grand Prix racing circuit, so that its excellent dynamic qualities could also be demonstrated on the track. The Fiat barchetta made its public debut at the Geneva Motor Show shortly thereafter, in March. It enjoyed great success abroad, almost rivalling that of the original targa-top car of the 70s and 80s, the Fiat X 1/9. The Fiat barchetta was even popular in countries with a particularly expert and discerning market for spiders, such as the UK and Japan, despite the car only being available with left-hand drive – an indication that the effort and research invested into styling and maximising driving pleasure had not been in vain.
Production continued following the same assembly and painting process until a hiatus in 2002, before relocating to the Mirafiori plant ahead of the relaunch of a restyled version in 2003. The very last Barchetta rolled off the assembly line in 2005 after over 57,000 units had been built. Still considered an authentic “instant classic” today, the Fiat barchetta is credited for showing just how fun and satisfying a spider can be, even with front-wheel drive.
