The Wonderful Fiat Barchetta
Turin’s National Automobile Museum has recently added a gorgeous early Barchetta to its collection. So I guess it’s high time to revisit what’s perhaps the most seductive Fiat model ever…
Few things make you feel older than finding a car you’ve seen new at dealerships when it launched appearing in a museum.
Yet that’s exactly what happened in Turin, where the renowned National Automobile Museum has recently added a gorgeous early Barchetta to its collection. So I guess it’s high time to revisit what’s perhaps the most seductive Fiat model ever.
Looking Back
The overnight success of the first-generation Mazda MX-5 spurred a brief but nevertheless intense sports car frenzy among automakers, and Fiat was no exception.
Work on the Barchetta started in 1990, and, given that a bespoke rear-wheel-drive platform was simply out of the question, the Barchetta was based on a modified version of the first-generation Punto’s platform. The wheelbase was cut by 175 mm, and, interestingly, the cowl was lowered and moved back by 100 mm, something that’s rarely done but was essential to achieve the desired proportions.
