Fiat Barchetta

The Fiat Barchetta, Type 183, was a roadster produced by the Italian manufacturer Fiat from 1995 to 2005; barchetta means little boat in Italian and also names an open-top sports car body. It was developed from 1990 to 1994 as Tipo B Spider 176, designed by Andreas Zapatinas and Alessandro Cavazza at the Centro Stile Fiat, with prototyping by Stola. It was based on the chassis of the first Fiat Punto with a shortened wheelbase and used a 1,747 cc double overhead camshaft petrol four-cylinder engine with variable valve timing, giving 131 PS, a top speed of 200 km/h and a time of 8.9 seconds to 100 km/h at a weight of 1,056 kg. The coachbuilder Maggiora did final assembly at Chivasso until its bankruptcy in May 2002, after which production moved to Mirafiori. About 57,800 were built, all left-hand drive.