The Barchetta or ‘Little Boat’ in Italian, was developed between 1990 and 1994, under the project name Tipo B Spider 176. It was designed by Andreas Zapatinas and Alessandro Cavazza, under the supervision of Peter Barrett Davis and other car designers at the Centro Stile Fiat, and prototyping was carried out by Stola.

Production began in February 1995 and lasted until June 2005, with a brief pause, due to the bankruptcy of coachbuilder Maggiora. The Barchetta was based on the chassis of the Mark 1 Fiat Punto. The Barchetta has 1,747 cc DOHC petrol engine fitted with variable camshaft timing, used for the first time in a Fiat production car, after being patented in 1970.

The engine has 131 PS (96 kW; 129 hp) and 164 N⋅m (121 lb⋅ft) of torque. The Barchetta weighs 1056 kg (2328 lb) without air conditioning and can accelerate to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 8.9 seconds and has a top speed of 200 km/h (124 mph).

It came in various trim levels which offered different features, for example, diamond cross stitch, patterned red leather instead of the standard black leather or fabric seats, alloy wheels instead of steel wheels, or fog-lights as an option. 

Car bodies were welded at ILCAS in Sparone Canavese, and final assembly was done in Chivasso by the coachbuilder Maggiora. After Maggiora's bankruptcy in May 2002, Fiat relocated production of the Barchetta to its Mirafiori plant and resumed production two years later. Around 57,700 cars were built up to 2005.

Production of the Barchetta was limited to LHD cars only, even though the car was marketed and sold in two RHD markets, the United Kingdom and Japan.

A Barchetta featured in the Top Gear: Middle East Special television episode, which aired in December 2010.

In the episode, the three presenters (Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May) attempted to follow the path of the Three Wise Men to Bethlehem. Hammond drove the Fiat Barchetta (specifically a Riviera Special Edition featuring a black paint job and red quilted leather), compared to Clarkson's Mazda MX-5 and May's BMW Z3.

At the end of the episode, the Barchetta was declared the most desirable, and most reliable of the three cars.

An AutoCar review states ‘A low-mileage, rust-free, pre-facelift LE in silver is the car to buy. The best are around £10,000’, which is precisely what we have to offer!

 

Our LE No.923 was produced at the very end of the run in 1998, after being available for just three years.  That would explain the higher LE edition number, with 1000 being built.

 

We took the car in part exchange for a Fiat Coupe LE and have spent a considerable amount, making it ready for its next owner.