Cohort Outtake: 1960 Siata Ampurias 750 – A Notchback Fiat/SEAT 600

(first posted 9/6/2018)       There’s few things that make my day more than being exposed to a car that I never knew existed. CC reader Julieta L. sent me a couple of links to this delightful little car, the 1960 Siata Ampurias 750. Designed and built at Siata’s Spanish affiliate, which built this and apparently some other specials based on SEATs, or Spanish Fiats.

There’s very little information available on the Ampurias, except that it was of course based on the very popular Fiat/SEAT 600. But it largely speaks for itself.

The Ampurias was available as a 600 (633cc, 21.5 hp), or the 750 (735cc 31hp). Apparently most buyers splurged for the 750, which had a top speed of 120km/h (73 mph), not bad for Spain in 1960.

The interior is essentially the same as the donor fastback 600. It’s very familiar to me, as I rode in a number of these in Austria in the 50s.

The Fiat 600 was quite popular in Austria at that time, a somewhat cheaper (and smaller) VW, which it set out to be, obviously. It came before the even smaller 500, and unlike it, the 600 had a proper water-cooled inline four cylinder engine, and spawned a long line of rear-engine Fiat cars, all the way up to the 850 Spyder and other offshoots.

The SEAT 600 is considered the national car of Spain, as it played a huge role in putting that country on wheels after the war, like the VW did in Germany.

And just like there were numerous coach-built derivatives of the VW, so also with the Fiat/SEAT 600. But this has to be one of the cutest. And no, there’s no room in that “trunk” for anything other than its engine.

We’ve never done a really in depth look at the 600 and all of its many offshoots, but here’s what we’ve got on it.