1965 Fiat 2300S

Details

Oldtimer Australia is delighted to offer for sale a rare and incredibly original, factory right hand drive 1965 Fiat 2300S Coupe.

This car is well known to Oldtimer Australia having been sold by us to the current owner in December 2018.

The Fiat “Certificato di Origini” on file confirms this car was manufactured on 12^th February 1965 and it was shipped to Sydney.

Unfortunately, the early history of this car is not definitively known. It is understood to have been sold new in Canberra and had one very long term owner. It was then sold circa 2007 to a Fiat enthusiast from Melbourne (Brighton), Victoria who owned the car for perhaps two years. He had a ‘For Sale’ sign on the car at Autobella in circa 2009 and from that event sold the car to its next owner. The car was then sold to the previous to current owner in circa 2014 and his purchase makes for an interesting story. He went to look at a Fiat 124 for his son at an exhaust shop in North Melbourne. Unfortunately, he missed out on the 124 car but the owner said his father in law had a Fiat 2300S Coupe he needed to sell. An inspection of the car was organised, at which he bought it on the spot.

Today the odometer on the car reads 22,672 miles which we assume to be 122,672 miles, however, the car has understood to have been ‘sparingly used’ throughout its life so it is possible the indicated mileage is original.

The car presents as an incredible ‘time capsule’. White is a very good colour for this car as it emphasises the unique Ghia body lines and the many intricate design features. From a meter or so away the car looks amazing. The paint may well be original and as a result when you get closer to the car you will notice a number of small cracks and imperfections. They are relatively minor and you would not touch the car in that regard! Again, the advantage of white is that it is a very forgiving colour when it comes to imperfections.

The bright work on the car, of which there is plenty, is a real feature. It is still in very good condition and it presents exceptionally well. The same can be said for the lights and lenses on the car. The front windscreen has a few stone chips, and at some stage has had a small repair. The other windows and the rear glass is most likely original and is in good condition. A real feature of the Fiat 2300/2300S is the rear three piece window which is in excellent condition.

The steel wheels with hubcaps and dress rings really suit the car and they are in good condition. They are currently shod with Hankook Optima K715 165/80/R15 tyres which are date stamped 3618 (week 36, 2018). The tyres are in very good condition.

Open the door and you feel like you are stepping back in time. The interior is in excellent condition and quite luxurious. You can tell Fiat was aiming at the higher end of the market when they introduced this car. Like the paint work, the interior is most likely original and incredibly well preserved. The front seats are in excellent condition with no evidence of any rips or tears. Whilst they are still comfortable and supportive, the foam is starting to soften. The rear seats appear to have hardly been used. The carpets show very little wear and the headlining is also still in good condition. The passenger side sun visor won’t stay up and it has been wired into place. Once comfortable behind the very elegant timber steering wheel you take in and admire the very Italian Veglia instruments. They are simple yet elegant and really suit the car. They are all in very good condition and appear to be in good working order. The car is also fitted with a period correct His Masters Voice radio which is most likely original to the car. And yes, it works! For the passenger, there is even a footrest.

The driving position is excellent and it is very easy to get comfortable behind the wheel. The car does require the use of the choke when the engine is cold but it does start easily and it only takes the engine a couple of seconds to warm up sufficiently to turn the choke off.

The first impressions are good, really good! The engine sounds healthy and it has that typical Italian raspy exhaust note. It is immediately apparent that the location of the gear lever relative to the steering wheel is ‘almost perfect’, making gear changes an absolute delight. The gear linkage is really firm and the changes are smooth up and down the box.  The car feels solid and it is really tight on the road. The steering is direct and the car handles well. With this being an ‘S’ model, it is powered by Fiat’s 2,279cc in line 6 cylinder engine fitted with dual Weber carburettors that produces an impressive 136hp. The car therefore has more than enough power on tap to give it a true sporting edge and it easily keeps up with modern day traffic. Abarth did a good job giving the engine more power yet retain the character which suits the car. We did notice a very slight vibration through the drive train under light acceleration, which may be worn gearbox mounts. Otherwise, the car drives as good as the day it left the factory all those years ago.

Accompanying the car is an original owner’s manual, a Fiat 2300S brochure, a Fiat “Certificato di Origini”, a framed Fiat 2300S poster, an original spare wheel and jack.

When you sit behind the steering wheel in this car you could be sitting in a Ferrari 250 GTE. It feels and looks quite similar, particularly the view out over the bonnet. The Fiat 2300 is often described a junior Ferrari and the 2300S is the one to have.

They are rare, they are elegant, they are cool and offer great value for money. It’s not often you come across a Fiat which would have looked quite at home cruising the French Riviera in the mid 1960’s.

Highlights:

• Factory RHD Australian delivered 2300S Coupe.
• Very original car that is an incredible time capsule.
• Lovely colour scheme.
• So cool . . . and ready to show, use and enjoy.

 

Background

Today Fiat is a subsidiary of Stellantis, a company formed in 2021 that is a merger of FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) and The PSA Group or Peugeot SA. Stellantis is based in The Netherlands and includes the following brands in its stable: Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroën, Dodge, DS, Fiat, Fiat Professional, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Mopar, Opel, Peugeot, Ram and Vauxhall. Fiat, which is an abbreviation for ‘Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino’, has a fascinating and rich history dating back to 1899. It was founded by Italian entrepreneur Giovanni Agnelli on 11th July 1899. Later that year, the first ever Fiat production car, the Fiat 3½ HP was released. Over the next ten years Fiat went from strength to strength establishing itself as one of Europe’s major car manufacturers and the company was listed on the Milan stock exchange in 1903.

Over the last forty years the Fiat name has been synonymous with budget priced family cars. However, in the early years Fiat was recognised as building some of the world’s very best cars. In the early 1900’s a Fiat cost more than four times the price of a Ford Model T. Post World War II Fiat built some ‘world class’ sporting cars, including the Fiat 8V or ‘Otto Vu’ of which just over 100 examples were built from 1952 through until 1954. Fiat always built cars with a sporting pedigree and many of their models were offered as a saloon, coupe and cabriolet.

In 1936 Fiat introduced the Fiat 500A Topolino (or ‘little mouse’) which was then the smallest mass produced car in the world. These fabulous little cars pioneered what is today referred to as ‘budget priced small cars’. The Topolino morphed into the Fiat 600 in 1955 and the Fiat 500 ‘Nuova’ in 1957.

Designed by Pininfarina, the Fiat 1500 Coupe and Cabriolet were introduced in 1959 and built across two series, firstly from 1959 – 1963 and then from 1964 – 1966. Whilst these little cars weren’t overly powerful, they were light and easy to drive. The four cylinder inline engine produced in excess of 70 bhp which was enough to ensure these cars, which weighed in at less than 1,000 kg, performed well and were a delight to drive.

The 1500 was superseded by the 1800 and the 2100. The 1800 remained in production until 1968. The 2100 was only in production from 1959 until 1961 when it was superseded by the 2300.

The Fiat 2300 was available as a saloon, styled by Dante Giacosa, an estate car, and a Coupe. The latter was styled by Ghia. The first prototype of the Coupe was shown to the public at the 1960 Turin Motor Show. The production version was then presented in 1961, though production did not start until 1962. The Fiat 2300 Coupe was available in two versions. The base model 2300 and the sports model, the 2300S. The 2300S was fitted with a more powerful engine which was equipped with double twin choke carburettors tuned by Abarth. Whilst Ghia designed the car, they did not have the production capacity to actually build it. Production therefore was outsourced to OSI.

The exact production numbers are not known for the Fiat 2300 Coupes as Fiat did not keep track of the individual models separately. That said, it is understood that around 7,000 2300 Coupes were built between 1962 and 1968, of which perhaps 200 were factory right hand drive. Of these, the majority were the standard 2300, making the 2300S a very rare car, particularly in right hand drive.

It is thought that somewhere between 40 and 50 Fiat 2300/2300S were sold new in Australia.

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