This Fiat 500 Could Be The Cheapest Way Into Ferrari Ownership, Sort Of

Picture this. The year is 2008, your Ferrari 430 Scuderia is due a service and the day has come to take it to your local dealer. Of course, you can’t sit around waiting all day - there’s a recession on and time is money.

A courtesy car will be coming your way. Perhaps it’s a chance to try out the new 599 you’ve had your eyes on, or maybe a Maserati Quattroporte with your other half suggesting the time to grow the family has arrived.

Well, no. You’re handed the keys to a new Fiat 500. Hold your (prancing) horses, though - this is no normal 500.

What you see here is the Fiat 500 Ferrari Dealer Edition. You can probably guess, but it’s a special version of the city car that was commissioned purely to serve as a courtesy car at approved dealers.

As with any good Ferrari, this 500 received a Rosso Corsa paint job along with Scuderia shields on the front wheel arches, plus some red brake callipers. It kept the Fiat branding too though, just to bring things back down to earth.

Inside, leather-trimmed seats featured along with a plaque on the Rosso Corsa dashboard insert signifying its production number.

Changes were more than just looks, though. An Abarth-tuned suspension setup was fitted, along with the Monza exhaust system you’d normally only find on the Scorpion-badged models. Power remained the same at 100bhp from its 1.4-litre four-cylinder, though.

With 78,799 miles on the clock, this particular example - number 85 of 200, 60 of which only came to the UK - isn’t exactly in concourse condition. However, it does come with a full-service history, a custom car cover and even a Ferrari–branded key.

Collecting Cars is currently offering the 500 on an auction which still has seven days to run at the time of writing, so there are no bids as of yet. One did sell for £17,000 earlier this year though - funnily enough putting it in the ballpark of a 2008 Quattroporte these days.