The Autobianchi Stellina is a small spider

Roadster

A roadster is a two-seat open car with emphasis on sporty handling and without a fixed roof or side weather protection. Strictly speaking a roadster with wind-up windows is a convertible but as true roadsters are no longer made the distinction is now irrelevant...

 (a rear-engined cabrio) from the Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 automaker, Autobianchi

Autobianchi

Autobianchi was an Italian automobile manufacturer, created jointly by Bianchi, Pirelli and Fiat in 1955. Autobianchi produced only a handful of models during its lifetime, which were almost exclusively small cars, with the biggest being the short-lived Autobianchi A111, a small family car...

 (a subsidiary of the Fiat group

Fiat

FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...

), built for only two years, 1964 and 1965. It was based on the mechanicals of the chassis Fiat 600

Fiat 600

The Fiat 600 is a city car produced by the Italian automaker Fiat from 1955 to 1969. Measuring only 3.22 m long, it was the first rear-engined Fiat and cost the equivalent of about € 6,700 or US$ 7300 in today's money . The total number produced from 1955 to 1969 at the Mirafiori...

D, but had a unique unibody structure, with the outside panels made of fibreglass reinforced plastics, based on a steel frame. It was the first Italian car with a fibreglass body, and one of the first in the world. Powered by Fiat 600D's rear-mounted, water-cooled 767 cc straight-4

Straight-4

The inline-four engine or straight-four engine is an internal combustion engine with all four cylinders mounted in a straight line, or plane along the crankcase. The single bank of cylinders may be oriented in either a vertical or an inclined plane with all the pistons driving a common crankshaft....

 engine, delivering 29 hp, the Stellina featured drum brakes on all four wheels.

With sleek styling penned by Luigi Rapi, the Stellina was first presented as a prototype at the 1963 Turin Motor Show, and went on sale a year later with a price tag of almost a million lira

Lira

Lira is the name of the monetary unit of a number of countries, as well as the former currency of Italy, Malta, San Marino and the Vatican City and Israel. The term originates from the value of a Troy pound of high purity silver. The libra was the basis of the monetary system of the Roman Empire...

. Only 502 Stellinas were made until production ceased in 1965, when Fiat launched a, slightly larger, similar Fiat 850 Spider

Fiat 850

The Fiat 850 is a small longitudinal-rear-engined rear wheel drive car which was produced between 1964 and 1973.-Overview:Its technical design was an evolution of the very successful Fiat 600. The internal name for the Fiat 600 development project was "Project 100" and consequently, the internal...

.