Bertone spent the twentieth century clothing Miuras and Stratoses, so there is a certain irony that one of its last high-volume commissions was a soft-top version of Fiat's supermini. The 1995 Fiat Punto 60 sx Cabrio S Bertone now for sale in Bergamo is exactly that car: a front-wheel-drive, four-seat convertible built on the bones of Europe's best-selling small hatch, in silver, with a manual gearbox and 64,000 km showing. It sounds unremarkable. The story behind it is anything but.
The Punto arrived in September 1993 as Fiat's replacement for the ageing Uno, and it landed hard. It was named European Car of the Year in 1995, and Giugiaro's hatchback design won the Compasso d'Oro in 1994. The open version took a different route. Unveiled as one of the cheapest convertibles in the world at the time, the cabriolet was designed and built by Bertone rather than Giugiaro. Because the Punto was engineered as a convertible from the outset there were no hidden rollover bars, and the windscreen pillars were made tough enough to withstand more than twice the car's weight. It had another party trick: an electric top at a time when rivals still used a manual roof, which earned it the label of the cheapest car so equipped.
Modest power, honest manners
Nobody bought one for straight-line pace. This is the 60 model, the small FIRE four sending around 60 PS through the front wheels and a five-speed manual, which is precisely the point. Light, willing, happy to be revved, and with the roof stowed it turns a supermarket run into something faintly Riviera. The cabin is analogue to the last dial, and the whole thing weighs barely over a tonne. Character here comes from openness, not output.
What the seller isn't saying
At 3,490 EUR the car sits in the lower reaches of the band for tidy Mk1 Cabrios, and the ownership signals are encouraging: the seller lists new tyres, a new hood, a fresh exhaust and recent recommissioning work. Two model-specific warnings apply regardless. Head gasket failure on the 55s and 60s is very frequent, so check for brown sludge under the oil cap. Corrosion is the other familiar Fiat weakness of the era: these cars suffered a spate of sumps rusting through, and the thin inner rear wheel arches hold damp mud and rot from within. The electric roof mechanism, novel as it was, is also prone to failure with age.
Bertone is gone, dissolved into memory and receivership, which lends every car wearing its badge a quiet second life. The coachbuilder manufactured 54,960 of these, and the survivors thin each year, the sun-baked Italian examples and the Nordic rust-casualties both leaving the pool. A car approaching 25 years and eligibility for historic status, from a defunct design house, with genuinely low mileage, is a combination worth a closer look for the right buyer. Whether this is the right example depends on a proper inspection, a look through whatever service records exist, and a verified history check before any money changes hands.
