The SEAT 600 is a city car made in Spain by SEAT from 27 May 1957 to 3 August 1973, built under license from Fiat on the original Fiat 600, designed by the Italian Dante Giacosa. It was offered in two-door saloon body style rear engine layout, although a four-door version was also offered as SEAT 800. It is considered a pop icon of the Spanish economic miracle.
Measuring only long, it was launched in 1957 at an initial price of 65,000 pesetas (€390.66) –to which 6,400 pesetas (€38.46) in taxes had to be added–. Up to 797,319 SEAT 600s –and 18,200 SEAT 800s– were manufactured at the SEAT factory in Barcelona's Zona Franca. Part of the production was exported to Colombia, Argentina, Poland, and Finland.
Background
The Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo S.A., branded as SEAT, was born in 1950 as a joint venture of the Spanish state holding agency National Institute of Industry, six Spanish banks and Fiat. Almost all SEAT models up to 1982 were license-built Fiat-based cars, although the SEAT 1200/1430 Sport "Boca negra" and SEAT 133 were created in-house by SEAT in the 1970s.
Initially, some units of the original Italian model, the Fiat 600, were imported to Spain, but soon the SEAT factory in Barcelona's Zona Franca began its own production based on this model, under agreement with Fiat. The first SEAT 600 manufactured left the factory on 27 May 1957. This unit was registered in Madrid on 5 December 1957 with the registration plate M-184018 and was in use until February 1985. This was not the first SEAT 600 registered, since the first one was registered in Barcelona on 8 June 1957 with the registration plate B-141141.
With an initial launching price of 65,000 pesetas (€390.66) –to which 6,400 pesetas (€38.46) in taxes had to be added–, it was a affordable vehicle. The sales success was such that the Commercial Division had a number of pending orders equivalent to four years of production. To stop this avalanche, the down payment for each order was established for the first time, something that lasted for several years.
Starting in March 1958, the units were delivered to the province of the client, who until then had to travel to the factory or to one of the seven subsidiaries that existed at that time. Also from 1958, three styles began to be offered: saloon, convertible and commercial. In 1965, SEAT entered the export business, shipping 150 Seat 600s to Colombia, followed by exports to Argentina, Poland, and Finland. In Finland itself, the SEAT 600 D was the best-selling car between 1970 and 1973. When Fiat stopped manufacturing its Fiat 600 in 1969, it met demand for the model with units produced by SEAT labeled as Fiat.
Up to 797,319 SEAT 600s were manufactured until 3 August 1973. Among the reasons for ending production were the thin and weak B pillars, which made seat belt installation very difficult. The SEAT 600 was replaced by the less successful SEAT 133, the first vehicle designed by SEAT, as a modernized derivative of the SEAT 850.
The SEAT 600 helped to start the Spanish miracle –the economic boom in Spain between 1959 and 1973– that came at the end of the slow recovery from the Spanish Civil War. It was the first car that came within the modest but rapidly growing economic means of most Spanish families from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s. The vehicle has become a pop icon of the period.
Versions
The design of the SEAT 600 was a two-door four-seats rear-engined saloon. The two initial series were the 600 (unofficially known as 600 N to differentiate it from later versions) and the 600 D, distinguishable by the use of suicide doors. The third-series 600 E had conventional doors, bigger headlamps, a different plastic grille, and other improvements. The final production run was the 600 L and the 600 L Especial, produced only for a few months in 1973.
SEAT 800
A slightly longer, four-door saloon version, the SEAT 800, was launched in September 1963 and built until 1968. It was also known as a four-door 600, although the official designation was 800. It is the four-door derivative of the 600; it had front suicide doors and rear conventional doors mounted on the same B-pillar. The modification of the bodywork was carried out at Carrocerías Costa in Tarrassa. The SEAT 800 was a version developed exclusively in Spain, since it did not have a counterpart Fiat version, and up to 18,200 units were made.
Commercial versions
A commercial version of the SEAT 600, with paneled rear and rear side windows and without rear seats, called the SEAT 600 Comercial, and a panel van version called the SEAT 600 Formichetta, were also available.