One of the most curious one-offs ever created by Pininfarina is preparing to change hands in the American market, where Bonhams has put the Y Berlinetta up for auction. The unique car started life as a Fiat 600D before receiving a completely reinterpreted body. The estimate ranges from $100,000 to $200,000, a wide but understandable spread considering the nature of the car, while the odometer shows just 4,991 miles, equal to around 8,032 kilometres.
Pininfarina Y Berlinetta, the aerodynamic experiment based on a Fiat 600D goes up for sale in the US
The car has remained at the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada, since new. The museum houses more than 1,400 historic vehicles and appears to have helped preserve the car’s condition, including its original silver livery, which still looks largely intact today. The paint also seems to have resisted the passing of time well, an important detail for a unique example whose rarity makes any valuation inevitably complex.
The project started from a popular base, the Fiat 600D, a small Italian post-war icon that embodied an idea of mobility in many ways close to that of the classic Mini. With its rear-mounted engine and compact dimensions, it combined a small footprint with surprising practicality. Pininfarina used this mechanical base to create the Y Berlinetta, retaining the standard car’s 767 cc four-cylinder engine, which produced 32 hp at 4,800 rpm, along with its four-speed manual gearbox. The design house then wrapped everything in a completely different body, created to improve aerodynamic behaviour and push the top speed higher.
The results proved tangible, at least according to period tests. The Pininfarina-bodied version reportedly reached 128 km/h, compared with 110 km/h for the standard 600D, an increase due entirely to the work on the body shape. The silhouette abandons the square lines of the original car in favour of a much sleeker, oval profile, which earned it the nickname of an “egg” on wheels.
From a styling point of view, the front end remains probably the most unusual element of the whole project. It features three circular headlights enclosed behind a curved transparent cover, along with three chrome elements protruding from the bumper to underline the prototype’s experimental character. Pininfarina also extended the rear compared with the original 600D, further emphasizing the unusual shape. Inside, the cabin looks surprisingly spacious despite the car’s small dimensions. Pininfarina completed the package with a Nardi steering wheel and placed the spare wheel ahead of the cabin, a choice made for safety reasons.
