Rare Steyr Puch 'Fiat' 500 up for sale

A rare Fiat 500-based classic could fetch up to £18,000 when it goes under the hammer later this month.

The 1960 Steyr Puch 500 – one of just two left – will be offered for sale by Silverstone Auctions on 20 September at the Wing building at Silverstone circuit in Northamptonshire.

Produced by Steyr-Daimler-Puch in Graz, Austria, this 500 is one of just 33 right-hand drive models made – and thought to be one of just two left in the world (the other car is in the Steyr Puch museum).

Steyr-Daimer-Puch halted car production when the Second World War broke out, but the production lines began rolling again in 1954.

To keep the costs of a new model down, it struck a deal with Italian carmaker Fiat to use the 500 as a base, with the roof, engine and gearbox all made in-house.

First registered in the UK on 21 October, 1960, AEM 655 was sold by Ryders of Liverpool. For the past 28 years, the car has been in storage in the Republic of Ireland.

It looks like it’s been sympathetically recomissioned with fresh interior trim, new tyres and some mechanical work. It has 64,733 miles on the clock and comes with an MoT until August 2015.

Note however that AEM 655 is not its current registration – the car is currently being assigned a new plate.