Sherlock, where are you?: ’58 Abarth 750 Berlina
Carlo Abarth devoted himself entirely to building up the ‘Scorpion’ legend. The Scorpion was the brand for his tuning company that took cute little Fiat mini cars and made them into tigers on the racing circuit. The most valuable of his little marvels were built by Zagato sporting flowing aluminum bodies with unique bulging roofs.
Kids just love them today. They are so cute. Today’s find is a real project on a Fiat Abarth 600 sedan or “Berlina”. Abarth produced a myriad of options for enthusiasts with their range of conversion boxes (cassetta di trasformazione) containing all the parts necessary to convert a standard Fiat. The kits were expensive, almost half the price of the car, but included everything necessary: crankshaft, camshaft, pistons, piston rings, intake and exhaust manifolds, valves, radiator, gaskets, carburetor, exhaust, filters, pipework, belts, tools, oil, chrome badges and instructions. A network of tuning shops also sprang up to cater for the growing needs of motoring fans thanks to multiple victories under the sign of the Scorpion.The car’s exterior remained largely unchanged, apart from having wider wheels and tires, some discrete Abarth branding and a machined ABARTH plaque between the trunk lid and bumper for extra cooling for the rear-mounted engine. So it is a little bit more difficult to tell a real Abarth from a fake kind of like a Fitch Corvair. The seller of today’s project appears to have the real deal if only determined by the dashboard that features a speedometer with a higher max speed and a tachometer. It is missing an engine and seats but that is the challenge in today’s collector car hobby. You need to start finding stuff. An engine, actually, might not be that hard to find. Patience. It is rare and cute plus a boat load of fun when done. Put on your deerstalker and start sleuthing. The price is $7,500. Click here for the listing.
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