Tag Archives: abarth

Abarth-Simca 1300 GT Coupe

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1963 Abarth-Simca 1300 GT Coupe by Sibona & Basano

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Le Castellet, France | November 19, 2021

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Abarth used cars from many different manufacturers as base cars for their wild creations. In this case, the base car is a Simca 1000, which was a small, rear-engined sedan produced by the French marque between 1961 and 1978.

Confusingly, there were Simca-Abarth variants of the 1000, which were really just hot sedans. What we have here is an Abarth-Simca. It’s a GT car that Simca wanted Abarth to build that they could take racing.

It’s got a Simca 1000 floor pan, an Abarth-tuned 1.3-liter twin-cam inline-four, and a Simca 1000 four-speed manual gearbox. The cars were eventually homologated for FIA competition, and they were successful in European road racing events.

This car was sold new in Italy, where it was campaigned successfully. From there, it has kind of a complicated ownership history, and frankly it’s too late in the day for me to make much sense of it. You can read more about it here and see more from this sale here. The pre-sale estimate is $405,000-$500,000.

Update: Sold $311,399.

Cisitalia-Abarth 850 Scorpione

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1962 Cisitalia-Abarth 850 Scorpione Coupe

Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | March/April 2021

Photo – Bring a Trailer Auctions

Piero Dusio got rich making uniforms during WWII and parlayed that cash into a small company he founded called Cisitalia. They built racing cars, and eventually road cars. But racing is expensive, and eventually, he ran out of money, forcing him to relocate to Argentina.

Cisitalia collaborated with Abarth (Carlo Abarth was Austrian by birth) here and there, and after the company moved to South America, the two got together for one last fling. Abarth had a car out there called the Fiat-Abarth 850 Allemano. This car is essentially a badge-engineered version of Carlo’s 850. It features an 847cc inline-four that was rated at 55 horsepower when new.

Fewer than 200 Fiat-Abarth models were produced, and about the same (or less) of these were also made. It is not really related to the similarly-named Abarth Scorpione. This one has obviously been restored and is up for bidding now. The auction ends tomorrow. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $74,000.

A112 Abarth

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1983 Autobianchi A112 Abarth

Offered by Aguttes | Online | December 13, 2020

Photo – Aguttes

The A112 is probably Autobianchi’s most famous model aside from the Bianchina. It was produced between 1969 and 1980 and carried styling by Marcello Gandini at Bertone. The car was actually produced in eight different series, and this car is a Series VI, which was offered between 1982 and 1984.

The Abarth version of the A112 was a hot little hatch in its day. These are largely the best preserved A112s, and this particular example is powered by a 1,050cc inline-four rated at 70 horsepower.

As Aguttes points out, the end of the Series VI A112 Abarth marked the end of Carlo Abarth’s involvement with the model, which fizzled out as Autobianchi tried to move on from the A112. This Belgian example actually looks pretty nice, and it carries a pre-sale estimate of $14,000-$19,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $16,867.

Abarth Monomille

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1963 Fiat-Abarth Monomille GT Coupe

Offered by Bonhams | Padua, Italy | October 28, 2017

Photo – Bonhams

The Fiat-Abarth 750 was a tiny sports car manufactured by Abarth beginning in the late 1950s. The famous Zagato “Double Bubble” variant is highly sought after today. Thanks to that car’s success, in late 1960, Abarth shoved a larger engine in their Fiat 600-based car and the Monomille was born.

Early Scorpione cars carried bodies by Beccaris and this, a later GT version, sports a fastback body by Sibona & Basano. The engine is a 1.0-liter straight-four that was tuned in the 1990s to 80-ish horsepower (up from the original 60). These cars were expensive when new, costing nearly a third more than a Porsche 356.

This pricing model might explain why the Monomille is so rare today. This car, whose restoration was completed three years ago, is one of four GT models that still exist. It should bring between $110,000-$140,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $120,111.

Abarth 1100 Ghia

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1953 Abarth 1100 Sport by Ghia

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monterey, California | August 18-19, 2017

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

In 1949, Carlo Abarth jumped off of the sinking ship that was Cisitalia to start his own business… utilizing the leftovers of Cisitalia. It started with sports cars and today is a trim level of sporty Fiats. Abarth only built cars in limited numbers and the 1100 you see here is a one-off.

There was a car called the Abarth 205 and they took a chassis from that car and fitted Fiat’s new 1100 engine to it. The car was sent to Ghia for this incredible Jet Age body, and voila! Originally, Fiat’s 1.1-liter straight-four made about 35 horsepower. Abarth no doubt increased that figure.

This Ghia masterpiece has all the right little details, not to mention a brilliant blue interior that will blow you away because you just don’t expect the vividness it provides. Exhibited initially by Ghia at the 1953 Turin Salon, this car was later shown at the 1954 New York Auto Show by its first owner, who re-christened it the “Vaughn SS Wildcat,” with V-8 underhood.

The car was rediscovered in 1982 and the current owner had it restored in 2015, correct Fiat engine re-installed. It’s an awesome – and remarkably small – 1950s Italian design. You’ll be the only one with anything like it. Click here for more info and here for more from RM Sotheby’s in Monterey.

Update: Sold $891,000.

Abarth 207/A

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1955 Abarth 207/A by Boano

For sale at Fantasy Junction | Emeryville, California

Photo – Fantasy Junction

Carlo Abarth’s little company first put its name on cars at the tail end of the 1940s. In the following decades they were responsible for many “Fiat-Abarth” cars and even some original designs of their own. While a lot of these originals were prototype race cars, there were some very obscure cars that could’ve been used on the street too (it would take some creative talking at your local DMV to get a license plate on this one, however).

The 207/A was built in 1955 and it’s a sports racing car built at the request of an importer in the U.S. The 207/A, with sporty body by Boano, was powered by a 1.1-liter straight-four from the Fiat 1100. Of course, Abarth had their way with the engine and it’s more powerful than it would’ve been in any Fiat.

This particular example is the first 207/A built and its period racing history includes:

  • 1955 12 Hours of Sebring – DQ’d, with John Bentley and Jim McGee

It continued to race through 1957 and didn’t see the track again until it entered the historic circuit in 1986. It’s been restored and is fully prepped and ready for the track. Only 10 were built and they do not change hands often. Get your hands on the very first one for $275,000. Click here for more info.

Update, Gooding & Company Amelia Island 2019:

Photo – Gooding & Company

Sold $362,500.

March 2017 Auction Highlights, Pt. II

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We’re back with more from Amelia Island, beginning with Gooding & Company where they sold a previously-featured Porsche 911 GT1 road car for $5,665,000 – a nice bump over the price the owner paid for it five years ago. The big-money Jaguar XKSS failed to sell, as did the Pegaso. Our Most Interesting award goes to David Brown’s personal 1949 Aston Martin DB Mk II which sold for $1,540,000.

Photo – Gooding & Company

Mazda’s 767B sold for $1,750,000 and the Cisitialia we featured brought $550,000. The rest of Gooding & Company’s Amelia Island results can be found here.

We didn’t get to feature anything from Motostalgia’s Amelia Island sale, but I wish we would’ve featured the top seller, this 1950 Abarth (Cisitalia) 204A Spyder that sold for $1,001,000. Click here for complete results.

Photo – Motostalgia

And now, the final results from Amelia Island: RM Sotheby’s. The Ferrari 166 would’ve been the top seller, but it failed to meet its reserve. So top sale honors went to another of our feature cars, the Bugatti 57S by Vanvooren for $7,700,000. Other million dollar sales included the Lancia Tipo Bocca for $2,145,000, the Supercharged Stutz for $1,705,000, and a previously featured Lancia PF200 Spider that brought $1,248,500.

There were other cars that sold here that we had featured in the past. This beautiful coachbuilt Graham-Paige sold for $770,000 – earning its consignor over a half a million in profit in one year’s time. At the other end of the spectrum, this Atlas Babycar went for just $30,250 – roughly half of what it sold for four years ago.

We’ll give “Most Interesting” to this 1959 Devin D that we neglected to feature. It sold for $88,000.

Photo – RM Sotheby’s

Other feature cars were the Zimmerli Roadster that went for $71,500 and the Meyers Manx that sold for $68,750. To see complete results, including the sale of the Orin Smith Collection, click here.

Now how about a couple of auctions in France? Aguttes held a sale in Lyon and this 1972 Dino 246 GT was the top sale at $335,171.

Photo – Aguttes

The Honda we featured brought $36,210. Complete results can be found here.

Finally, Osenat auctioned off the Perinet-Marquet Citroen collection. While we didn’t feature anything, this 1969 Citroen DS21 Cabriolet Usine was the top sale at $129,720. Click here for the rest of the results.

Photo – Osenat

Abarth Scorpione SS

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1970 Abarth 1300 Scorpione SS

Offered by Bonhams | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 19, 2017

Photo – Bonhams

The Abarth Scorpione was originally built as the Lombardi Grand Prix beginning in 1968. Based on the Fiat 850, the car was rear-engined and sported rear-wheel drive. It’s kind of a small fastback coupe, with Italian lines, having been designed in-house at Lombardi in Vercelli, Italy.

The Lombardi Grand Prix was sold under other names as well, such as the OTAS 820, the Giannini 1000 Grand Prix, and the Abarth Scorpione. Abarth also produced a hotted-up version called the Scorpione SS. It is powered by a 100 horsepower 1.3-liter straight-four, up about 25 horsepower over the base model.

All four models were out of production by 1972 and only a handful of Scorpione SS models were thought to have been produced. This example spent most of its life in the Netherlands and Belgium until it was imported to the San Francisco area in the early 2000s. It’s been completely restored and is a fine example of what turned out to be the final car produced by Abarth before Fiat took over the company. It should sell for between $70,000-$110,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $116,600.

Abarth Record Car

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1960 Fiat-Abarth 1000 Monoposto Da Record “La Principessa”

Offered by Gooding & Company | Pebble Beach, California | August 20-21, 2016

Photo - Gooding & Company

Photo – Gooding & Company

When you think of Abarth, you might think of the current Fiat 500 Abarth – a very sporty hot hatch. Or maybe you think of compact racers from long ago. We’d wager that most people don’t think of speed record cars.

Carlo Abarth built his first endurance speed record car in 1956. It set some records, working well enough to encourage Abarth to build a second streamliner the following year. The final cars were built in 1960 and this is one of them. Looking like one of the Auto Union streamliners from decades before, this car features a canopy top and is powered by a 1.0-liter straight-four producing 108 horsepower. Top speed was 136 mph – which should tell you that the aerodynamics here are quite slippery.

This car set eight endurance speed records at Monza in 1960 using drivers like Umberto Maglioli. Later that year Abarth displayed it at the Turin Motor Show and then it went into Pininfarina’s storage until they sold it in 1970. The same family that bought it from Pininfarina is the same family consigning the car at auction. It is in original condition and is one of those cars with a wild design that will only become more famous and legendary with time. No pre-sale estimate is available but you can read more here and see more from Gooding & Company here.

Update: Not sold.

Abarth 2200 Coupe

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1959 Abarth 2200 Coupe by Allemano

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Paris, France | February 3, 2016

Photo - RM Sotheby's

Photo – RM Sotheby’s

Carlo Abarth’s company began out of the downfall of Cisitalia, where he worked. So in 1949, Abarth & C. became its own marque… sort of. They built some of their own cars, but most of them were just tuned Fiats of some variety. The name lives on today as a trim level on Fiat cars.

One such Fiat that Abarth got his hands on was the 2100 Sedan. Produced from 1959 through 1968, the 2100 was Fiat’s large car. They were all four-door sedans and wagons. But Abarth went to Italian coachbuilder Allemano and decided they’d build a coupe version. Allemano crafted this nice body for it and Abarth went to work on the engine, enlarging the straight-six to from 2.1 to 2.2-liters. Horsepower was rated at 135.

Only 28 of these were built (and not all were bodied by Allemano, but most were). The restoration was completed in 2011 and it isn’t a car that comes up for sale all that often. It should bring between $195,000-$220,000. Click here for more info and here for more from RM Sotheby’s in Paris.

Update: Sold $131,200.