1958 Abarth 750GT

Karl (later Carlo) Abarth built high-efficiency exhaust systems in the 1930s, later expanding into the production of various other performance parts for Italian cars. Prior to World War II, Abarth was the Italian distributor of Porsche, and after connecting Piero Dusio of Cisitalia with Ferry Porsche came the Type 360 Grand Prix racer. A short time later, Cisitalia entered bankruptcy, and since Abarth was a consultant to the company, received most of the assets of Cisitalia as payment for his work. The last of the Cisitalia chassis were built as Abarths. Later, he used Fiat-based cars. When the Fiat 600 was introduced in 1955, he continued to offer tuning parts for the cars. Additionally, he sold 'derivazione' or 'derivation' kits to dealers and garages for fitting into stock 600s, which included an enlarged version of the 633cc engine.

Along with modifications and tuning kits, he built complete cars in his factory. Among his most famous creations were the lightweight Zagato-bodied competition cars. These were Fiat 600 Derivazione 750 Abarth Zagato which were introduced in 1955 at the Turin Auto Show. Many of the examples have a racing pedigree, and three examples took the top three places in the 750cc class at the 1957 Mille Miglia. They were raced with much success on both sides of the Atlantic, on many different types of tracks and locations. Abarth was able to secure a sponsor partnership deal with Fiat, where he was paid for every first or second-place victory the 'Fiat Abarth' scored.

The later versions received the nickname, 'Double Bubble' for the distinctive roof humps made for enhanced headroom.

The success of the Abarth tuned cars helped place them among Italy's most successful manufacturers of small-displacement sports cars. They dominated many of the small-displacement classes and even challenged many larger competitors, especially at hill climb events and road races such as the Targa Florio.

Production of the Fiat Abarth 750 lasted between 1956 and 1960 with approximately 600 examples built.

by Daniel Vaughan | Sep 2019