Abarth News

[MrFiat]

     First of all, Many Thanks for the warm welcome to the forum.   I've owned the Abarth for almost 50 years now. (got the shell and 3 metal washtubs full of parts in 1965).  A total love affair ever since.   Today it carries a modified Abarth 1000 OT power plant connected to a Hewland MK4 Quick-Change gearbox.   Yoko A008s keep it glued to the road.   Quick and a whole lot of fun.  Can't wait to drive the new one !  If you want, you can get more details about the car and modifications on my website   http://home.roadrunner.com/~abarth
     No coincidence about looking a bit like the 911 ( or the 356 for that matter ).  Karl Abarth and Ferdinand Porsche were good friends, raced motorcycles together and collaborated on their car designs back in the day. I'm not so sure about the Shelby though, but knowing us hot-blooded Italians, anything is possible !
     Once again, thanks for the warm welcome to the forum.
Jim R.

[Giallo Edizione]

Got a little jump on it. Now I just need the car to attach to the plate.

[MrFiat]

BRAVISSIMO !!  I love it !  I should have done that ages ago.  It would have looked good on the Zagato.  Hey wait ..... Maybe I can still get THRABA for a plate and install it backwards!  Excellent choice in plates though.  We should take up a collection and buy you a set of red side stripes to go with it.  That would look WAYYY cool dontcha think?  

[ciddyguy]

Giallo Edizione wrote

Got a little jump on it. Now I just need the car to attach to the plate.

Hey Giallo, did you do a mod there? Looks like you modded the rear tail light lenses, did you not?

[RacerRon]

MrFiat, great web site and a great car. I know a little about major Fiat project cars. The pictures below are how my '74 X1/9 looked when a bought it from a guy in 1987. He started building it as a race car and got as far as stripping it down and installing a roll cage. It's hard to tell in photos, but there was a lot of rust on this car, especially the floorboards. I ended up sand-blasting the chassis before I did anything. Then it was 3 years of work before it was ready to run.

[MrFiat]

Thanks for the kudos Ron.  But my goodness!!, what a great job you did on yours!  Lots of hard work involved, but well worth the effort.  That red racer of yours looks absolutely beautiful.  One of the biggest problems FIAT had with their older cars was (pardon the 4 letter word --) R-U-S-T  ugh... So, yeah, I know exactly what you were up against.      I'm picking up a new 500 sport tomorrow (interim until the Abarth becomes available) and one of the biggest factors in my decision to buy the car was the fact that so much attention was given to curing the previous rust problems.   If  you go back to Chris's earlier blog posts you'll see that the new 500 carries some extra weight due to the generous galvanizing of the metal.   I'm betting that our new 500s will stand up to the North American weather as good or better than anything else on the road today, probably better.  Hope I'm right.

[PiZ]

Hi MrFiat,

let me say with confidence that, starting from 90's, rust it's just a bad memory... for every car of the Fiat group (not only Ferrari )

[MrFiat]

Tante Grazie per la informazione !!  I am so happy to hear that the newer Fiats have overcome the serious rust issues.  I had an early Fiat Abarth OT-1000 spyder literally break in half because of rust.  Needless to say, the Zagato only comes out in good weather.  I'm planning to drive the new 500 year 'round.   By the way, I really like your 20v.  Maybe someday we'll get more of the wonderful cars you folks in Europe have. The 500 is a good start.

[PiZ]

MrFiat wrote

Tante Grazie per la informazione !!  I am so happy to hear that the newer Fiats have overcome the serious rust issues.  I had an early Fiat Abarth OT-1000 spyder literally break in half because of rust.  Needless to say, the Zagato only comes out in good weather.  I'm planning to drive the new 500 year 'round.   By the way, I really like your 20v.  Maybe someday we'll get more of the wonderful cars you folks in Europe have. The 500 is a good start.

Prego !

Thank you, the Coupé it's really an amazing car. It's style is so personal that people loves it or hates it.
It has a lot of fans in UK (where it is also called baby-Ferrari), France and Germany and it is already included in the list of "collection vehicles" by the Italian Fiat Historical Cars Register...

Ciaooo

PiZ

[Terry]

Jim,

Thanks for sharing your website. What a magnificent job you have done and I'm sure that Karl
would have appreciated your updates which are in keeping with his philosophy completely...Love
the personal touches as well.

Best of luck on your new Sport!

Terry

[Terry]

Jim,

Thanks for sharing your website. What a magnificent job you have done and I'm sure that Karl
would have appreciated your updates which are in keeping with his philosophy completely...Love
the personal touches as well.

Best of luck on your new Sport!

Terry

[PiZ]

Yes ! Wonderful website !!

I think it would be very difficult to find a best-preserved DB here in Italy.... my congratulations !

[MrFiat]

Thanks all.  This may be a little off the Abarth topic, but Someone might find the information useful.   I did get the new 500 Sport yesterday and it really is FUN to drive !!!   While I was at the dealership I found Prima Edizione #174 on the showroom floor.   It is presently  available if someone wants it.   "Rossa" with all the goodies.  Immensely cute.    If you're interested, call Brandon Taccone at Doan Fiat in Rochester N.Y.  [phone] or email [e-mail]
I suspect there's not many of these left  ??   Good Luck.  

[ciddyguy]

MrFiat wrote

Thanks all.  This may be a little off the Abarth topic, but Someone might find the information useful.   I did get the new 500 Sport yesterday and it really is FUN to drive !!!   While I was at the dealership I found Prima Edizione #174 on the showroom floor.   It is presently  available if someone wants it.   "Rossa" with all the goodies.  Immensely cute.    If you're interested, call Brandon Taccone at Doan Fiat in Rochester N.Y.  [phone] or email [e-mail]
I suspect there's not many of these left  ??   Good Luck.

Glad you love the little car. I'm hoping to be able to get into one before year's end myself, pref sooner as I await some disputes on my credit report, see about a loan and hopefully better paying work to be able to AFFORD payments...

[Giallo Edizione]

MrFiat wrote

BRAVISSIMO !!  I love it !  I should have done that ages ago.  It would have looked good on the Zagato.  Hey wait ..... Maybe I can still get THRABA for a plate and install it backwards!  Excellent choice in plates though.  We should take up a collection and buy you a set of red side stripes to go with it.  That would look WAYYY cool dontcha think?

You mean like this?:

[MrFiat]

Ahhhhhh ! Yes Indeed !  Just like that !    Attaboy !

[Fiat500USA]

MrFiat wrote

Thanks all.  This may be a little off the Abarth topic, but Someone might find the information useful.   I did get the new 500 Sport yesterday and it really is FUN to drive !!!   While I was at the dealership I found Prima Edizione #174 on the showroom floor.   It is presently  available if someone wants it.   "Rossa" with all the goodies.  Immensely cute.    If you're interested, call Brandon Taccone at Doan Fiat in Rochester N.Y.  [phone] or email [e-mail]
I suspect there's not many of these left  ??   Good Luck.

Hi Mr.Fiat!  Welcome to the forum and congratulations on getting your car!  

[PiZ]

Fiat500USA wrote

I want to say something, but I shouldn't

Me, too !

[Jeepnut]

Are you guys testing the US spec Abarth or have you seen it yet? Also I wish Fiat would send us the Punto Abarth and I would love to see the Coupe Zagato come to the US as well.

[MrFiat]

Thanks Chris,   It's home.  It has a whopping 175 miles on it and most of that was from the ride home from Rochester.   So far, so good.  No apparent problems.  Handles well and is great fun to drive.  Love the driving position.  Kinda different from what I'm used to, sitting up so high, but I really like it.   And the engine makes nice noises.  Already had two people stop and ask about it.   Evidently the word isn't  quite out there yet that the 500 is now available.  But is sure seems to me that a lot of people are anxiously waiting.   Oh yeah, and both cars fit in the garage with room to spare !   Awesome !