All the Abarth at Bonhams’ Goodwood Auction
Images: Bonhams
Bonhams’ Goodwood Revival Auction is set to kick off this Saturday the 13th of September, featuring ten gorgeous Abarths plucked from the Maranello Rosso collection. Grab a fan for the inevitable hot flushes, and let’s take a look.
Thanks to their decades of museum-quality display these cars are all extremely original. They’re also relatively affordable, making them highly desirable and excellent contenders for historic racing.
They have been on display for some time, however, so you’ll need to give them a little TLC to get them back into racing condition.
Bonhams’ Goodwood Revival Auction is set for this Saturday, the 13th of September, and will be held at Chichester, Goodwood. Head to Bonhams’ official website here for more info and a look at some of the other stunning machinery going up for auction.
1959 Fiat Abarth 750 Bialbero ‘Record Monza’ Coupé
In the mid to late ’50s, Abarth became increasingly adept at producing performance modifications for Fiat’s 600 – a hugely-popular four-seat, rear-engined economy saloon car.
They increased the engine’s bore and stroke, replaced its crankshaft, camshaft, pistons, valves and valvesprings with beefier variations and fitted a new sump to suit. Weber carburettor and manifold and an Abarth free-flow exhaust helped the air flow and gave the car a lovely engine note. By the time they were done they’d nearly doubled the original motor’s output!
Thanks to their ministrations the car became a driver’s icon, and quickly made its way to motorsport, seeing more development still and piling up victories in races as far afield as the Sebring 12-Hour.
This car’s history is opaque but Bonhams note evidence that it was part of the Abarth works team and potentially involved in the Sebring 12-Hour.
It’s gorgeous, and looks like a lot of fun! Bring £70,000 – 120,000 along if you plan to pick it up at auction.
1961 Fiat Abarth 850 TC Nürburgring Corsa Berlina Four-Seat Competition/Street Saloon
It may not look like it, but this adorable 55-horsepower 850 TC Nürburgring Corsa packs quite a punch. The cars earned the right to the Nürburgring monicker after a Fiat 850 won its class in the 1961 500km race there.
This particular car is a competition ‘look-alike’ with a few performance parts to match its looks, including a competition engine which can displace 850cc and potentially up to 1000cc.
1961 Fiat Abarth 1000 Bialbero ‘Record Monza’ Coachwork by Carrozzeria Zagato
This ’61 Fiat Abarth 1000 Bialbero was driven by Ettore Mandelli to first place in the 1150c GTS class at Monza International in 1981.
Its period racing success grew a few weeks later, with a 1150cc Grant Turismo Storico class win in May and then another in June at Varana. Its success wasn’t confined to the track, and Mandelli found success in it in mountain climbing, winning at Preppio-Rocca delle Caminate, Scalata Colle Maddalena and then nabbing a third at Gubbio-Madonna della Cima.
Weighing in at just 550 kilograms in race trim, the 1000 Bialbero RM Coupe could hit 200 kilometers an hour propelled by a four-cylinder 90 horsepower motor.
Today, it’s prepared for historic racing, with a rollcage and four point harness. Showing great potential as a historic racer with history, it will need some love to kick it into gear after its time resting in the museum. And Bonhams estimate you’ll need between and £20,000 and £30,000 to take it home.
1962 Abarth 1000 Sport 131-MC Spider Tubolare
First fitted with a Mario Colucci experimental 1459cc motor for competition at the Marchairuz hill climb in 1962, to be driven either by Gianni Balzarini or Hans Hermann, this lithe and low little rocket is simple, visceral fun.
Its 1459cc motor was plucked from it early in life and replaced with the more standard 1000cc very popular in hill climbing and the car enjoyed a career at the hands of Vittorio Venturi.
It’s estimated to generate £110,000 – 150,000.
1965 Abarth Simca 2000 GT Corsa ‘Campionissimo Europa Montagna’
Keen to expand on the success of the Simca 1000 through motorsport, Simca and Abarth began a collaboration which resulted in the Abarth Simca 1300. The car was immediately successful, leading to further development producing the Abarth Simca 1600 and the pinnacle of the project, the 2000.
Franco Patria piloted a 2000 GT Corsa to a Division 2 win in the Gran Turismo class at the Freiburg-Schaunsland mountain climb secured second overall to Edgar Barth in a works Porsche and won the Sierre-Montana-Crans, Trieste-Opicina, Cesana-Sestriere and Coupe de Paris mountain climbs. Hans Herrmann also saw success in a 2000 GT Corsa, winning the Enna Cup race in Sicily.
This particular example is expected to fetch £180,000 – 240,000.
1967 Abarth 1300OT Periscopica Coupé
You may wonder what a pronounced proboscis is doing perched upon this otherwise pretty piece of Abarth racing history. Not, as you might assume, doing anything important like funnelling air to the engine or brakes.
It’s pushing cold air into the cockpit to cool the driver. And this, as anyone who’s spent any time getting down to business in a clammy cockpit will attest, is a great idea. But there’s much more to this car than an arresting appendage!
In the early ’60s Chrysler negotiated its way into a controlling share of Simca by buying stock from Fiat, and had absolutely no interest in the performance machinery that Simca and Abarth had been working on.
Abarth was left at a bit of a loose end, but they had a supply of Simca 1000 chassis floor pans remaining, so they set to work doing what they do best – building machinery with the performance to back up its good looks. From this, the Abarth 1300 OT was born.
Like much of the Abarth machinery within this offering, little is known about this original and authentic car’s history. It’s valued at between £180,000 and £220,000.
1969 Abarth 1300 Sport Spider SE010 ‘Quattro Fari’ Sports-Racing Prototype
This ’69 Abarth 1300 Sport Spider SE010 ‘Quattro Fari’ prototype is a thing of beauty and savage speed.
Abarth’s 2000 Sport Prototipo debuted at the Ampus hill climb in France, where it won. The cars featured a multi-tubular spaceframe chassis, reinforced with laminated fibreglass panelling, and were powered by a two-litre four-cylinder engine dangling out the back with a 38/62 weight distribution.
Despite an impressive degree of racing success, the SE010 Quattro Fari ended up gaining much of its fame in the ’60s through its popularity as a scale model!
Slightly more expensive than its scale model brethren, Bonhams estimate an auction-day price of £180,000 – 250,000.
1970 Abarth 2000 Sport SE014 ‘Europeo Montagna’
Like fine wine, 1970 was a good year for an Abarth. The marque recorded 790 victories around the world in a collection of categories and classes, including Johann Abt winning the European Touring Car Championship Division 1 in a Group 2 Fiat Abarth 1000 Berlina and Johannes Ortner taking out the European Mountain Championship in an Abarth 2000 Sport.
At the start of 1970, Abarth produced a mid-engined 3-litre V8 machine for sport and prototype racing, along with the European Mountain Championship.
This car, an SE014, keeps things rowdy and rear-engined, however; Carlo Abarth preferring to sling the 260bhp, 1946cc four-cylinder 16-valve single-plug ignition motor way out back. The configuration excelled in hill climbs and mountain climbs, giving the car great traction out of corners and playing nicely with the chassis’ oversteer.
Very little is known of this car’s history, other than its exceptional originality and worthy inclusion into the Maranello Rosso collection.
Bonhams estimate it to generate £110,000 – 160,000 on auction day.
1973 Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye Two-Seat Rally Competition Coupé
Persistent development and competition helped Fiat and Abarth turn the 124 into a European Rally Champion.
The Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye was born from the 124 Spider and featured either 8 or 16-valve twin-cam engine with Kugelfischer mechanical injection, sitting on race-developed suspension, larger and better-cooled brakes and contained within a stripped-out shell.
Bonhams put this car at between £50,000 and £80,000.
1978 Fiat Abarth Rallye 131 Supermirafiore Group 4 Specification World Championship Rally Competition Saloon
With racing legends like Markku Alen, Timo Salonen and Walter Röhrl at the wheel, the Fiat Abarth Rallye 131 won the World Rally Championship for three consecutive years from 1977 to 1980.
This car is a Supermirafiore Group 4 spec car, which means that it benefits from later twin-overhead camshaft heads in its 16-valve belt-driven, Kugelfischer fuel-injected motor. It also featuers lightweight aluminium and fibreglass body panels and a rally-born cabin with full rollcage and storage for helmets and gear between stages.
It was driven by Michele Mouton to 7th place in the 1980 Monte Carlo rally, which was won by Walter Rohrl in a works Fiat 131 Abarth.
It’s sold with a collection of spares, and according to British Abarth specialist Tony Castle-Miller “It’s in great condition for a rally car even if the engine is seized!”
This brilliant little historic racer is set to go for £35,000 – 50,000.
Images via Bonhams
