Abarth sports car books - history and models (1/2)

Abarth (1950-1971) - Brooklands Portfolio

Brooklands Portfolio book about the Abarth models from the years 1950-1971. Describes the Abarth 500, 595, 695, 750, 850, 1000, 1300, 1600, 2200SS, GT, TC, OT, Zagato, Allemano, Scorpion, Simca and Porsche Carrera.

• The 84 articles, taken from contemporary British and American car magazines, provide much information about history, model changes and technology.
• Also driving impressions, tests, comparison tests, technical specifications, etc.
• Gives also advice for the purchase of an used Abarth 500.

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Fiat Abarth (1972-1987) - Brooklands Portfolio

Brooklands Portfolio book about the Fiat Abarth sports models from the years 1972-1987. Describes the Fiat 124 and 131 Rally, Strada, Ritmo Abarth 125TC and Fiat Abarth 130TC. Also advice for purchase of a pre-owned Fiat Abarth.

• The articles, taken from contemporary British and American car magazines, provide much information about history, model changes and technology.
• Also driving impressions, tests, comparison tests, technical specifications, etc.

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More information on the Brooklands Portfolio books

Abarth - The irresistible attraction of the Scorpion / L'irresistibile fascino dello scorpione

Founded in 1949 by Karl Abarth in Bologna, the Turin-based company transformed ordinary cars like the Fiat 500 and 600 into high-performance vehicles through skillful tuning, catering to enthusiasts' dreams. Abarth's legacy of achieving remarkable speed and acceleration persisted even as traffic increased on the roads.

Under Fiat Group ownership since 1971, the brand continues to offer sporty versions of models like the 500 and 124 Spiders. Celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2019, the book delves into Abarth's history, tracing its origins back to the iconic Cisitalia brand and the influence of figures like Tazio Nuvolari and early Porsche projects.

Beginning with sports exhausts, Abarth expanded into producing fast cars derived from ordinary models, sometimes offering DIY tuning kits. Notable racing cars, driven by renowned racers such as Jochen Rindt and Arturo Merzario, further cemented Abarth's reputation.

The book focuses on 20 key models, exploring the fascinating stories and unique features surrounding them. One highlight is the OT 1600, which combined the Fiat 850 sedan body with a powerful 160 hp engine from a racing model, catching the attention of Gianni Agnelli at the 1964 Turin Motor Show. He famously test-drove it at its top speed of 220 km/h from Turin to Milan and back.

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Abarth : the man, the machines

The vivid personality, great intelligence and strong determination of Carlo Abarth are revealed through the pages of his large biography. Described is Abarth's personal life, his early motorcycling projects and races, and the Cisitalia period and its unfortunate decline. Includes the long and successful new adventure in car-tuning which made Abarth and his cars renown all over the world.

This book also contains technical data for each model produced, supported by company chassis drawings and engine cutaways. Exhaustive and accurate listing of competitions which saw Abarth cars dominating the racing fields year by year. The book is richly illustrated by appealing and never published before photos, many of them belonging to the personal Abarth photo archive.

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Abarth Buyer's Guide - Abarth-modified Fiat, Porsche, Simca and Lancia Sports Cars, Racers and Specials - from 1949

This illustrated reprint is a detailed guide to Abarth-modified Fiat, Porsche, Simca, and Lancia sports and racing cars, including special models, produced from 1949 onward.

Originally published in 1991, the book has long been out of print and is now difficult to obtain.
Written by Pete Vack, the book spans 128 pages and is considered one of the most respected sources on Abarth vehicles. Despite its compact size, it provides a thorough overview of the brand's history and achievements.

The guide includes every model from the early Cisitalia-based racing cars to the Abarth TC Ritmo. It is particularly suited to readers interested in Italian performance cars.

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The Abarths after Carlo Abarth - A thirty year history of racing cars

This book is a collection of notes dedicated to all those who helped the engineer Sergio Limone to "play with cars" for so many years and allows Limone to believe that, ultimately, the effort was really worthwhile.
A "notebook" in lieu of a book, because books have a different narrative style, the authors intention with this document is to highlight, for the benefit of interested readers, the work of many people during the period from 1972 to 2005 (33 years of competition cars and other projects) and the achievements, led by a group of technicians whose roots went back to the Abarth of the 1960s, when the company was headed by Renzo Avidano and Mario Colucci.
Since then, the Abarth company has changed hands many times over, has been merged and transformed, but its technical strengths have always remained at the forefront, as a common thread.

Car models were produced and achieved greater or lesser success in an endless procession, and the projects were named according to a system rooted in the very origin of Abarth models: the code "SE" followed by a three-digit project number.
How the "SE" code came to be used is not that clear. When this code was used at Abarth, "SE" models alternated with those labelled "ES", as can be seen from a list drawn up in 1975 that includes the models launched up to that time from 1960.
Some models, including highly prominent ones, whose name for various reasons did not include the "SE" code, are included in the list based on the chronology of their creation. The Company setup changed several times, following various mergers involving Lancia, Fiat and Alfa Romeo.

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Fiat-Abarth - Reparto Corse Rally

From the mid-Sixties through to the early Eighties, Fiat was a star of world rallying, winning in 1977 its first World Rally Championship. Committed to an official works team, supported by Abarth, it competed with legendary cars such as the 124 and 131 in the hands of drivers of the calibre of Ceccato,Trombotto, Paganelli, Pinto, Bacchelli, Cambiaghi, Verini, Waldegaard, Röhrl e Alen.
This fascinating story is retold in a book rich in photos and anecdotes, penned by Emanuele Sanfront, for years a navigator and then a journalist.

Text in Italian.

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