Until the end of the 1970s, a scorpion ennobled Fiat's sporty models and gave them an aura of something special. The scorpion was the trademark of Carlo Abarth, who founded his company in Bologna in 1949 and stood not only for tuning accessories, but also for a long and successful history of sporting and technical success. The book "Abarth - Racing Cars - Collection 1949 - 1974" presents this unique success story in a comprehensible way.
"Only through ignorance can my name be forgotten"
Self-made man, gentleman, racer. That was Carlo Abarth, born in Austria, a mixture of Ferry Porsche and Enzo Ferrari, only more radical. He chose the fast lane as his path in life. It all began with Abarth tuning production vehicles, primarily from Italian car brands, and optimizing them as racing cars. Alongside the Abarth 124 Spider, the Fiat 500 Abarth is one of the best-known models from the tuning workshop. But Abarth is also famous for its racing cars, which were successfully entered in all FIA categories at the time.
Passion, skill and business acumen led the sporty Scorpions to numerous victories against the established competition. Abarth cars enjoyed an excellent reputation among racing drivers as well as sporty private drivers, while the Boss was considered rather inaccessible. Nevertheless, the drivers fought for the rare seats in the always competitive racing cars. Who would be so ignorant as to forget the life's work behind this melodious name, which has gone down timelessly in the annals of automotive history?
The Möll Collection
This four-hundred-page, trilingual edition (German/English/Italian) presents the collection of Abarth sports and racing cars assembled in Switzerland by former Abarth works driver Engelbert Möll. Möll, whose career was cut short by an accident in 1963 during his second stint as a works driver at Solitude, began brokering Abarth racing cars at the end of the 1970s.
This first intensive occupation with the fascinating history of Abarth after his abrupt end with Abarth was the reason to look out for rare models himself. He soon had an Abarth 1000 Bialbero as the basis of his collection. Möll later succeeded in acquiring rare vehicles from all over Europe, North America, Venezuela and Mexico and adding them to his collection. All in original condition and mostly with significant racing history.
With 50 vehicles, this collection has a museum format and covers the entire Abarth racing history up to the rare V8 and V12 Le Mans projects at the end of the 1960s. Anyone who has ever been lucky enough to visit this exhibition can get an idea of how glorious the times once were at Abarth. With this book, you and everyone else can gain a very special insight into the history of Abarth and succumb to its fascination.
Image-heavy
The book is divided into three chapters: a short introduction in which Carlo Abarth and Engelbert Möll are presented; the memories of famous racing drivers, engineers and mechanics as well as Abarth's wife Anneliese; and last but not least, the presentation of the vehicles from the Möll Collection: The Racing Car Collection 1949 - 1974.
Each model is portrayed in a one-page introduction and then staged in elaborate photographs on several subsequent pages by renowned international photographers. It must have been an enormous effort to unite locations, vehicles and photographers in order to show the variety and elegance of the Abarth creations in the truest sense of the word.
Conclusion - highly recommended
Carlo Abarth sold his company to the Fiat Group in 1971. After that, the Scorpio slowly but surely sank into obscurity and was only recently brought back to life. Today, Carlo Abarth's trademark is once again proudly emblazoned on sporty Fiat models. The Racing Cars Collection 1949-1974 from the legendary Italian racing car manufacturer is presented in this voluminous and prestigious text and illustrated book.
Abarth is the name of a car manufacturer that made its name mainly through the sporty upgrading of other brands, for example Simca and above all Fiat. And Abarth - Carlo - was also the name of the company's founder, originally a native of Vienna, who started out as a motorcycle racer and succeeded as an entrepreneur in Turin.
The Fiat Abarth "500 GT Coupé Zagato" from 1957 opens the presentation of the models from the collection, while the Fiat Abarth "750 Bialbero" from 1961 impresses with its rapid elegance. The "OT 2000 Periscopio" from 1968 is a real powerhouse. The Fiat Abarth "2000 Prototipo Pininfarina" (1974) is futuristic and powerful. The Abarth Simcas, with their spectacular sportiness, had their very own character.
Just a tiny selection from a huge book about a great brand. At € 78, the whole thing is in the high-price segment. In view of the effort involved, however, it is absolutely justified. This book is absolutely recommendable and creates the image of a brand that rightly enjoys cult status to this day, even if the texts are very short due to the trilingualism and the lack of both a table of contents and an index. But this certainly can't stop a real enthusiast from buying it.
Bibliographical information
- Title: "Abarth - Racing Cars - Collection 1949 -1974"
- Language: German, English, Italian
- Publisher: Delius Klasing
- Edition: 1st edition summer 2018
- Format: Hardcover, 254 x 300 mm
- Scope: 420 pages, 200 color photos, some black and white images
- ISBN: 978-3-667-11392-4
- Price: EUR 78.00
- Buy/order: Online at amazon.de, online at Delius-Klasing Verlag or in a well-stocked bookstore
