Abarth 208 A Spider Boano - Carlo Abarth's American debut

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Abarth 208 A Spider Boano - Carlo Abarth's American debut

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Created on January 14, 2025

Text:

Martin Sigrist

Photos:

Daniel Reinhard

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Frederico Vecchio – Courtesy of RM/Sotheby's

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - The 208 A remained a one-off

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - The color combination is original

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - The Boano design would still have looked modern 10 years later

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - Side exhaust system like the 207 A

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - Minimalist rear lighting

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - The 208 A was produced with the US market in mind

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - Ahead of its time with folding headlights

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - The folding headlight solved the problem of the minimum headlight height on the US market

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - Large parking lights and headlights in waiting position

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - Nothing less is possible

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - And the light follows at the very end

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - female co-drivers take note

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - No room for luggage

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - Nardi wooden steering wheel and round instruments

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - White leatherette

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - 5-speed gearbox with gearshift extension

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - Standing pedals

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - Handbrake in the passenger footwell

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - Above about 5500 rpm, you should put a stop to it

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - The promised 180 top speed was somewhat ambitious

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - No questions about the instrumentation

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - The 208 A has no soft top

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - The interior is completely original

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - US style

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - Too good to be restored

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - Well aged leather seats

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - Simple door card

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - Despite the lack of a soft top, there are windshield wipers

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - The Abarth was on the road in the US state of Maine for several years

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - Fiat 1100 engine as the basis

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - The Fiat engine with two Weber carburetors delivers 67 hp

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - Fiat bumper engine

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - Sophisticated carburetor arrangement with slanted intake manifolds

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - The car has never been fully restored

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - Horn and ignition coil in close proximity

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - Off-line oil filter

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - a sheet metal box frame is hidden under the bodywork

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - Small, poisonous Scorpione

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - Salon Turin 1955

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - rear view

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Abarth 208 A Boano Spider (1955) - Stile Transatlantico

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Abarth 207 A (1955) - The destination of the 207 A was the USA right from the start

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Abarth 207 A (1955) - Presentation in Turin 1955

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Abarth 207 A (1955) - Presentation of the racing version in Turin

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Abarth 207 A (1955) - Spare wheel and tank in the rear

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Abarth 207 A (1955) - Abarth 207 A engine

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Abarth 207 A (1955) - Low center of gravity

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Abarth 207 A (1955) - Lightweight and compact chassis

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Abarth 207 A (1955) - Platform frame in box construction of the Abarth 207 to 209

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Abarth 207 A (1955) - Rear-mounted Weber twin carburetor system

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Abarth 207 A (1955) - Flat radiator for a low-slung front end

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Abarth 207 A (1955) - View over the engine of the Abarth 207 A, which is identical in construction to the 208 and the 209

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Abarth 207 A (1955) - The technical elements came from the Fiat 1100

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Abarth 205A (1950) - Carlo Abarth with his early work in his own company

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Abarth 208 A Spider (1955) - Auto e Moto d'Epoca 2024

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Le Sabre (1953) - 1956 in front of the auditorium of the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan

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Summary

What becomes apparent in its early phase was Abarth's ambition to be categorized as a "real" car manufacturer - something that would continue throughout the company's history until its sale to Fiat in 1972. Abarth operated, perhaps even more clearly than Ferrari, on three tracks: with racing cars, road-going racing cars and more comfort-oriented Gran Turismo cars. For this reason, there were a whole series of Abarth models in the 1950s that were not primarily built for motorsport purposes - such as our 208 A Boano Spider.

This article contains the following chapters

A new competitor with ambitions
Folding headlights as a necessity
An American story
Skillful mixture
Repaint by Corrado Lopresto

Estimated reading time: 9min

Preview (beginning of the article)

It is attributed to the American designer Harley Earl, the panoramic windshield. The Le Sabre, first shown at the GM Motorama in 1951, amazed the audience of this roadshow series of events with its wide windshield. However, the idea was not entirely new, as these "wrap-around windscreens" also appeared elsewhere at the beginning of the 1950s: in boat building. Although still manufactured in two parts, the "panoramic windscreen", as it is described in German, was first seen on a boat built by yacht builder Riva on Lake Como the year before - in Italy. What followed shortly after the Second World War, on both sides, was a lively, mutual copying and inspiration of designers. A rather banal example that appeared in a similar form at many other European manufacturers: in 1949, the Fiat Topolino was given a horizontal radiator design and headlights set into the fenders, as the Americans had already practiced on many models shortly before the start of the war. The Americans in turn perfected the pontoon shape, which Pininfarina brought to full bloom for the first time with the Cisitalia 202. The American Kaiser of 1947 is considered to be the first four-door production car with such a body style - even though it is unlikely to have been influenced by Italy. But the signs of the times had arrived here and there in the same way and were understood.

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