Mystery Abarth Zagato Double Bubble
The seller of this Abarth Zagato is not even sure what year it is. He does however claim that the person he purchased it from had parked it in 1965 and it had not been moved until he picked it up about five months ago. There is not much information included on the eBay listing, but this may end up being a great Abarth project if the reserve is not outrageous. Bidding is at $1 with seven days left.
This car is going to be a big project, but looks to be in better shape than the Hawaiian Abarth we featured a while back. It looks like the person who dscovered this car wasn’t really prepared to start the restoration. The original black paint has been stripped off and many of the parts have been removed. We hope this car goes to someone who knows what they are doing so it can make back to the road and not left to sit in boxes.
Considering the black plates, it looks like this car has lived its whole life in California so there is a chance that the corrosion is minimal. The seller is including many spare parts including a few extra transmissions and engines. We have no idea if they are actual Abarth items or just plain old Fiat ones.
With its Abarth racing heritage and Zagato designed body, this little car definitely deserves to be restored. It will be interesting to see where this auction goes and we hope someone will get a bargain on this one. Check out the seller’s Flickr album below. Any Abarth experts here who can share some more knowledge about this car?
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Comments
this is a very rare limited edition 1950 Abarth 850 record Monza Berlinetta Zagato(built by fiat over the 1950 850 chassy and mechanically modified by Abarth and styled by Zagato also known by Italdesign/ Bertone)
The plates are at least thirty/forty years old, the last time I saw one of those was at a Fiat garage in L.A. about 1967 or 68.
To my knowleadge this is a 1956 or??57 Abarth 750 GT (Record Monza) Zagato.
The style of taillights (& mounting areas on rear fenders) show this to be a 1958-on car. The VIN confirms it as a late-1958 Fiat 600 chassis. The Campione Italiano flag/arrow side emblem shows it as a 1959 model (emblem denotes Abarth GT750 wins in 1956-57-58 championships, 1958 models had this emblem with only 1956 & 1957 written on it). Original California license plates up to 1962 were gold (yellow) with black text, the black w/yellow text plates shown are 1963-on (so, not original & not YOM eligible in CA). The engine shown next to the car is a later Fiat 600D type block with some of the Abarth 750 external items & a Fiat 850 Spider/Coupe exhaust unit mounted on it. The other engine shown (orange block) may likely be the original 750 engine (at least it’s the correct early Fiat 600 type & has a 750 distributor/tach-drive shaft sticking up on the left). The transaxle shown is the correct early Fiat 600 type, and may have the original Abarth 750 ring & pinion set in it (check the alloy tag seen on the side of the case).@Omar: are you just making sh#t up? Wrong year, make, model & stylist (Italdesign? HELLO?). =/
These DBs used Fiat 1100 or Metropolitan taillights. Mine was a ’59 with an 850 motor that turned the opposite direction. 750 parts are very scarce.
This is a 750 GT (aka “Double Bubble”). It is not a Record Monza. Different car!
Here’s a better looking one.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83TgQykJHBI&feature=related
This is a car that is almost certainly from early in 1959 despite the late 1958 Fiat chassis number. 1958 is essentially impossible and 1960 is unlikely. It could well be from later in 1959 than we might presume based on a review of nearby chassis numbers. The Zagato body number may give us a better clue when considered with the chassis number? It appears to be a decent project. It seems it is with the third owner today as the prior owner has indicated that it was purchased from the orignal owner. John
California “black” plates. Although not eligible for “YOM” status (technically a kind of personalized plate in California) the black plates can be used on the car in California if the existing paperwork allows an ownership transfer without having to issue new plates. It may or may not be a routine process depending on what sort of paperwork is with the car. John
Being able to register the car in CA with these CA black plates would most likely depend on if that particular license plate number/letter configuration has already been re-issued on a newer CA plate & is in current use on another CA vehicle.
We have a ’58. Who ever bought this vehicle, contact me at [email protected]. Maybe we can help.