I wasn't going to post about this, but my friends from the HAMB that have been by my place told me I should. And then one of them sent this link... http://home.teleport.com/~pkust/Fiat Abarth Zagato 750GT.htm So here it is. A late '50s Italian Hot Rod. Fiat suspension & Floor, modified for Racing by Carlo Abarth, Body by Zagato... It belongs to a friend of mine. i'm going to do the metalwork on it, and then ship it to him so he can finish it... If this Thread is too far Off Topic, let me know and I'll get rid of it.
Looks good to me, future show car or Vintage Racer? I put new rockers on a Zagato bodied Aston Martin years ago, hope your project has less corrosion.
He'll build it as a Street Car, with some Track Day use... It will get a later model Abarth Engine ( straight bolt-in ). Corrision is really bad. Its so weak, I made a jig off a spare body I have for my 1000TC ( incase I ever Crash or Roll it ), that doubles as a rotissery. I got some new Floor pans for it, and some original steel floor pieces. The rest I'll make. Once I have the Steel part Strong & straight again, I can start on the Aluminum part...
I really like seeing that double bubble. I would also like seeing pictures of your progress as you do the metal work on it. --Matt
Back in the early 60s, a friend had one. Dave Klan was his name. At the time, they were building the 605 Freeway over the 10. This fellow had the misfortune of driving under a section of the bridge when it collapsed. Done. He was a really neat guy. Good cartoonist. He also had a '55 Studebaker Coupe with a Packard in it. Wayno
An acquaintance of mine had one back in the '60s. At one point he decided it needed a nice repaint, and stripped the body to bare metal. The aluminum bodywork under it looked like a sack of walnuts; apparently when Zagato finished roughing the body to shape, they troweled on about an inch of filler, and sculpted the final shape in that.
Click on the pics. "Bag of Walnuts" is an accurate description. M/S...you've got your work cut out for you on this one.
Italian hot rod? Hell, a set of skirts and a continental kit and it's an Italian KUSTOM Beautiful car, regardless
Hey, Zagato, the coachbuilder, was known for tissue thin panels used on their ultra light racing bodies. The high crowned "double-bubble" roof and deck panels are how they inparted strength to a thin, floppy panel. And yes, like anything automotive and Italian, from the 60's, they started to rot before the paint was dry. Swankey Devils C.C.
I like his cute little sister sitting beside too. A friend has a 600 he's puting a VW power plant in.
Its amazing how expensive any zagato-bodied car has gotten. About 7 years ago I was looking at a double-bubble with the pushrod engine in it for 17K, it was a clean car. The same car today is around 60K. They are a good-looking car though....
I was foolish enough to own a new '71 850 coupe for a year. Good autocross car,Koni's, giant sway bars,real Borrani magnesium wheels, lots of fun, but what a POS. I had a Compegnello{SP} catalog with all the Abarth stuff in it. I wonder where that got to? Also had the chance to buy a '71 OTIS, really neat looking car.
The Abarth doesn't need that much... I completely rewired it some tiome ago, and I put the Double A arm front suspension back under it. But I ordered some springs and for the springrate i went by memory. The Rate is wrong and I completely fucked up the handeling... So now I have to put the leaf back on, measure it and then order the right ones. And one of the Radiator cooling tubes has a pinhole rusted into it.. I had the Mallock out a while ago, but it needs some work. The brakes are bad, and I want to put a better rear axle in it. I'm also building a Turbo Setup for it...
I'm just guessing. I asked some guys that same question once, but they weren't able to tell me either...
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