Good things, like coachbuilt sporty Italian coupés, come in small packages. This is especially true when we’re talking about a car from the height of the carrozzerie era, in the ‘50s and ‘60s, when Italy led the world in automotive styling. Paint it red and slap a scorpion emblem on it, and you have a chef’s kiss of a gem.
It all started with the revolutionary Fiat 600, the Turin firm’s first and most popular rear-engined model, launched in 1955. The genealogy of that particular model never ceases to amaze me, but it’s fair to say that all rear-engined Fiats (500, 126, 850, 133, and by extension the Simca 1000) owe it a lot.
The 600 existed as a two-door saloon, a van and as the Multipla proto-MPV, as well as a chassis for coachbuilders to practice their art. Add a gazillion variants outside of Italy (Zastava, SEAT, Fiat Argentina, Neckar, Steyr-Puch…) and the family tree starts to look like a hedge maze. The Abarth versions are the pinnacle of the breed, both in terms of performance and style, though one could order the steak without the sizzle, as shown by the almost anonymous-looking berlina above.
We’ve had a good look at a close relative of this car in the doubly-bulbous shape of the Fiat-Abarth 750GT Berlinetta Zagato. The 750 was the first generation of Abarth’s variations on the 600 chassis; the 850, which appeared in 1959, was the second time the little 4-cyl. was augmented, this time to 847cc.
Well, as usual with Abarth, it was actually a little more complicated than that. There was an 800 model, as well as the 850 – both of these were launched at the 1959 Geneva Motor Show both as the Scorpione coupé and the Riviera drop-top. The 57hp 850S was added a little thereafter.
Our feature car would be the non-S version with the 52hp engine. It replaced the 750GT as Abarth’s fancy coachbuilt special, though the Zagato cars did overlap with the Allemano ones for about 18 months. The added displacement and horsepower were necessary to make the newer models as fast as the lighter and more aerodynamic Zagato coupés.
A few words about the carrozzeria might not me amiss. Seraphino Allemano opened a car repair shop in Turin in 1928; by 1935, the place had successfully transitioned into a full-fledged coachbuilder. Fiat and Lancia chassis were the usual fare, augmented post-war by a lot of Maseratis, a few Ferraris and quite a few Abarths, as shown above.
Foreign cars also became part of the mix in the ‘50s, with Jaguars, Panhards and Renaults, as well as a noteworthy Prince Skyline coupé. Design work, in the postwar era, was almost inevitably authored by Giovanni Michelotti.
The great Michelotti was at the top of his game in the late ‘50s. I don’t know if the photos do this car justice, but in the metal it’s absolutely gorgeous.
It’s impossible not to compare it to the Zagato cars that preceded it. Those have their own qualities, but they appear quite fussy next to this. That tail design is as clean as can be for a rear-engine car, and the 850 Allemano’s greenhouse looks a lot airier than the hunchback 750GTZ’s.
Of course, if you wanted something even airier, the Riviera convertible was also available. It was, however, even more expensive and heavier than the Scorpione coupé, which according to one source seems to have hampered its sales quite a bit. Apparently, Abarth were unable to shift a number of units they had in stock and ended up shipping them, for a discounted price, to Cisitalia Argentina, where a few were rebadged and sold locally. Some coupés may have also gone to South America too.
Therein lay the main problem: the Fiat-Abarth 850 was relatively affordable in regular saloon guise, i.e. with the standard-issue Fiat body, but as soon as the price semi-bespoke tailoring was added to the total cost, these little Italian beauties became downright ruinous.
That’s not to say one did not get any value for one’s money – the level of finish is as good here as it was on Allemano’s Maseratis. But this was a small coupé able to reach 160kph at most, not a massive 5000GT. Doing something a little cheaper (and lighter) might have suited it better.
Abarth did try to sell these in the US (hence the brochure seen earlier), but they retailed at prices exceeding that of a Porsche 356 Speedster or an Alfa Giulietta Spider. And sexy though the Scorpione was, the Porsche and the Alfa had a much bigger engine, superior build quality and genuine racing cred. The same issue would later plague other upstarts such as ASA.
Thus, the little Abarth did not do all that well abroad – and it appears not to have any sales records in Italy either. Production numbers are extremely fuzzy, though: sources seem to agree that “fewer than 200” were made, others place the bar at 41 coupés (plus a handful of spiders) and some go as low as “about 30 units.” Suffice to say, I’m overjoyed to have caught this one.
The same goes for Carrozzeria Allemano, unfortunately. They were usually able to keep their head above water, but were always more of a second-tier player compared to the likes of Vignale, Ghia, Bertone or PF. They closed shop in 1965, three years after the last 850GT Scorpione left the scene.
There’s nothing quite like Italian styling of this period. They’re not all Lancia Flaminias, Ferrari Californias or Alfa Romeo Spiders, but even relatively minor bit-players like Abarth and Allemano could create something akin to magic. They just couldn’t sell all that many…
Related post:
Curbside Classic: 1959 Fiat-Abarth 750 GT Coupé Zagato – Double The Bubble, Double The Fun
This is a rare find! Being a 1962 it would be one of the last sold as Abarth, before the ceased production and sold off the leftovers to Cisitalia. Abarth had been a partner in Cisitalia, but that company failed in Italy and only their South Americam branch remained by that point
The issue of the 850 here in Italy was that the Giulietta Sprint had a similar cost, and was more “car” compared to the toy-like 850 coupè
Alfa Romeo was also at the top of it’s game and carried a lot of prestige in the name. Abarth was making a name for himself with his racing team, but he never had the image of Alfa
Yes, the big issue was that these small carozzerias were building these cars essentially by hand, beating the metal panels over wooden bucks in the traditional manner that Italy had become so good at. That works for an expensive car like a Ferrari or such but becomes essentially impossible for these little Fiat-based cars.
Pininfarina saw this problem coming from way back which is why he worked so hard to build a proper body-building “factory” where he could build steel-body versions of Fiats and such and be able to sell them at much more reasonable prices.
The upside of these little Abarths is that nowadays anything with a carozzeria hand-built alloy body is worth serious money, no matter how small the engine.
Does anyone know if there are any good English-language books on the major Italian design houses? I’d love to have a quick reference guide and a little bit of history of the big names; they all had their own house styles that could be adapted to cars of all shapes and sizes. The 1950s through the 1970s was a fascinating time in Italian (and pretty much all) automotive styling.
This Abarth is a beauty; I like it better than most of the other Allemano cars I’ve seen.
Not off the top of my head. I have a couple of big and gorgeous books on Pininfarina and Giugiaro, but not something that covers the whole industry during that time. I highly suspect something like that exists; all these Italian carrozeria-built cars have a very intense following (and commensurate high values).
Maybe Don Andreina will chime in.
Just FYI, the best resource on the web, in my opinion, is the coachbuild.com forum pages.
Here’s their Italy section: https://www.coachbuild.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=151
All the big names, and the not-so-big ones, in one website. Some have quite a lot of info, others don’t. But there’s nothing better in English, I reckon. And of course, they have a British section, a German one, an American one, a French one and so on. Tons of photos, too.
What a delightful little car. Of the Allemano’s Abarths I would say it is the best looking one. A bit advantage of these over a custom bodied Ferrari or Maserati is they are physically smaller to store and would be much easier to keep maintained.
It certainly is lovely .
-Nate
Lovely, thank you Tatra. But for me the prettiest little rear engine coupe is the 1971 Simca 1200 S coupe you found 2 years ago (minus the vinyl roof): 1200 cc and 80-85 hp makes a more usable classic driver.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-european/curbside-classic-1971-simca-1200-s-dress-to-impress/