68 Fiat Abarth 1300 Coupe

[vamark]

Anybody know of this car for sale at www.yesterdaysauto.com?  Would the chassis plate or body have a unique number or stamping to denote it as an Abarth?  The Abarth Buyer's Guide says there should be an oil temp and pressure gauge.  Where should they be?  The abarth badges on the sides and lack of rear seat are not correct for this type car...right? 

Thanks in advance...vamark

[Pantdino]

That link doesn't work for me, even when I take the ? mark out.
Yes, there should be an ABA serial number on the car.

Jim

[evannice]

http://adcache.collectorcartraderonline.com/10/3/9/88022439.htm

I just purchased this car today and then was looking around online to find more information and found this forum and this post!  The car looks authentic and it also looks like it needs some work to return it to stock configuration.  I'll post more photos and description when it comes home to my garage here in San Diego.

Best regards,
Eric

[guy moerenhout]

the suplement instrument that where sale like a lambo our somethings like this where like a option and not standard .I sold several and only one had this .The red car looks good .Beter is not to overrestore the car and drive it .The are made for it and it was one off favorits from C.Abarth .On this car there where NO ABA no on .There was only a Indentification plate from Abarth on.PS its one off my favorits to and share drivetrain with the Francis Lombardi Scorpione S (not SS)

[zippyfiat]

Nice looking car!  Not a bad price for the real thing.  It must have been repainted in red.  They only came in white or red, and the white ones had the red emblem on the front grille, and a red interior.  The wheels and hubcaps look original.  Too bad there aren't engine and interior photos.  There is no Abarth number stamped on these models, but there are numerous body modifications that identify it as a real Abarth and not a fake.  Mine does not have an oil temp. or pressure gauge.  I do not think the Abarth badges on the side are correct and were probably added when the car was repainted.  There should be a stock rear seat in place.

Gil

[evannice]

Hi Gil,

Thanks for the online eye!  I have owned a variety of Fiats and Alfas but never a Fiat Abarth, so I am grateful for any input about originality.  What exactly is the the ID plate in the engine compartment supposed to say?  Chassis # and engine#?  And will it just say Fiat even if it is an original Fiat Abarth?  I have spoken with the dealer and with the previous owner, and they confirm that the car was originally white.  He took out the back seat when the vinyl cracked ad built a wooden box shelf and covered it with carpet so he would have a little cargo area.  He says it just lifts out and he still has the seats and will include them.  I agree with you that the C pillar scorpion emblems are not correct.  I am in the San Diego area, where are you, and do you have one of these cars?  I will try to figure out how to post photos when I get the car.  Then we'll see just what we have, good and bad!

Best regards,
Eric

[viotti600]

Evan,

First off, nice to see you bought the car - congrats! =)

The ID plate that's on the left wall of the engine compartment is the standard FIAT-issued alloy tag as used on all Fiat 850 Coupes. The tag on this car should be stamped with an early-model 850 Coupe chassis code "100GC" followed by the chassis serial number. Just below that it will likely have the European Coupe engine code of "100.GC.000", then below that is the Spares number. It is a Fiat tag, & has nothing to do with Abarth. (Remember, the car was first assembled by Fiat as an 850 Coupe, then shipped to Abarth for transformation into a 1300/124).

Gil is correct: THERE WAS NO ABARTH ID TAG ON THESE CARS. Abarth did not use seperate ID tags on the 850-based cars like those that were used on the Fiat 500/600-based Abarth cars. That is why I looked for Abarth-specific body-reinforcement details in the photos when you emailed me about this car last week (which Gil also mentioned & knows about first-hand, now that he finally has a "real" car for himself - haha).

Funny about the original paint being white & not red (I told you so! LOL). As Gil stated, the white cars usually had the red lettering strip along the top of the front grille (the red cars had a grey/silver lettering strip with red letters).

The emblems on the car should be a large (~70mm tall) Abarth shield in the center of the front grille (with horizontally-striped tri-color top & 2nd series Scorpion design), a small rectangular "1300" badge on the front.driver-side edge of the hood (alloy frame with plastic insert), & the individual chromed "FIAT ABARTH 1300" letters/numbers on the right side of the rear body panel. I could not get the side-view photo of your car to download completely, so I haven't seen the other (C-pillar?) emblems you mentioned.

To answer your questions about Gil - he lives in Canada & recently bought an original 1300/124 Coupe.

Regards,
-JS.

[evannice]

Hi JS,

Wow, that is the information I was after!  And thanks so much for looking at the photos before purchase.  We are nearly neighbors, so I hope to see you with the car, perhaps at the cars and coffee meet in Irvine.  I'm sure that I at least need to service the fuel system before driving up there.  I'm sure I will find more confusing items and would welcome your experienced eye.

Eric Van Nice

[zippyfiat]

Hi Eric,

I just came across a website that seems to have photos of your car,

http://www.automaniaphotos.com/Galerie_Photos_Fiat_Abarth_1300.htm

There aren't many of these cars in the US that I know of.  There are only 3 -  Oscar R. in Texas (the original owner too), Kent B. in Colorado and Merkel Weiss in Calif.

I'd be interested in hearing how original your car is overall.  Does it have the original engine and accessories for example?  Mine came with a 1438cc pushrod and aftermarket intake manifold (Faza I think) with a single Weber DCOE, both good upgrades, but not original of course.  I have to thank J.S. for selling me some of the missing parts I needed for my car over the past couple of years, even before I had the real thing!!

Gil



Gil

[Pantdino]

Yes, there should be an ABA serial number on the car.

What I was referring to was a tag in the engine compartment listing the engine number with an ABA prefix. 
I can't seem to find the files now, but I'm pretty sure Grant Gauld sent me a digiphoto of the number plates in the Series 2 124/1300 he had showing a number plate with the ABA engine prefix.  Or maybe he just described it to me.

It's too bad I didn't see these posts a few days ago, as I was at Merkel's house Thursday night and could have taken some digiphotos of his car's number plates. He is the second owner, I believe, and knows the first, so whatever his car has is for sure original.

It would be cool to get your car  together with Merkel's at some point and take a photo. (He's in the Los Angeles area.) There is also a 1000 OTR that showed up at Merkel's gathering a while ago.

Grant?  Am I remembering correctly?

Jim

[evannice]

Hi Gil,

Thanks for the link, that is indeed the car I just bought.  They tell me those photos were taken at a car show in Minnesota August 2006.  It makes me cringe to see it out in the rain; I can just hear it rusting.

I have an idea how your car must scoot with that 1438 in it!  Back in the late 1970's I had a 1972 124 sedan and when it came time for a rebuild,  I called fellow San Diego area Fiat-Abarth crazy guy Greg Schmidt to see if he had an engine or an idea.  He said to come on over, he had  a mildly souped up 1438 pushrod for me.

When I got there, the engine happened to be in the back of an 850 spider.  He drove me around Pacific Beach scaring the daylights out of me.  Wow, that car was fast.  We pulled the engine out of that car and put it into my 124 sedan, and I'm sure he put something even wilder into the 850.

That is interesting that there may only be three others in the USA.  Merkel and JS are nearby.  I think I saw somewhere that there were 200 made.  Seems like most of them must have been modified and raced and crashed and rusted by now.  I will let you know what I find in the Minnesota car when it gets here.  I may need some help to figure out how to post photos on this site.  I would love to see photos and hear about your car as well.

Best regards,
Eric

[Pantdino]

At his house on Thursday Merkel said he thinks there were about 100-130 made.
His engine has been knocked out to about 1750cc, he said.  It goes quite well indeed.

Jim

[evannice]

[/quote]
It would be cool to get your car  together with Merkel's at some point and take a photo. (He's in the Los Angeles area.) There is also a 1000 OTR that showed up at Merkel's gathering a while ago.
[/quote]

Hi Jim, that sounds like a photo opportunity that we will need to make happen!  I see in his latest newsletter that a beautiful 100 OTR radiale showed up at a driving event.  It would be fun to get these cars all together.

Eric

[Pantdino]

Eric,

I sent you a personal message about how to contact Merkel for a gathering of the cars.

Jim

[evannice]

Hi Grant,

Thank you for sharing your information.  I can't wait to see the car and dig out the ID numbers!  I am also using this post to see if I can figure out how to attach a photo.  Sorry if it doesn't work.