06 Jul 01
Carlo Abarth established his tuning company in Turin in 1949. He specialised in Fiats and would eventually build cars that were separate models in their own right. By the early '60s, his company was turning out 3000 cars a year and employed 350 people, which put it on a similar scale to Cooper in the UK. One of the staple products of his operation was the 1958 Fiat 500, from which he wrought amazing performance improvements. By increasing the capacity of the little flat-twin, using a bigger carb and working on the valves, Abarth teased 40 bhp from the most highly-tuned SS versions which could manage almost 90 mph.
The standard factory 21 bhp 500 could only muster 55 mph, and had breathlessly dismal acceleration. The dramatically uprated handling and braking of the Abarth - bedecked with stripes and flared arches - made it the ultimate boy-racer's giant-killer. Production of the Abarth 500 ended in 1971 and Fiat took the company over in 1973, although the name lived on as a performance badge on tarted-up pseudo performance Fiats. You won't see many on British roads, and those you do are likely to be faked stock 500s.
