The Fiat Abarth 1000 TC Berlina Corsa Tipo 5M was the ultimate iteration of the Abarth competition cars based on the diminutive Fiat 600. This family of cars forged a significant success record in 1960’s motorsport.
Fast Facts
- The Abarth performance cars based on the Fiat 600 were the competition to beat for the British Mini Coopers.
- Abarth made modifying the Fiat 600’s basic engine into something of an art and the little cars made their mark on motorsport during the 1960’s.
- The final iteration of the Abarth Fiats was the Fiat Abarth 1000 TC Berlina Corsa Tipo 5M which were successfully raced through 1967 and beyond.
- One of these cars is up for sale on Bring a Trailer at the time of publication.
I have a bit of a soft spot for Abarth cars that comes from my boyhood days in London in England visiting the Earls Court Motor Show. These were the sorts of diminutive sports and racing cars that captured my imagination.
So I vividly remember the cars based on the Fiat 600 and the sort of performance they were capable of.
Carlo Abarth was an Italian/Austrian and he founded Abarth & C. S.p.A. in 1949, a period of austerity throughout Europe, but a time when people wanted to go motor racing and while over in the United States they could create racing cars with big engines in Italy there was a demand for affordable racing cars and that would blossom into the creation of small high performance machines based on the Fiat 600.
These high performance cars based on the Fiat 600 were the ones that captured my attention back in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Among the cars that I must admit to drooling over was the Abarth Bialbero which was, in my sight, rather like a miniature Ferrari.
Abarth were best known for their racing exploits and the cars with which they forged such successes on the race track. While there were a variety of cars that they built and campaigned some of the most memorable were those based on the Fiat 600.
Abarth had begun making performance modifications for the Fiat 600 and then moved into offering a modified car in the form of the Fiat Abarth 750 Derivazione. This car was fitted with a Fiat 600 engine with its capacity increased to 750cc, performance carburetor, camshaft, and stronger steel crankshaft. These cars went on to make their mark in International Touring Class competition.
Following on from the 750 Derivazione in 1960 Abarth used the Fiat 847cc engine for a new model, the 850 TC (TC standing for “Tourisimo Competizione). This group of car models included the 850 TC Nürburgring Corsa, a name inspired by an Abarth 850 TC first, second and third trifecta in the Nürburgring 500 km race.
The 850 TC gave the Abarth cars their rather odd feature of having the engine cover lid fixed open to make room for the carburetor and other plumbing that prevented the engine hood from being closed.
The open engine cover made for better air circulation so it was practical, if a tad unusual. But the engines of the Abarth Fiat 600 competition cars were not going to get smaller, and so the fixed open engine lid became a bit of an Abarth trademark.
1962 saw Abarth add a new model, the 1000 TC Berlina whose engine produced 62hp: and this model was followed on by the 1000 TC Berlina Corsa with a 68hp engine and small front radiator in 1963.
The Abarth 1000 TC Berlina Corsa went on to win the Tour de France Touring Class, and the Nürburgring 500 km up against the formidable British Mini Coopers.
For 1964 the power of the 1000 TC Berlina Corsa was upped to 78hp which helped the cars have another successful season of competition.
1965 saw Abarth create the final version of this diminutive road rocket in the form of the Abarth 1000 TC Corsa Type III.
The Type III was equipped with a larger front radiator which removed the need for a rear mounted radiator and fan.
The Type 5M (Tipo 5-Marce) was fitted with a new five speed manual gearbox and with a rather unique and novel wiper linkage system that was highly effective and particularly useful if the car was to be campaigned in the mud and crud of rally competition.
Toward the end of their competitive life these cars were still being given improvements such as the fitting of a larger full-width radiator shroud and 1966 cars were typically painted with a checkered pattern on the roof.
As with so many competition cars once the Abarth racers reached the end of their competition life they were often scrapped so very few tend to survive. One of these 1000 TC Berlina Corsa has managed to survive the decades since the 1960’s and it is for sale on Bring a Trailer at the time of publication.
The 1000 TC Berlina Corsa Tipo 5M has the Abarth number 210*1651* and has the 982cc engine with a tuned intake manifold, Weber twin-choke downdraft carburetor, performance camshaft, followers, springs, valves, pistons, connecting rods, deep sump and oil pump, and the five speed transmission.
The car comes with documentation and looks to have been assigned to the Abarth Factory Team.
If you are looking for one of these rather rare Abarth racing cars then this one might just be worth assessing.
Photo Credits: All pictures courtesy Bring a Trailer.
Jon Branch is the founder and senior editor of Revivaler and has written a significant number of articles for various publications including official Buying Guides for eBay, classic car articles for Hagerty, magazine articles for both the Australian Shooters Journal and the Australian Shooter, and he’s a long time contributor to Silodrome.
Jon has done radio, television, magazine and newspaper interviews on various issues, and has traveled extensively, having lived in Britain, Australia, China and Hong Kong. His travels have taken him to Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan and a number of other countries. He has studied the Japanese sword arts and has a long history of involvement in the shooting sports, which has included authoring submissions to government on various firearms related issues and assisting in the design and establishment of shooting ranges.
