The Fiat-Abarth 750 GT Zagato is one of Carlo Abarth’s most iconic designs. Based on the humble Fiat 600 the 750 GT Zagato was a lively performance car with unique looks and adrenaline pumping performance.
Fast Facts
- The Fiat-Abarth 750 GT Zagato is one of the most iconic of Carlo Abarth’s creations.
- The GT Zagato featured the trademark “double-bubble” roof, and double-bubble engine bay lid.
- A Fiat-Abarth 750 GT Zagato project car is for sale on Bring a Trailer at time of publication.
The Fiat-Abarth 750 GT Zagato made its debut at the 1956 Geneva Motor Show. Austrian Carlo Abarth (aka Karl Abarth), who was an importer and distributor of Porsche automobiles, and he had worked with Ferry Porsche in the years after the Second World War.
Carlo Abarth had located in Turin, Italy and had adopted the Italian penchant for surprisingly fast cars. He had the imagination to understand the speed potential of the utilitarian Fiat 600 and set about re-creating it into something that exuded adrenaline pumping excitement.
Abarth created high performance versions of the Fiat 600 which used the original bodywork and others fitted with custom GT sports car bodywork by Bertone and Zagato.
The first of the Zagato alloy bodied Fiat-Abarth 750 cars was shown at the 1955 Turin Motor Show. The car featured the trademark Zagato “double-bubble” roof atop the aerodynamic lightweight body.
That car was fitted with a 747cc SOHC inline four cylinder engine and it was upgraded in 1958 to a DOHC engine of the same capacity producing 57bhp, which was well able to propel the diminutive 750 GT Zagato’s 1179lb (535kg) weight up to white knuckle velocities.
Some of these fabulous little cars were used as road cars and some were stripped down and used on the race track.
One of these racing cars is for sale on Bring a Trailer at time of publication.
This car was converted for racing in the 1980’s and was campaigned at such circuits as Laguna Seca, Thunderhill, and Sonoma into the early 2000s.
Work was begun on stripping down main components with the aim of re-building: this work included disassembly of the Tipo 100 inline-four engine and four speed transaxle. The transaxle was rebuilt but the engine remains in a stripped down state.
The car is set up for racing with an internal roll-bar and aluminum racing seat.
The seller lists the following parts as coming with the sale car.
Three Tipo 100 engine blocks
Three Fiat-marked cylinder heads
Two Astech cylinder heads and
Two Astech intake manifolds
Weber 40 DCOE 2 carburetor
Triger timing belt setup
PBS finned alloy oil pan
Eight pistons and connecting rods
Two camshafts
Two crank shafts
Two oil pumps
Spare oil pan
Valve cover
Engine gasket set
Four-into-one header and muffler
Rebuilt transmission
Flywheel and clutch assembly
Starter
Alternator
This is a very interesting project car which would suit someone looking for a car of this class to complete the re-build for racing. There’s no doubt it would prove to be a lively and exciting machine to race.
You will find the Bring a Trailer sale page for this rather unique project car if you click here.
Picture 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.
