Description
For sale from our private collection, this is an original 1964 Abarth 595.
During this period, it was possible to buy a kit of parts to convert a standard Fiat 500 into an Abarth, but at the same time a few cars were converted from new by the Abarth works and this is one of those cars. It has a Fiat chassis number and also an Abarth one, stamped in the front bulkhead area.
Being a 1964 car, it is based on the Fiat 500D, complete with suicide doors, single round speedometer and lots of early detail. The rear of the roof is a bolt in piece on a 500D and the front section normally a fabric sunroof. Only Abarths had a metal bolt in panel to replace the fabric roof and this is one of those.
Sold new in Italy, it has a complete ownership record from the Automobile Club D’Italia confirming it’s birth as an Abarth and showing eight Italian owners between 1964 and 2015, the last since 1988. It was then bought by the Italian Abarth guru Tony Berni in early 2015 and we bought it from him later the same year.
Over the years, the specification of the car has been brought up to full 695SS specification of nearly 700cc and an estimated 38 bhp, with the later wheelarches and banded steel wheels. However, it has never been retro-modified, retaining the transverse leaf front spring and drum brakes all round. All of this work was done in Italy. Tony Berni was particularly complimentary about the engine in this car for it has a surprising turn of speed and such torque that while not exactly ‘stump pulling’ is certainly handy. It’s impossibly cheeky out on the road and handles well too, in a go-kart kind of way.
Having imported it into the UK and registered it here, we have since used it for a number of shows and other events. It has also been featured in Auto Italia a number of times, most notably being tested at Chobham test track. More recently, it was featured in Classic and Sportscar, tested by Richard Heseltine and pitted against a Giannini 500TV.
Always maintained in our workshops and used sparingly but regularly, it presents as an older restoration with age-related defects in the paint but it has an authenticity about it that should not be spoiled. It also makes an appearance on the home page of the UK Abarth specialist Middle Barton Garage, a further acknowledgement of it’s essential ‘rightness’.
The more exotic Abarth cars seem to be continually rising in value yet this still represents entry into that exclusive club for a relatively small outlay. Our car comes with a history file including copies of the original Italian documents, original Italian numberplates and an incredibly rare original handbook for the Abarth 595.
