Let's take a short break from the Ferraris and Lamborghinis everybody acknowledges as the best Italian motors and turn our attention to the past.
Just imagine you're in 1957. The war has been over for 12 years and it may be time to stop driving small bubble cars with scooter engines. What do you upgrade to, a Lamborghini? No, that's impossible, since the Bull was founded in 1963, 6 years later.
Say hello to the 1957 Fiat Abarth Zagato 750 GT Corsa, a classic Italian car that's as rare as they come. It was based on the Fiat 600, then tuned by Abarth and sent over to Zagato for one of their double-bubble coupe bodies. You may know Zagato as the company who built the, TZ3 Stradale, the Z4 Zagato, the Aston Martin V12 and we could probably go on forever.
There were only about 600 of these coupes and of those just 21 where the 750 GT Corsa models. This one is owned by Carl Gustav Magnusson, who had one just like this in Europe, before he decided to move Stateside.
You guys may remember that at the Geneva Motor Show in 2011, Zagato and Fiat tried to have another go at making such a car. It was based on the Fiat 500, but had a chopped roof and double-bubble rear glass. Under the bonnet was an engine we're not that keen on, the two-cylinder, 105 horsepower TwinAir. No wonder people love the phrase "they don't make them like they used to" so much.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News