by "The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock" (jukesjukesjukes)
Published 02/03/2017 at 13:49
by "The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock" (jukesjukesjukes)
Published 02/03/2017 at 13:49
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STARS: 1
It finally had a price drop from $35k to $25k.
"Junkrat aka Rick Sanchez: Fury Road Edition" (realasabass)
02/03/2017 at 14:02, STARS: 0
I worked at a woman’s house once and there were two of these in the garage that belonged to her ex-husband. When we arrived she told us not to ask to buy the cars in the garage, they weren’t for sale. There was also one of these, or a kit car that looks like one.
They were all in various states of repair, but looked very complete. Oh yeah, the two 500's were race cars. They looked like this
There were photos on the wall of all the cars racing from the 60's to the 90's. Felt sorry for that guy.
"AuthiCooper1300" (rexrod)
02/03/2017 at 14:12, STARS: 1
Well, that white thing is a 600, not a 500.
600s were bigger in all dimensions and had 4-cylinder engines, whereas Fiat 500 have in-line twins (the Steyr-Puch, an Austrian cousin, had a very interesting flat-twin instead, to go up all those high mountain roads)-
Unless by “like this” you mean with the engine lid propped up, the fairing for the front radiator and oil cooler, etc.
Nice pics though, and very interesting story indeed.
"AuthiCooper1300" (rexrod)
02/03/2017 at 14:19, STARS: 0
That could be a 500 that has had some Abarth parts fitted. However, it looks as if someone wanted to build a racy 500 replica but was not very familiar with how real 500s used to look like back in the day.
The wheels in particular are... not right. Ditto for the front and rear fibreglass “bumpers”.
I have no words to describe that steering wheel.
"Junkrat aka Rick Sanchez: Fury Road Edition" (realasabass)
02/03/2017 at 15:06, STARS: 0
Actually I did a little digging after your comment. The answer is neither 600 nor 500.
http://www.conceptcarz.com/z22075/Abarth-1000TC.aspx
That was only one of the cars, I remember one being a 2cyl. I was intrigued by the flat engine being an air-cooled enthusiast.
It’s also funny that the random pic I pulled off the internet was the exact car.
"AuthiCooper1300" (rexrod)
02/03/2017 at 15:22, STARS: 0
You mean one of the cars was a Steyr-Puch then? It must have been a TR - very nice car and not at all usual.
If I remember correctly the engine was designed by Erich Ledwinka, son of Hans (of Tatra fame).
Incidentally, I was quite shocked to read in the conceptcarz page that the engine lid “acted as a wing, generating downforce”. Not so, I am afraid. What happens with the lid up is that the flow of air at the rear becomes more similar to a Kamm tail, which means that now you have a much more properly streamlined shape with less turbulence - and the car goes faster.
I think it has never been ascertained whether Abarth or his people found this by design or purely by chance, when actually trying to find a way to cool those engines better.
"AuthiCooper1300" (rexrod)
02/03/2017 at 19:38, STARS: 0
I see you have changed a bit your posting. Now I understand better what you wanted to say with “Neither” (which was what you just wrote at first).
When I said “a 600" I meant a
Fiat 600-based
car, which is what the pictures of the white and yellow car show.
Abarth would sell you bits (or even
complete cars
built by them) with a myriad of possible engine/head/carb/exhaust/camshaft/etc combinations. It would be not that easy to distinguish at first glance, for instance, a Fiat 600-based Abarth 850 (850 cc) from a Fiat 600-based Abarth 1000 (1 litre) or even a 1000 TC Radiale (1 litre, hemispherical combustion chambers).
However, all those would certainly look very different from an Abarth product based on the Fiat 500 basic shell, layout and engine, which is what I was aiming at.
In the same way, some Fiat 500-based Abarth models are called “595" because that was the engine capacity... but the body, block, suspension etc are still Fiat 500.
Incidentally, for the purposes of visual identification and motoring history I would also consider a Steyr-Puch TR a “Fiat 500-based” car, even though I am well aware of the differences between a Steyr-Puch 500 and a Fiat 500.
Funny indeed that the TC you are showing was one of the cars in the garage.
By the way, it’s OK to get confused with Abarth (or Fiat) products if you don’t live in Europe. There used to be legions of small Italian companies that souped up cars or made racers; English-speaking car historians humorously called them all “Etceterini” for a reason.
By the same token I usually get completely lost with all the different kinds of models, versions and model-year varieties of well-known muscle cars, pony cars or just American cars in general.
"Junkrat aka Rick Sanchez: Fury Road Edition" (realasabass)
02/03/2017 at 22:09, STARS: 1
I had never even heard of Abarth at the time. I did not even know they were Fiats until they introduced the new 500. I was pretty slow on the uptake, but finally put 2+2 together. I knew they were something special and it was always nice to see something special in a customer’s garage.