Picture of the Week - Abarth

Carlo Abarth built some of the best sportscars in the 60ies and early 70ies. Many won big races despite a engine size deficit. And many great driver was a works driver with the Abarth team. Many of the cars were beautifully shaped, but efficiency was more of a concern for Carlo Abarth than beauty. When he sold his company to Fiat the end was soon to come, too bad. Today you can again buy Abarth cars, but they are mostly tuned Fiat derivates. However there's a rumour that a new lightweight sportcar might be arriving!

Fiat Mulipla - to ugly to survive?

One of the most controversial designs of the last 10+ years probably is/was the Fiat Multipla, built between 1999 and 2004. It was quite unique with the lights just below the front screen and with the wheels basically at every corner. Also the six seat configuration was somewhat special. But it was at the same time a pretty practical cars, kids loved the middle seat in the front and the handling of the car was much better than it looked! After all the critic Fiat decided to smoothen the car in 2004 and with this destroyed the design in my eyes. The Mk2 Multipla is just an ordinary car and lacks the uniqueness of the Mk1. I almost had bought one in the early 2000s, but I didn't. I would like to see more brave designs and concepts on the street, just like the Fiat Multipla!

Performance is relative - Opel Kadett vs Ford 12M vs NSU Sport Prinz vs Fiat 850 Coupé vs Renault Caravelle vs Sima 1000 Coupé vs Karmann Ghia

Sportcars are expected to run faster than the everyday saloon car an average citizen drives. Today you expect 0-100 km/h in less than 7 seconds, a top speed of at least 250 km/h and premium cornering abilities. In the mid sixties this wasn't that different except that the expectations were much lower. What you see illustrated here is a comparison test of small (and affordable) sportscars - Ford 12 M TS Coupé, Opel Kadett Coupé, NSU Sport Prinz, Fiat 850 Coupé, Simca 1000 Coupé, Renault Caravelle S and Karmann Ghia 1300. The bi-weekly published journal Hobby measured 16.1 seconds for the fastest car - Ford 12 M TS Coupé - for the sprint from 0 to 100 km/h. The slowest cars were the NSU Sport Prinz and the Karmann Ghia 1300 with 26 seconds. Today, you will barely find a car that is taking more than 20 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h at all. But in the sixties the best sold car in our geography was the Volkswagen Beetle and this one took 30 to 40 seconds to get to 100 km/h and the top speed was about 120 km/h. So in comparison the Ford was quite quick and with a top speed of 150 km/h a benchmark! It remains to be said that these cars too between 45 and 55 meters to break down from 100 km/h comparable to 32 to 38 meters today.
Gladly enough a number of these cars have survived until today, you can still see the Fiat 850 Coupé being used in daily traffic today for example. And if you ever have the opportunity to drive one of these you will see that they feel much faster than they are. As said, performance is relative!

Select your car of the year 1967

In the year 1967 the German magazine "Hobby" asked its reader to select their "car of the year". What is interesting is the choice offered, sort of a preselection. They had three categories based on engine size. In the "small" section you will find a lot of cars that people barely remember today. Cars like Autobianchi Primula Coupé, Simca Sportscoupé 1200 S, Sunbeam Imp Californian, NSU Sport-Prinz Coupé, Renault Caravelle, Bond Equipe GT or Matra Jet 5 are rare finds on today's roads and even at oldtimer meetings. I would reckon that people today don't recognize half of the cars on the first picture any more. Only the Alpine 1100 Coupé, VW 1500 Karmann-Ghia, Fiat 124 Sport Coupé and Lancia Fulvia probably are cars many people would remember.
With the bigger cars it's a bit easier. Less known cars here are probably Reliant Scimitar, Glas 3000 V8, Bristol 409, Alfa-Romeo 2600 SZ or Fiat 2300 S Coupé. The kings of the road of 1967 like the Jaguar E-Type, Iso Grifo, Maserati Mistral, Maserati Ghibli, Lamborghini Miura or Mercedes-Benz 280 SL probably are still in the memory of any car interested person having lived in the 60ies or even later.
So, what would my pick today? In the first group Alpine Coupé, Lotus 46 Europe, Honda S800, Alfa Romeo GT 1300 Junior and Matra Jet 5 would be candidates for the win and if I had to choose one it would be the Matra Jet 5 as it was a very innovative car with a mid mounted engine and fiberglass body and it's extremely rare today. Plus it was successful in racing too. In the large car category my winner would be the Lamborghini Miura, a car that I really adore.
Interesting at the side is the fact that Hobby didn't include the regular Aston Martin DB5 but rather a designer version.

What Sportscar to choose in 1961?

Here's another one of my "let's have a look into an old car magazine". This time, 1961, "hobby" asked the question, what classical sportscar you could pick. What is interesting is that out of the nine cars, actually four were British, two Italian and three German. Actually there's wasn't that much choice in 1961 if you wanted to buy an affordable sportscar, at least if you didn't want to include small production cars (e.g. TVR, Alpine, etc.) or top end sportscars (e.g. Jaguar XK, Aston Martin, Ferrari). Anyway if you read the test the conclusion is not that straight forward, too different are these cars and the prices as well. I probably would have chosen the Alfa Giulietta or the Porsche 1600 S then, despite the fact that I actually like the design of the MG A.

Testing cars in the 60ies - Volkswagen against DKW and Fiat

Testing cars in the "old days" clearly was different. But what the journalists of the magazine "Hobby" did was somewhat extreme. They went out to actually buy the test cars and then they did all kinds of tests with them to simulate what "normal" customers would experience over maybe a year of driving. They even took the cars to a race track (Solitude) and did 100 laps with them. And you have to know that it was about a Volkswagen Beetle/Bug, a DKW F12 and a Fiat Europa - family cars basically. Well they also did highspeed tests on the German Autobahn - knowing that these cars barely could reach 120 km/h. And at the end (after 5'000 - 10'000 kms) they took them apart to see how the engine looked from the inside. Finally they sold the cars again to see how much they would get.
If you are wondering what the result of the test was, then I must say it's somewhat difficult to say, as five journalists came up with five results. But more or less they liked the DKW best and nobody really put the Volkswagen at the top except for reliability where the Beetle really was the benchmark. The Fiat was at the top with one journalist and in the middle with three of the five. All in all they were quite happy with the quality, comfort and usability of the cars it seems.

Fiat Dino 2400 Spider - classic looks and sound

Between 1967 and 1972 two Fiat Dino Spider models were built - the Fiat Dino Spider 2000 and the Fiat Dino Spider 2400.
In total 1'163 Spider 2000 and 420 Spider 2400 (1969-1972) left the factory. Designed by Pininfarina it shared the engine with the (Ferrari) Dino 206/246 GT. It was built parallel to the Fiat Dino Coupé designed by Bertone.
The two versions Spider 2000 and 2400 were quite different. The later car was heavier, but also had 20 HP more and an independent rear suspension. It was the much better usable every day car than the 2000 model, but at the same time also felt a bit less sporty. The body was very similar, but the 2400 had a ZF transmission that was much better for precise gear changes. The car could seat 2+2 people, weighted 1'240 kg and was able to reach approximately 210 km/h. Four disc brakes provided good stopping power. With 4'134 mm length, 1'710 mm width and 1'270 mm height it was still a fairly compact car. Mine was the 14th. last car built and it was a great car to cruise. The engine sound was unbelievable and I got many thumbs up by people passing me on the road. Compared to a 246 GT the car was much less of a sportscar and very far away from being a competition car, but for a convertible that was okay. In direct comparison the Fiat felt much older than the 246 GT. From a value point of view the Fiat is probably half what the mini Ferrari is, while maintenance cost are almost at the same level. This is one reason why so few Fiat Dino Spiders have survived, besides the fact that at Fiat less Spiders were built than 206/246 GT/GTS at Ferrari.

Motoring in 2000-2009 - what will we remember in 20-30 years?

The Decade 2000 to 2009 was influenced by a rapidly increasing oil price towards the end of the period (for example the ratio between the highest and the lowest price per barrel was 5-6, peak was reached in 2008), by the inconvenient truth of a changing climate and global warming, by terrorism, tsunamis and hurricanes. Towards the end of the decade the whole world suffered from the consequences of the financial crisis and a global recession. At the same time the digitization of the world has continued and we couldn't imagine a life without mobile connectivity, Internet and flat screens.

So what where the motoring highlights of the years 2000 to 2009?

A Decade of Extremes
Super and Hyper Cars got faster and faster. The climax has been reached with the Bugatti Veyron, a car that really showcases what is feasible today. Whether anybody needs 1001 HP and 400 km/h top speed is another question.

The reinvention of the cheap car
Tata introduced the Nano, a really cheap car. But already before Renault has proven with the Dacia that there is a market for cheaper cars.

Supercar performance on a budget
When Nissan announced the GTR it was an instant success. Fast laps on the Nurburgring also helped to establish the image of a supercar on a budget. And the interior is designed for the PS3 generation. Four seats even make the car suitable for a small family.

The Hybrid Decade
With the Toyota Prius a new technology became both fashionable and consumer-ready, the hybrid car. While the Prius may neither have been pretty nor ecological it was sold very successfully thanks to Holywood and a brilliant marketing and it certainly proved that people can be motivated to save fuel.

Retro retro
The new Mini is a success, but the Fiat 500 was even more loved by the crowd thanks to its affordability and the really cute design. Revitalizing the Abarth brand at the top end of the 500 has also proven to be a clever move.

Electrical cars that actually are attractive
Tesla built a Roadster on top of a Lotus Elise chassis and loaded thousands of laptop batteries. Despite some getting quite hot this cars proved that performance and electricity don’t need to be opposites in the motoring context. Since the Tesla many manufacturers (i.e. Audi, Mercedes) and tuners (i.e. RUF) have followed and presented electrical sportscars.

In a next post I will talk about the ones that didn’t make it and why I think that from a motoring perspective the 2000 to 2009 decade was a disappointment after all.

Comparing cheap sportscars in 1969 - Fiat 850 Coupé wins

Imagine living back in the 60ties, actually in 1969 to be specific. You had saved some money, let's say DM 7'000 (€ 3'500), which probably was quite a lot of money at that time. You were looking for an affordable sportscar, a Coupé. Well this could have been your choice:
Fiat 850 Coupé
Ford Capri 1.3
Opel Kadett Coupé 1.1
Daf 55 Automatic
The cars couldn't be more different. The Fiat 850 Coupé was really a sports car outperforming all the others with 18 seconds from 0-100 km/h (0-62 MPH). The Daf was following with 22 s, the Carpi with 22.7s and the Opel was the slowest with 26 s. Top speed was 148 km/h for the Fiat, 130 for the Kadett, 138 for the Daf and 133 for the Capri. Interesting the weight (empty): Fiat 749 kg, Opel Kadett 755 kg, Daf 55 795 kg and the Ford Capri 920 kg. The test in Hobby 10/69 revealed the Ford Capri as the family price winner, but the Fiat 850 was really the best sportscar in this round. An uncle of mine owned one at that time I was really impressed by the performance and noise of this car.

Fiat 850 Sport Spider - a highly successful 60'ties sportscar

On today's streets you very rarely can spot a Fiat 850 Sport Spider, despite the fact that they built 124'660 of them between 1965 and 1973!
It shared most components with the family version of the 850 and the coupé produced in parallel. With this is had its 843 or 903 ccm engine mounted in the back and was of course rear wheel driven. Independent suspensions for all wheels, disc brakes in the front made it fairly safe and controllable (for the time).
What was though unique about this car was the shape designed by G. Giugiaro (working for Bertone at this time). The Sport Spider was a very lovely two seater convertible car.
With a bit more than 700 kg and roughly 52 HP it was not extremely fast (0-100 km/h in around 16 s), but it was fast enough to overtake the Volkswagen Bug or other mainstream cars of that time. And it was affordable, which was a key success factor. It was cherished by women and therefore often called the "assistant's Ferrari".
The 850 Sport Spider was the first "classic" I owned. The blue one was a real wreck, I drove it only for a week and had then to get rid of it. The second one (in red) was already much better, but even this was in need for a restoration. When I owned it in the early 80ies people still greeted each other from convertible to convertible. One of the best things about these cars was the engine noise. The blue one could be heard much before it actually could be seen, it was so noisy.
Today Fiat 850 Sport Spiders in good condition fetch serious money in the five digit range.

Reduced to the max or how the first Fiat Panda was unique

When Fiat introduced the Fiat Panda in 1980 it was quite a sensation. Giorgo Giugiaro had designed a very basic car with quite a "boxy" shape, but superior interior size. While its weight was less than 800 kg it could seat 5 people and even take some luggage on top. Seats looks like garden furniture, but the interior was very flexible so that you could even set the sets up as a large bed (with a gear lever between the two halfs). It was very cheap too, in today's currency roughly 5'000 Euros. So, this super functional car won many hearts including mine. My Panda had the opening roof and the 1 liter 45 HP machine. It wasn't that quick as you can imagine. Actually I would consider this car as one of the most dangerious car I have ever owned, not because of bad handling or so, but rather because you got used to take risks to still be able to overtake.
Noise level was quite high and you needed a big stereo to enjoy some music. But it was a very practical car and very economical too. Over some 30'000 kms the average fuel consumption was roughly 6.8 liters per 100 km. Not bad for the level of engineering applied. And most of the time the car had to deliver its full power and was revved to its max. output.
The sales brochure was quite funny too, showing the flexibility of the interior and its crude design.
Maintenance was of course super simple. The car came also as Seat and it was built until 2003 in various derivates. Today, not many of the first cars with the asymmetrical front grill have survived, soon they will be collector's territory. Would I want to have it back? Probably not. But I certainly would enjoy driving one again.