Tag: Cars

Jeremy Clarkson once described Italian hot-rodder Carlo Abarth as “completely bonkers” because of Abarth’s wonderful yet totally impractical designs, especially when taking the staid little 1960s-era Fiats and turning them into fiery sports cars.

To wit, this 1966 Fiat 850:

…into the snarling, 100+mph 1970 Abarth 1300 Scorpione:

In the parlance of my ill-spent yoof, the Scorpione would have been described as a “bird and a sponge bag” car, in that it had absolutely no luggage space at all, and the aforementioned two items were all that one could fit into the little screamer.

Like that’s important.  And even though I would have no chance — zero — of fitting even my 25-year-old frame into the Scorpione, I would grab that little thing with both hands, oh yes I would.

Amyway, the Abarth story has a sad ending.  In the early 1970s, they were bought out by Fiat, and disappeared without a trace — other than when Fiat wanted to make their rather boring sports cars (e.g. the 2015 Mazda Miata-based Spider) sound racy, and slapped the “Abarth” monicker thereon.

Note:  In the U.S., the Scorpione was marketed as the Lombardi Grand Prix, fitted with the less-powerful 843cc engine.

Here’s the story of the Lancia company — and the title says it best:  The Power Of Fun.

My favorite Lancia models (in order):

Fulvia HF

D50 F1 (as driven by Fangio)

Stratos

Aurelia B24

Stradale

Every time Lancia decided to enter some form of racing, they’d win, win big and win with some groundbreaking new technology.  Very few (if any) auto companies can make the same claim.

I just wish they hadn’t been so horribly shafted by parent company Fiat… but that’s the corporate world for you.

You have a chance to get three (and only three) cars from this collection as tax-paid gifts from the dead guy’s estate:

Read the descriptions and so on at the linked article, then make your choice and post in Comments.

Assume that you won’t immediately sell them and pocket the money.  Play the game.

My three choices (in order):

Read more

Here’s an interesting question.  How many of you, O My Readers, would be up for this little piece of German engineering (assuming funds etc. and all the stuff that goes along with my hypotheticals):

I, for one, find it quite charming.  And if like me you’re sick of driving all the wind-tunnel identicars of today, this would certainly make a personal statement.

Remember, it would be a toy, not an everyday drive — but it would certainly put a smile on my face every time I stepped into the garage.

The Greatest Living Englishman sounds off about bicyclists, and one has to sympathize with his take.  However, it should be said that the reason that there’s so much friction twixt the two-wheeled and four-wheeled sets is simply that Britishland roads, whether in- or out of town are just too damn small and narrow to accommodate both.

Over Here, we don’t have much of a problem with cyclists, largely because our roads are much wider (certainly here in north Texas, anyway), and even if one encounters a group (gaggle? mob? idiocy?) of cyclists taking up a full lane, there’s lots of room to go round them, all while shaking one’s head at the lunacy of riding a bike in the searing midsummer Texas heat.  Also, we have large pickup trucks and people with guns in them, hence the relative politeness of American cyclists compared to their Brit counterparts.

By the way, if you scroll further down the linked article, you’ll see that Clarkson’s take on the proposed Ford Capri redux  is exactly the same as mine.

GMTA, and all that.