History 

This is one of the most rare and exotic Abarths made by Boano.The design of this car, with its high wheel arches, retractable headlights, sporty stainless steel exhaust pipe on the right and panoramic windows, is rather exotic. Yet an ‘ordinary’ Fiat 1100 hides behind this exterior. It was specially built by Abarth in a batch of ten cars meant for export to the United States to race in the 12 Hours of Sebring. The other nine cars were roadsters, making this coupé unique.

 

The 1.1-litre Fiat engines were tuned by Abarth to produce 66 hp, almost doubling the original 36 hp. Designer Mario Boano was responsible for the styling of the cars, which were launched in Turin and Paris in 1955. Mario Boano envisioned not one but three different body-styles for the new Abarth, the track-bound Spider (207A), a more luxuriously appointed Convertible (208A) and a Coupe (209A). Each shared the same basic lines penned for Boano by Giovanni Michelotti.

 

The name of Carlo Abarth, an Austrian-born Italian, is inextricably linked with tuned-up Fiats and special exhaust systems. Abarth began working on these in the 1940s, but he also built many models and engines under his own name, including a 350 hp V8. In 1971 he sold his company to Fiat and retired to Austria, where he died in 1979.