Abarth: The Man, The Machines

I had to write an article about Karl (Carlo) Abarth for the Radner Hunt concours' program. My Italian car friends raved about this book and after digging into it, I understand why. It's a well researched, clearly written history of Ararth's life and a fascinating retelling of his life's greatest moments. I couldn't have written the article without thus book. It explains how his passion for machines, racing and life drove his actions in business and in his personal life.Need to know more about this fascinating man? This one book covers the man and his cars.

I liked the accurate info about Carlo and his designs. I especially liked the technical drawings. In my opinion this is the best book I have ever read about the famous Abarth cars ,the man ,and the factory, and the people that worked for him.I have owned Fiats for 25 plus years and just love this book! Sincerely John Lickley

All good, I am happy customer : )

Not enough color pics! Where are the rally cars?

I don't think I've ever been so stimulated by a book. An English translation of a book in Italian, printed and published in Italy--my copy came without a dust cover but had autographs under an inscription "to the memory of times in Bamberg" written in German.But it's really the book, not the "cover" that counts. I have followed motor sports since I was a child in the '50s and early '60s. Reading Sports Car Graphic, Road & Track, I was aware there were various Abarth cars entered in the more modest classes, along with DB Panhards, Alpines etc, but they never really caught my attention--Scarab! Aston Martin! Jaguar! Ferrari!I had no idea what an incredible man Karl Abarth, later known as Carlo Abarth was. This book is lavishly illustrated with excellent photos, and manages to convey a huge amount of information on the almost unbelievable number of Abarth vehicles, and somehow describe their technical details, their genesis, and their race history. The Palmarès of Abarth is like nothing I have seen in my life. Pages and pages at the end of the book record VICTORIES not just participation. We see the Abarth name used today on Fiat Cinquecento based vehicles that are quite usable as passenger cars. Years ago they were famous for their evolutions of Fiat Cinquecentos, then miserable little two cylinder cars, and the more practical Seicentos, as well some of the more upmarket Fiats. I see Abarth as unique--he was like the Edelbrocks Vic Sr and Jr in that he provided hot rod parts for vehicles at the bottom of the food chain. He was like Carroll Shelby, in that he also assembled complete vehicles using a mix of mass-produced and specialist components. He was also like Colin Chapman, in that he was involved in designing and manufacturing--as opposed to just assembling--all aspects of the car. I am particularly enamored of the little pure race cars that masqueraded as GT cars: Fiat Abarth 850 GT Zagato, Fiat Abarth 1000 Bialbero, Abarth Simca 1300, Fiat Abarth OT 1300, among others. Cars in their displacement class like the Alfa Giulietta, GTA, the Porsche 356 were honestly meant to be usable passenger cars and had to make compromises that made them bigger and heavier. I love the photo of an Abarth Simca 1300 eating a 356B Carrera 2 for lunch on the banking at Daytona. The purpose built open sports cars were equally impressive. On YouTube there is a frightening clip of a 2000 Spider driven very aggressively. So Abarth also joins the ranks of Elvas, Lolas, and he is also similar to TVR, Marcos. . .really, I was blown away by these plucky little cars. And listening to the sound clips from the internet.If someone wants to give me a Fiat Abarth 1000 or a Simca Abarth 1300, I'd be very grateful

amazing book !

Everything perfect. Thank you.