ABARTH 850 Allemano Spyder

ABARTH 850 Allemano Spyder

Permit:                1961
FIAT VIN:                     100*855505*
CISITALIA VIN::          701*0011*
ALLEMANO VIN:        # 54

The Technology:
ABA 217 Motor AH 217/054
833 ccm - 50 PS
additional Water cooler under the rear axle
Original 4-ABARTH gearbox 9/39 without lock
GIRLING 12-inch fixed caliper brake 3-pistons at the front & drums at the rear
ABARTH Borrani Fergat rims 4.5 x 12

 

The ABARTH ALLEMANO SPYDER was built from 1957 to 1959 in three different body styles. The first two were equipped with 750cc engines, the third series got the new 850cc engine. Shown here is an ABARTH ALLEMANO SPYDER RIVIERA 850.
It was the third and final version of this series. At the same time the car also existed as a coupe, called the ABARTH COUPE SCORPIONE 850. Both were drawn by Giovanni Michelotti. Both cars represent great moments in automotive engineering due to their beauty of form. The coupe is considered by some collectors to be the most beautifully shaped coupe that Carlo Abarth ever built. The bodies were built by ALLEMANO and by ABARTH & Cie. completed.
One thing is certain, less than 100 cars of the SPYDER RIVIERA 850 and the SCORPION COUPE 850 were ever built. The cars were very difficult to market. At twice the price of a Porsche 356, they were simply too expensive in Europe. They hardly played a role in racing. They were just cars for the "lady and gentleman of the world".
The engine newly developed by Carlo Abarth for the ABARTH 850 TC was used for the first time in the Coupe 850 and Spyder 850. Here still under the type designation ABA 217 AH with 833 ccm and 50 hp. Such an engine is considered an absolute rarity today.

 

The History:
Carlo Abarth did not have customers for the last of the Spyders and coupes built by Allemano. He decided to sell these cars without technology and shipped the body shells to Argentina. The buyer was CISITALIA ARGENTINA ICSA in Buenos Aires. Here the Spyder was completed and sold as CISITALIA SPYDER ABARTH GRAN SPORT. The technology, including the engine, came from the Argentine FIAT 600 production. The engine from CISITALIA production had 847 ccm and 54 hp. The CISITALIA versions of the Allemano were sold in Argentina in 1960/61.
My vehicle is a CISITALIA SPYDER ABARTH GRAN SPORT, but equipped with the original ABA 217 AH engine produced by Carlo Abarth. The car came to Germany from Argentina in 1988. It was restored by me starting in 1994 over a period of almost 30 years. You read that right, for almost 30 years!