1957 Fiat Abarth 750 GT Zagato
In 1956, Abarth had already built
up an extensive reputation as a premier tuner of Fiat engines and was branching
out into many classes of motor sport. To compete in the 750 cc class of the
Grand Touring Championship, Abarth commissioned Zagato to rebody the Fiat 600
into a purposeful racecar.
Thanks to Zagato’s weight saving body, the first cars
weighed 535 kg and took advantage of Abarth’s 747 cc tuned engine.
With a high compression head and specially made exhaust the produced power was
47 bhp @ 6000 rpm. A number of prototype cars were made in 1956 and one of
these appeared at the 1956 Mille Miglia and placed second in class.
The production 750 Zagato first
appeared at the 1956 Geneva Motor Show. Series production began in 1957 of the
‘Zagato 750 GT’ at the beginning of 1957. The final design included twin
bumperettes upfront, Zagato’s double bubble roof and twin intakes on the rear
engine cover. Five of these cars finished the Mille Miglia in 1957, of which
Alfonso Thiele won the 750cc class.
In July of 1957, Abarth committed
to a record-breaking car with sleek Pininfarina-designed body, tube frame
chassis and 747 cc engine. Raced around the Monza circuit for four days, the car
took 15 new records including the fastest average speed of 165.376 kph for 72
hours straight.
At the 1958 Paris Motor Show,
Abarth launched and renamed the ‘750 GT Zagato’ into the ’750 Record Monza
Zagato’. This was done to honor the results achieved the year earlier with the
record breaking car. Improvements to the model included a DOHC valvetrain and
three-quarter windows.
