ABARTH (I) 1950 to date Abarth & Co, Turin Carlo Abarth, formerly associated with Cisitalia, launched out on his own in 1950, concentrating at first on tuning equipment for Fiat and other makes, though a few Fiat-based 1000cc sports coupes were made with Porsche trailingarm independent front suspension. Serious car manufacture started in 1955 with the 66bhp Boano-bodied Tipo 207/A Spyder, still using a front-mounted engine and Millecento mechanical components. This was rapidly followed by the first of his Fiat 600-based rear-engined sports cars, a 39bhp open two-seater. Fiat components were used mainly until 1962, though there was a 1-litre 88bhp coupe based on Alfa-Romeo's Giulietta in 1958, and some special coupe bodies were built for Porsche in 1960. The make arrived on the map with a series of attacks on long-distance International Class Records which started in 1956, using rear-engined streamliners with 500, 750 and I,l00cc power units. A `750' averaged 111.92mph for 72 hours in July 1957. Production Abarths followed two lines of development: the first of these used the hulls and basic components of Fiat 500 and 600 berline, but the 4barih treatment included stiffer crankshafts, reinforced clutches, lowered suspensions, and (from 1961) front disc brakes. Parallel with these were the true :lbarths, 600-based coupes with bodywork by Allemano and Zagato, sold initially with either a 747cc push-rod unit (in which form it did 95mph and sold for £2,248 in England in 1959) or with a fully-Abarthized twin-camshaft bialhero engine of 850cc. Bigger coup6s and cabriolets with four wheel disc brakes and '.2-litre Fiat-based 6-cylinder engines appeared in 1960, but they did not last long, and were the last of the front-engined cars. The marquewon theNiirburgring I.000-kilometre sports-car race five years in succession (1960-64), taking 2nd place in 1965. An unsuccessful design for Le Mans in 1961 saw the abandonment of swing-axle rear suspension and the introduction of a frontal radiator on the 'hotter' versions. A year later the introduction of Simca's 1000 model sparked off another family of Abarth derivatives ranging from a warmed-up and lowered 1,100cc,55bhp saloon to the usual aerodynamic coupes. 1964 developments included a 995cc twin-camshaft Formula 2 racer, and a formidable berlina using a twin-cam. l.6-litre Abarth engine in the new Fiat 850 hull; its top speed was 137 mph. In 1966 an immensely complicated range was on offer. There were Fiat 500 derivatives giving anything from 27bhp and 75mph up to 38bhp and 87mph; 600 developments with the same treatment, including the 1000 Corsa with frontal radiator, 5-speed gearbox, and disc brakes all round; while other saloons used Fiat 850 and Simca components. Fastest of the standard models was the Abarth ,Simca 2000, a two-seater coup6 with 202bhp 2-litre twin-ohc engine. It cost more than five million lire in Italy, and 168mph was claimed for it.