We appear to be driving at the pace of a funeral cortège, but then we don’t want to scare the locals, do we? The New Forest offers a seemingly never-ending but ever-changing backdrop, not forgetting the requisite ponies that roam where they please with unhurried intent. It is hauntingly beautiful, the landscape teasing us, perhaps even goading. It’s late winter and near-deserted save the hoofed herbivores, and we are in an Abarth with all that entails. This day will end with wide eyes, even broader smiles, and tested reflexes. Or a stampede. One of the two.
But no. This is not your usual classic Abarth, should such a thing exist. Forget shrill sports racers or Fiats pop-pop-popping and banging their way to valve bounce, the 2200 Spider is that bit more… refined. It is nothing like what you might picture an Abarth to be in your mind’s eye, not least because it is powered by a straight-six rather than a peaky four-banger. What’s more, it’s mounted in the front. As such, this handsome convertible has a certain enigmatic air that only heightens its obvious attraction.
Posterity pays scant attention to this subspecies of Abarth, but it should. The 2200 and its siblings represented a period when the marque of the scorpion attempted to take on the exotic elite. This move was quite the leap, but then company founder Carlo Abarth (né Karl) always was a big-picture man and a defiantly self-directed one at that. He had already succeeded in so many other spheres, and in relatively short order, so making ‘big’ cars should have presented just another stepping stone in his well-crafted and carefully nurtured narrative.
Denne historien er fra May 2022-utgaven av Classic & Sports Car.
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Denne historien er fra May 2022-utgaven av Classic & Sports Car.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
A Breath of Fresh Air- Alfa Romeo's exotic, V8-powered Montreal was like nothing the marque had made before, but can it compare with a Porsche masterpiece, the 911S 2.4?
The stereotype of the ItaloGermanic automotive rivalry is that the Latin car will be brilliant to drive, but poorly built and ergonomically flawed, while the Teutonic will be the opposite. Yet these 2+2 sports coupés both ran against orthodoxy. In the Montreal, Alfa Romeo created an outlandish-looking two-door more comfortable, more powerful and more refined than anything it had produced for decades. Meanwhile, Porsche continued to refine its back-to-front, austere and increasingly aged 911. Neither took a traditional development path, but both created thrilling and individual cars that have echoed through the decades.
Daring to be diminutive
AMC's Gremlin and Pacer, and Ford's much-derided Pinto, led America's response to the threat of imported European compacts
THE LONG WAY ROUND
There is a great tradition of overland trips by Land-Rover, but the tale of this 70s Aussie epic and the car itself was discovered by chance
Handsome cab
The Phantom V limousine marked the beginning of the end for coachbuilder James Young, but this Rolls-Royce represents the craft at its very best
DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES
Racing for their own F1 teams brought some drivers success and an enduring legacy. For others, it turned into a nightmare
20 30 LITRES CYLINDERS, 400BHP......AND MORE THAN A CENTURY OLD
Thunderous torque, flame-spitting stub-exhausts, white-knuckle thrills - and hopefully no spills - aboard a trio of Edwardian racing titans
ICON.
The three top-selling vehicles in the USA in 2023 were pick-ups, topped by the Ford F-Series. This is the truck that started it all
Blurred Lines
lan 'Del' Lines blended the V8 burble of Triumph's open GT with real practicality in his Stag V8 saloons and estates
Home of the brave
The innovative Silverstone proved a hit with keen amateur drivers. To mark its 75th, Healey's club racer returns to the circuit for which it is named
PLAYING ALL THE ANGLES
Alfa Romeo's wild RZ eschewed the jellymould styling of the period to offer a striking, wedge-shaped take on open-topped performance motoring