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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 750cc 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 1179 lbs (535 kg) and took advantage of Abarth’s 747cc 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 747cc 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.

Chassis & Sales

1958 Abarth 750 Zagato Series III Coupe 100446004 - sold for $91,260 For many years, the collection's Abarth Zagato was owned by enthusiast of all things Italian, noted journalist and founder of the popular website Veloce Today, Peter Vack. Its history was recorded by him in recent times in an article on that website by going to the following link www.velocetoday.com/archives/3543 . In this he charts his acquisition of the car in 1984, from Abarth collector Mike Blumberg who in turn had purchased it from War... more
Gallery: 2010 Greenwich Collectors' Motorcars and Automobilia Auction by Bonhams

1959 Fiat Abarth 750 Zagato "Double Bubble" Coupe 558327 - sold for $93,500 Acquired by the current owner in 2004, this “Double Bubble” benefits from a recent freshening in order to make it road ready. Featuring a new biscuit leather interior with black piping, it comes equipped with a full roll bar. The vintage Nardi steering wheel has been refinished, and the original instruments were restored by leading specialists, Nisonger. Also, one of the side windows was replaced, and as they were ordered in pairs, the new own... more
Gallery: 2011 Monterey Auction by RM

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