Abarth has unveiled a fine restomod based on the classic three-door Fiat 500. The so-called Abarth Classiche 500 Record Monza ’58 was made to celebrate 100 years of the racing circuit in Monza, Italy. It was also built to commemorate six records a nearly stock Fiat 500 set on that circuit in 1958.
The event went on for a whole week and aimed at dispelling rumors that the 1957 Fiat Nuova 500 was slow and unreliable. Fiat and Abarth kept the car tearing down the racetrack for seven days straight to prove their point.
During its history-making run, the three-door hot hatch covered around 18,900 km (11,750 miles) of track and set a multitude of records among small-displacement cars, including best average speed, best time to 15,000 km, and best time to 10,000 miles.
The restomod was built on a 1970 Fiat 500 and finished in an authentic shade of pale green. It was also retrofitted with a hard roof instead of the stock tarpaulin top and equipped with extra lighting. Jaeger sport instruments appeared on the dashboard, and only the driver’s seat was allowed to remain.
The two-cylinder engine was stroked to 595 cc with the Abarth tuning kit for classic Fiat models. The company neglected to mention the output, but the mass-market engine made 18 hp in its glory days; the modified track car mentioned above made 28 hp.
