![]() The latter was reportedly praised by Porsche’s engineers for the quality of his work. For whatever reason, and seemingly unbeknownst to Porsche, the smaller Turinese coachbuilder Viarenzo & Filliponi fabricated at least the first few cars, before Rocco Motto took over for the rest. And it was Zagato who’d be actually building the new bodies, or so Abarth told Porsche. He, like the Porsche family, was also Austrian, which probably didn’t hurt when it came to sealing the deal either.Ībarth promptly engaged the services of Franco Scaglione, who’d been making a name for himself designing audacious and innovatively aerodynamic cars for Zagato. What we do know is that Carlo Abarth was entrusted with building 20 lightweight bodies to be fitted to 356B chassis, most likely because of the incredible success his beautiful small-capacity Fiat-based racers were enjoying in Italy. ![]() The robust and powerful Fuhrmann flat-four was a fantastic engine, after all, and if weight could be removed and aerodynamic efficiency increased, the resulting car might just prove to be a veritable giant-killer.īecause they’re so rare, the early history of the Abarth-bodied Carreras is murky, to say the least. In 1959, Porsche’s ageing 356 Carreras were coming under fire from smaller-capacity Alfa Romeos and Lotus’, which led its big wigs to exploit a new FIA rule allowing special bodywork to be fitted so long as weight remained no less than 95 percent of the original car. It was a simple threat that led this dainty sports-racing car to fruition at the turn of the 1960s.
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