Searching the Bay one day, I came across this funky looking Italian sports car, the Abarth 205A, a 1/43 scale Metro model of one of Karl (or Carlo) Abarth’s first cars. The year marked on the car and on the black stand says 1950, but most likely this is the third and last chassis, probably produced for Karl himself, in 1951. Of the three 205s built, remarkably all survive to this day in the hands of collectors. The reason this one appears to be the last is that the first two were all red; the black roof only appears on the more luxurious chassis #205103.
With a Fiat-sourced 4-cylinder motor mated up to Abarth’s intake manifold, tuned exhaust and dual Weber carbs, the smallish 1089 cc engine developed an impressive (for the day) 83 bhp. Driven by Guido Scagliarini, the first car won the 1100 class in the Coppa InterEuropa at Monza in March of 1950.
The model is a pretty little thing, and although the glass areas were fingerprint-smudged from the factory, the paint looks great. The driver-side (right) window is down, so I might be able to cram a figure in there. The rear seating area is taken up by a nicely detailed spare tire. Oddly enough, at least for me, the rear hubs sport little tabs to prevent the wheels from rolling. Kind of tough to take action shots that way!