Differing Fortunes: The Abarth 1300 OT and The1600 OT Sport Coupe

 

Left: Abarth 1300 OT (1^st Series). Courtesy Autoemotodepoca.com; Right: Abarth 1600 OT Sport Coupe. Courtesy Thomas Bersy

Abarth’s extraordinary run of sportscar racing success, taking a World Championship for six consecutive years in the Sixties, is summarised in https://davidbuckdenlooksback.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-magnificent-six-abarths-60s-world.html .  Initially, it was the 1000 Bialbero GT which brought home the victories, but in ’63-’65 the mantle passed to the Simca-based 1300 GT.  With the lapse of the agreement between Abarth and the French manufacturer, a priority at Corso Marche became the creation of a new model to contest the championship from ’66.  A prototype coupe emerged in ’64.  A Mario Colucci-owned project, the car was mid-engined and built around a tubular chassis, very distinctive in appearance and dynamically promising.  But on this occasion Carlo Abarth stuck to his guns regarding the configuration, his concern about the relative costs of construction reinforced by the fact that the Simca platform had provided a simple, inexpensive basis.  Thus he halted ongoing development at an early stage, insisting that the car be disposed of – which it was, to Scuderia Lufthansa.  The German team in effect ‘finished’ the car, but without notable success.  Though designated at Corso Marche as the 1300 OTC, the car became known simply as the ‘Lufthansa.’ 

A new Omologata Turismo (OT) line began to take shape in early ’65.  Being based on the Fiat 850 platform, the new models not only fulfilled Carlo’s simplicity/reduced-cost objectives, but also signified a reconsolidation of the ‘traditional’ alliance with Fiat following the flirtation with Simca.  The first results of the programme were Sport Spider models, offered in both 1600 cc and 2000 cc form.  In short order the new coupe, Tipo 137/C, followed – in March – powered by the 1288 cc, 147 bhp, Tipo 237 engine.  Though Colucci was no doubt disappointed by Carlo’s axing of the tubolare/mid-engine format, the boss had given him the freedom to design a glass fibre body which he did with considerable aplomb, the 1300 OT’s styling receiving general acclaim for its aesthetic quality.  And as well as looking good, the 1300 OT’s performance was enhanced by the aerodynamic efficiency of the Sibona & Basano-built body.  A feature which many consider fundamental to the car’s distinctive visual attractiveness was the roof mounted air intake, (for cabin comfort purposes), which gave rise to the sobriquet, ‘Periscopia.’  This, however, was not seen on the launch version, not being introduced until the advent of the Series 2 1300 OT.  Indeed, there was a series of updates for this model, summarised by Sergio Seccatore in ‘The Scorpion’s Tale’: Series 2, ’66;  (‘Sport Coupe’) ‘World Champion,’ September ’66, 148 bhp 237-C engine;  ‘Longnose,’ September ’66, 147 bhp; ‘World Champion,’ June ’67, 157 bhp 237-B engine;  ‘World Champion,’ January ’68, 157 bhp 237-B engine and coil-over suspension.

OT 1300 Series 1 and 2 compared in profile. From Seccatore’s The Scorpion’s Tail. Courtesy Registro Fiat Italiano

There is some confusion in the factory records regarding these iterations as in the summary, ‘Vetture Abarth Da Competizione’ the 2^nd Series version is dated ’66, while in the list, ‘Riepilogo Progetti Abarth,’ the June ’67 version is tagged as ‘1^st Series.’  In his ‘Abarth Guide,’ Alfred Cosentino records the 2^nd Series as a ’66 development and comments: ‘It wasn’t until the last two championship races in 1966 that the basic body design was established for the OT 1300.  There were four types of nose sections with different air intakes, headlight covers and aerodynamic body shapes tested . . . since September 1965.’  Cosentino also documented a further ’66 variant, the Longtail.  The photograph of this reproduced in the book is captioned: Udo Schutz driving a factory Fiat Abarth OT 1300 Longtail at the Nurburgring 500 km in 1966.  Ing. Colucci redesigned the front nose section of this OT 1300 and the top speed increased by 17 km per hour.  A technician of Alpine Renault redesigned the rear section which increased the top speed by only 4 km per hour.

Udo Schutz’s OT 1300, Nurburgring 500, ’66.  Courtesy Alfred Cosentino Books

The car’s early competitive outings required entry in the Prototype category.  At the Nurburgring for the 500 Kms on 5^th September ’65, Klaus Steinmetz took 3^rd place both overall and in the P 1.3 class.  For the Group 4 Sport category, homologation depended on the completion of 50 examples, and this was achieved in May ’66.

Karl Steinmetz, 1300 OT, Nurburgring 500 kms, September ’65.  Courtesy Registro Fiat Italiano

A little later, in September that year, a new model, the 1600 OT Sport Coupe, was unveiled.  It represented a speculative venture on the part of Abarth.  The firm’s Spiders had been successful in attracting a substantial and loyal cadre of hill-climbing enthusiast owner/drivers.  However, there were only so many such clients, and it became reasonable by the decade’s mid-point to assume that very few if any of them not already Abarth-equipped would be stopping by at Corso Marche to make a purchase.  At the same time, an opportunity was perceived to increase Abarth’s penetration of the market for similar competitors whose penchant was for circuit racing in the Sport and Prototype categories.  With the objective of appealing to such prospective buyers, a prototype closed car was built on the previous year’s OT 1600 Spider.  It certainly looked the part – attractively curvaceous and sophisticated, with clamshell front and rear sections and gullwing doors.  Designated Tipo 139/C, the 235-C engine was specified.  This 1592 cc, 172 bhp unit was a higher-revving development based on that utilised in the ‘63 Abarth Simca 1600 GT Coupe Stradale, rated in that form at 155 bhp.

1600 OT Sport Coupe. Courtesy Registro Fiat Italiano

1600 OT Sport Coupe. Courtesy Giorgio Nada Editore

By the time the 139/C was being shown and promoted, the 1300 had completed a very successful debut full season, instrumental in Abarth once again being crowned World Champion in the Sport, Division 1 class.  Victories had been scored by the model at the Nurburgring 1000 Kms, Mugello GP, Coppa Citta di Enna, Nurburgring 500 Kms and at Zeltweg.  1-2-3 finishes had been recorded at the ‘Ring 1000 Kms and at Pergusa (Enna).  The car was an all-round success and this was reflected in ready marketability and good sales profitability.

 

Meanwhile, the performance of the 1600 Coupe on-track – further evaluated at Abarth’s multi-model testing at Vallelunga in late January ’67 - was nothing like as encouraging.  Initially the car was run with a 1600 cc engine and the 6 speed Tipo 132 transmission – about which concern had been building in regard to its durability as engine outputs continued to increase.  In comparison with the Sport Spider in 2 litre form and equipped with the new Tipo 139, 5 speed transmission, its lap times were disappointing – around 4% slower.  A new 16 valve 1.6 engine was on hand and this was tried in the Coupe, but there was no conclusive outcome from this experiment.  It was therefore decided – and there was a certain inevitability about this – to try a 2 litre unit, and this enabled the Coupe to near-match the lap times of the Spider. 

As is usually the case with what are hoped to be ‘private’ test sessions, news of the performance of the various models leaked out by word of mouth.  This left the circuit racer community unimpressed.  Aware of this, Abarth revised its marketing expectations and attempted to interest hill-climbers in the car.  But, here again, the reception was lukewarm at best.  Whilst the Coupe had the agility and performance with some potential for this specialist form of competition, the visibility restrictions imposed by the coupe body were a very significant downside.  By the end of the ’67 season it was all too apparent that the car had virtually no commercial appeal and it was decided to abandon the project with just the single chassis completed.

Fortunately, Abarth had a hill-climb specialist customer, Eris Tondelli – who did see some potential.  As Eris recalls, after he tested the Coupe he called for a replacement, 2 litre, engine to be installed because the weight of the car was greater than had been expected and was significantly inhibiting performance.  Previously it has been asserted in print that Tondelli purchased the Coupe, but I recently heard from another source that it was simply entrusted to him by the factory – Abarth itself retaining ownership.  Tondelli – who also campaigned the 1000 SP, 1300 OT and 2000 Sport models – drove the car at a number of hill-climbs, notably the ’68 Bologna-Raticosa; three photographs of the car on that event are reproduced in Deganello and Rizzoli’s ‘Abarth, All The Cars.’  Subsequently, it was purchased by Michel Pont.  As recently posted on Tondelli’s Facebook,  the car was a high profile feature at an event in ’89 at Château de Savigny-lès-Beaune, accompanied by Abarth personalities, Renzo Avidano, Mario Colucci and Vincenzo Osella.  It remains as an exhibit at Musée de la voiture de course Abarth, at the Château.

1600 OT Sport Coupe (nearest camera) at Abarth group test, Vallelunga, January ’67. Courtesy Giorgio Nada Editore

Eris Tondelli testing the 1600 OT Sport Coupe. Courtesy Giorgio Nada Editore

Colucci (left) and Tondelli (right) in the 1600 OT Sport Coupe, Beaune, ’89. Courtesy Eris Tondelli 

The ’67 season saw the 1300 OT fully dominant in the World Championship events, winning the Sport, Division 1 Class, up to 1.3 litre at Hockenheim, (1-2-3-4 finish for the model), Mugello, Pergusa, (1-2-3 finish), Zeltweg, (1-2-3 finish), Ollon Villars and Nurburgring 500.  At the Targa Florio, Guido Garufi and Giuseppe Ferlito came home first in the Sport 1.0-1.3 class, 19^th overall.  Ecurie du Maine entered a 1300 OT for Marcel Martin and Jean Mesange who took it to the finish 16^th overall and victorious in class.  The model in this second full season was clearly well sorted and reliable, but also benefitted from attracting a number of top line drivers of the period, among them Toine Hezemans, Ernst Furtmayr and Jo Ortner.  In the end of season championship class table, Abarth boasted 45 points, with a huge gap to Diva in second place – the Camberwell, London-based marque accumulating just 12 points.

The following year was to be first since ’61 that World Championship honours could not be trumpeted from Corso Marche.  However, 28 major event (mainly hill-climbs) class wins were taken by the 1300 OT at: 

Avola, Coppa Belmonte (Gambero)

Arezzo, Pieve St. Stefano Passo dello Spino (“Drason)

Brescia, Scalata al Colle Sant’Eusebio (Pilone) and Autoscalata della Maddalena (Becchetti) and Trofeo Valle Camonica (Presenti)

Parma, Castione Baratti-Neviano Arduini (Boeris)

Volterra, Coppa Citta di Volterra (Zuccoli)

Piacenza, Castell’Arquato-Vernasca (Presenti)

Rieti, Coppa Bruno Carotti (Ramoino)

Bassano del Grappa (Becchetti)

Livorno, Antignano-Monteburrone (Ungelli)

Reggio Calabria, Santo Stefano-Gambarie (Benini)

Cortona, Coppa Citta di Cortona (Mugelli)

Vallelunga, Coppa Gallenga (Ramoiono)

Cosenza, Coppa della Sila (Gambero)

Trento-Bondone (Federhofer)

Sestriere, Cesana-Sestriere (Federhofer)

Freiberg, ADAC Bergpreis Freiberg-Schauinsland (Federhofer)

Pescara (Cronoscalata Svolte di Popoli (“Mici”)

Ascoli Piceno, Ascoli-Colle San Marco (Ramoino)

Nurburgring 500 Kms (Walton)

Verona, Caprino Veronese-Spiazzi di Monte Baldo (Pilone)

Bergamo, Castione-Passo della Persolana (Presenti)

Ragusa, Coppa dei Monti Iblei (Gambero)

Aosta-Pila (Ramoino)

Gubbio, Coppa Mengara (Fabroni)

Siracusa, Coppa Val d’Anapo-Sortino (Gambero)

Orvieto, Trofeo Citta di Orvieto (Fabroni)

Gratifyingly, the 1300 OT remained competitive right through to the end of Abarth’s independent era, with the victories counts being: ’69: 19; ’70: 31; ’71: 30.  In that period, two drivers in particular excelled in the model:

 

Karl Federhofer, (1927-1990).  The German driver competed in the early Sixties in Porsche 356s.  In ’65 he campaigned an Abarth Simca 1300 Bialbero, switching to a 1300 OT the following season and he remained with the model up to and including 1970.  The stand-out achievement was outright victory at the ’68 running of the prestige Trento-Bondone hillclimb event.

Karl Federhofer, Abarth 1300 OT, ’70 ADAC-Bergpreis Freiburg-Schauinsland Hillclimb. Courtesy www.forum-auto.com

Luigi Moreschi, (1947 - ).  A Mantuan, Moreschi developed a passion for motorsport at an early age, entering races even before he held a driving licence.  Though most of the great many races in which he competed were at club level, he also acquitted himself well in Sportscar World Championship races, including the Targa Florio, an event in which he participated on six occasions, his best result on the Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie coming in ’73 when he finished 4^th – and first in class in a Chevron B21 – partnered with Francesco Matteo.  Two other significant victories came in ’77 at the Vallelunga 6 hours, (Porsche 935), and, ’78, Misano, this time in an Osella PA6.  More recently, and for over 30 years now, Moreschi has run a motorsport sales and service/parts business in his home town of Quingentole: https://www.moreschi.info/veteran/index_en.htm  Moreschi’s victory count, ’69-’71 in the 1300 OT was eight.

Moreschi’s contemporary business has notable Abarth focus – this is a Tipo 237 engine. Courtesy Luigi Moreschi Motorsport

Also repetitively successful in the 1300 OT were Münchner, Peter Stutz, and Klaus Brand.

So, we have one car – the 1300 OT – with results in competition which signify it as one of the very best Corso Marche products.  And, from the same era, a car – the 1600 OT Sport Coupe – which disappointed statistically, but which is no failure, as it is, arguably, the most aesthetically pleasing machine to emerge from that same factory.  Certainly, its creator, Mario Colucci, was of that view, saying in an interview, recorded twenty years on, that it was his most beautiful design. Indeed, not only was it a superb example of mid-Sixties Italian automotive styling, but it also provides us in the 2020s with a glimpse of how the elusive T140 might have looked in fully developed form . . . as I’ve often said before; if only . . .