Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Abarth cars, and their support team ...


If you're a diecast collector on a tight budget, all the cars produced by Abarth are a great topic to check out. Lots of the Abarth cars are available as relatively cheap partwork models made by Metro and Hachette, plus older (and also cheap) models made by companies such as Solido and Brumm. 

As well as getting the various sporty racetrack cars made by Abarth, I like to include some of the the Abarth Support Team vans, the unsung heroes working behind the scenes. Here they are, my little trio of helpers.

 
Left to right, a Fiat Fourgoncino van, an Alfa Romeo van
and a Fiat Multipla.

The Alfa van is by M4.

The Fourgoncino is by Brumm

And the great little Multipla is also by Brumm
As I'm getting out my Abarths for a posting, I might as well show you, once again, the small selection of Abarths I have here on my shelves, plus a few of the Abarth dioramas I have created. The great thing about collecting Abarths is that, if you are really keen, it is possible to "collect them all" without too much difficulty or expense (or at least, so I am told by knowledgeable Abarth fans).


1956 Fiat Abarth Record Car, 500cc, model by Hachette.
1958 Fiat Abart Record Car, 500cc, model by Hachette
1961 Abarth record car, model by Solido
750cc Abarth record car 1956, model by Metro
Fiat Abart T-140, model by Hachette
Fiat Abarth 1000, model by Brumm
Fiat Abarth 1000, 1963, model by Brumm
Abarth 3000, model by Hachette
Fiat Abarth 2400 coupe, 1961, model by Hachette
Pininfarina Abarth concept car, model by Spark

And finally, revisiting a few of my dioramas and colourised black and white photos of Abarths...

"Monza Glimpse", the 1961 record car on the Monza banking,
glimpsed through the trees somewhere on the infield.

Colourised "real" black and white photo of the 1958 record
car gives a great sense of how tiny these cars were.

And finally, my 1:43 scale model of that car in a little
diorama, also on the banking at Monza.