Today Josh called me. He had gotten a crazy hair and went to take one of those new Fiat 500s for a spin. He had his doubts about these tiny cars, but when he handed the keys back to the salesman, he had a huge smile on his face! Well, that got me interested so I start searching around. One thing led to another and I found this project pair. One Abarth Zagato and one Multipla. Both rare and both expensive to restore, but the promise of fun is alluring. Find them here on eBay along with a whole boatload of parts!
We have featured a handful of these Abarths in project form. Heck, this could even be one of those. For some reason it seems that everyone who finds these immediately removes all the parts and starts sanding. We never recommend taking on another person’s unfinished project. It will be difficult to put back together and surely a few pieces have gone missing. This is such a special car though that we might just make an exception. If you don’t know about the mystic of the Scorpion, then you really need to read up on the history of Abarth.
Then we have the Multipla. It is more complete, but is very rusty! Passers-bys may not be able to tell if it is coming or going, but when all six people exit the vehicle, they will know it is something special. This little Fiat 600 was stretched out to haul lots of people so naturally it made a good taxi. Ironically, it is now sought after by collectors for its uniqueness. Just think, you could have one of the first minivans with a third row seat!
Mixed in the the bits pulled off the Abarth, there are a ton of extra parts. 3 transaxles, 4 radiators, 2 engines, 5 heads, 5 blocks, etc., etc.. Lots of stuff! The seller isn’t sure what goes where, so they are just including it all the sale. That is nice, but now you will have the task of putting the puzzle back together. Well, at least you will have plenty of spares. So, which one do you think will provide the most smiles for the next owner?
Back in the early 70s, about the time I startedsaw driving, Wedge Auto Wrecking near Woodinville, WA (not far from Seattle) had an old Multiplia sitting out in front, and it was full of misc steel wheels (lotsa luck finding the one you wanted). Anyhow, for many years after that, it was the first and only such Fiat like that I had ever seen because they were already all off the road, at least in that part of the world. In fact, I have yet to see a running and driving Multiplia!
I remember that!
Sounds like a good opportunity to build an Abarth Multipla.
Well, I can say this is something I wouldn’t want to spend the rest of my life completing. And that’s about how long it would take unless you started in with the wheelbarrows of money. Yes, I love both these models of Fiats. They’re both wonderful in restored condition. The trouble is…well…Fiats. You know, the famous blooming steel of Italy? That’s all they use, so there’s really no use trying to find one in good used condition. Either they’re like these two or they’ve been restored. Oh well, enough of my grouchy Saturday morning rant. I’m off for breakfast and coffee.
Oooh, there’s a thought: it will soon be nice enough for weekend car shows again!!
Ah cars & coffee, say hi to Jerry for me.
I used to see these Zagato double bubbles at the vintage fall festival at Lime Rock Park, wonderful little jewels these are, like a fine Swiss watch, beautiful delicate door handles & switches on the dash, very rare these days. I have no idea what $’s these are bringing, anyone know?
As for the new Fiat 500, I drove a couple & was very impressed, the interiors are quite nice & drove like a much larger car, very tight.
The Multipla I have seen a couple over the years at car shows but never on the street, don’t know much about them.
That’s a lot of automotive compost, right there. Especially the Multipla. Sad.
The Fiat Abarth 750 coupe looks like a stalled project that I think I have seen before, maybe from the same seller, who also has two project Porsches for sale now.
Ordinary F-A 750 coupes (without a race history) have been selling for about $120-160K in #2 condition, so it’s the usual story—-the coupe project is likely stalled because it will require more time and money to complete properly than it would cost to buy a good F-A 750 that you can drive today. It has galvanized sheet metal patched in for floors and you can see that the aluminum is like lace in places, so after you’re done you would have so many hours into the car that it would have been better to buy a good one that you can enjoy from the beginning.
And that assumes that you know these cars in detail so that everything is put together properly, otherwise you risk turning our a mongrel. The Coupe and the Multipla are being sold together because the seller admits that he doesn’t really know which parts go with which car, and he doesn’t want to mix them up. That’s why a detailed knowledge of these cars is so important.
The same seller has posted this video of a very nice F-A 750 coupe on the road, so here’s what they should look like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH23Qeqr4LI
Thanks Dolphin, nice video & if that guy was sitting with his ass against my double bubble (if I had one) he would be a dead man.
I have looked for these over the years in adds just see them & check pricing & they don’t come along very often.
Oh & this video gives you that wonderful sound!!!
the sellers 914 with a BIN of $2500 interests me more. do not know enough about fiat parts to know if you could part these out and make money.
Hey, I remember Wedge Auto Wrecking! Yeah, they were on Highway 9, just south of where Costco is now, and across the street. There were a couple other wrecking yards out there, and Fitz came along in the 1980s and bought many of them.
But about Fiats, I’m not sure why anyone would want one, new or old. To me, they seem like less-than with quality, performance, reliability. That may have changed here in the last decade or so, approaching 2020, but they still aren’t much to look at, IMO.