5 replies to this topic

[HistoryBuff]

Excellence magazine on their website had a nice four page story of this Abarth Carrera GTL.

 

Find it here: http://www.excellenc...=4#.UpOaU8SsjTo

 

 

But it left me wanting some more info. For instance, why do some people still call the Abarth GTL's Zagato-bodied when two other obscure coachbuilders are credited with the work? Was Scaglione a Zagato employee at the time? Are there drawings of the design with his name on it?

Also why did Porsche sour ont he car so fast? Is it because the 356 chassis was old, old, old and did not reprresent modern engineering so it had to be cancelled after 20-21 cars?

Finally  still looking for one that can be called a barn find and 1008 looks like a good possibility. In the EXCELLENCE story it says:and I quote:

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 " After lying dormant for a year, GTL 1008 was sold to Swedish auto collector and occasional racer Richard Cederlund. An amateur, he competed in local club events half-a-dozen times in 1964 with some success. Former Stockholm Sportvagnsklubb official Björn Bellander writes in his history of the group that Cederlund “…kept his cars for his children, but they were not interested.” After a divorce, his collection was sold."
"1008 entered the consciousness of California restorer and vintage racer Steve Tillack in 1992, not long after he learned that the vast car collection of fugitive Swedish real estate financier Hans Thulin was being liquidated. While negotiating with Thulin’s creditor banks, Tillack was tipped off about another private collection. He had been looking for a GTL and had compiled a list of the known surviving chassis and where they were located."

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 I;d like to know, in US dollar eqivilants, what h Hammerlund sold it for to Cederlund

And when Cederlund sold his whoe collection, was that price broken out separately?

Also the way the EXCELLENCE story is written I can't tell if Tillack bought 1008 from the Thulin collection or ran across the Cederlund car, 1008, while he was dickering with the Thulin bankruptcy assets sellers and that Thulin owned a separate Abarth Carrera GTL.

 

Thanks for any info. Maybe I am detail obsessed but I hate it when a reporter tells 95% of the story and leaves out what I consider important.

[paulie]

Hi HistoryBuff,

I think I can help with some of your questions.
Zagato had absolutely nothing to do with the design or construction of the Abarth Carrera GTL cars. Zagato themselves have confirmed this fact. Also, all 20 356B Carrera chassis were sent to Abarth's factory in Turin. None were sent to Milano. I am still trying to clarify exactly what Turin carrozzeria workshops were involved in the construction of these cars, but I can confirm that Rocco Motto in Turin was the lead body maker for most of the 20 cars. Many historians and authors have simply repeated the erroneous fact of Zagato designing and/or constructing the GTL cars.
Given the artisanal nature of body fabrication in Turin during this period, I expect that no one workshop was responsible for a complete, fully-trimmed and painted GTL body.
Franco Scaglione was an independent body designer at the time (Sept.-Oct. 1959) Carlo Abarth was to have asked him to design the GTL body. I have not found any drawings with Scaglione's signature nor have I found any other primary source evidence confirming him as the body designer. However, there is a fair bit of unsubstantiated anecdotal information that says Scaglione was the designer.
I have no information concerning the price buyers may have paid for #1008. The article in Excellence is not entirely clear as to exactly from whom Tillack bought #1008. I have no record of an Abarth Carrera in the Thulin collection.

Cheers for now,

Paulie

[ray b]

in 73 a sportfish boat owner at M&S boat yard  in coconut grove fl had one in lime green

the car was in the parking lot most days

sorry forget the latin owner name

and no idea the numbers

[paulie]

Hi ray b,

Thanks for your input. I can't find Coconut Grove, Florida on my map. Can you give more detailed info as to its location?
Could the owner possibly be Charles Lopez?
Is there a chance that any photos were taken of this lime green Abarth Carrera?

Paulie

[ray b]

small former village incorporated into miami long ago

south of downtown miami east of us1 on the bay front

current location of city hall of miami in the old pan-am seaplane terminal

the M&S boat yard was part of the WW2 seaplane base

 

http://en.wikipedia....i/Coconut_Grove

 

sorry no pictures of the car

owner was a short thin guy about 40 in 73

[HistoryBuff]

Tillack bought the car from the bankers who were foreclosing on a billionaire named Thulin whose financial empire was collapsing. The same banker also at one time had a real pre war Bugatti Royale. If I can't find out what Tillack paid I'd be interested in hearing the SN of the Florida Abarth and what Mr. Lopez might have sold it for and what year that would have been. I find quite a few exotic cars spend time in nice climes like Florida or California where you can drive them more.