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Porsche 356B Barth Carrera GTL from Sweden: was it ever derelict?


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#1 HistoryBuff

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Posted 17 November 2013 - 21:00

Sorry for the mis-spelling. (They don't let you re-edit the title) I am searching for a good barn find to write a profile of but I am dubious that any of the 20 (or is it 21?) Abarth Carreras ever got to a sorry state where they were sold cheap,unrecognized for their pedigree. Maybe this one --chassis 1008 is a good candidate?

In one place I read it went new to Sweden but another source says the original owner was Swiss owner and won every race he entered with the car. It has been shown with only 13,000 kilometers in recent times so is considered original except for a single repaint in the early (approximately) 1980s.

. It was apparently a Werks racer, used by the Porsche factory and their Swedish agent Scania-Bilar, to promote the marque in Scandinavia. Carl-Gunnar Hammarlund also known as 'CeGe,' won two Swedish championships in this car. CeGe was well known for his Swedish Public Radio program .

Chassis number 1008 is believed to be the most original Abarth surviving with only 6,000 original miles. The aluminum body was repainted in 1998; otherwise, every detail on the car is original and as raced in 1961. 

I don't know who owns the car now or if it is in America now but would like to know if this car was "discovered" in Sweden while it was still bargain priced in comparison to today's values. I kind of doubt it had a rough period since it sounds so low mileage.. Still the driving season is short in Scandanavia so maybe it only got out  a few times in 50 plus years. Any opinions on whether this is the best example of a GTL that was once forlorn and almost forgotten?

 

Also seeking general opinions from those familiar with these hand wrought coupes--was Porsche disappointed in the GTLs? Why did they stop at 20 when you had to make 100 to get it homologated? Was it that they realized "Abarth's magic" was not much better than they could do themselves? 


Edited by HistoryBuff, 17 November 2013 - 21:03.


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#2 paulie

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Posted 04 December 2013 - 21:28

Hi HistoryBuff,

For the past three years, I have been researching everything possible about the Porsche Abarth Carrera GTL cars, so I hope I can answer your questions. There were only 20 GTLs made for the Porsche factory during the period 1960 to April 1961. Porsche were only interested in constructing these 20 cars for their werks and privateer owner/drivers to ensure their continued dominance of the 1600 & 2000cc GT classes. Under 1960 FIA regulations, manufacturers were allowed to fit lighter bodies of a form different from their normal production cars, in Porsche's case these being the series production 356B Carrera GT cars made by Reutter. Porsche believed they would have no trouble getting under the mandated FIA homologation weight of 840 kg by having a body made entirely of lightweight metal and employing a more aerodynamically efficient body shape compared to the production 356B body. These "homologation" special GTs did not need to be produced in any minimum number to be accepted into the FIA GT class as they were counted in the same production total as the Reutter 356B GT cars which already met the minimum number set out by the FIA.
In the end, Porsche were confident they could sell 20 lightweight cars and the GTLs kept Porsche on top of the 1600 & 2000cc GT class until the 904 model was introduced. There were problems getting Abarth to finish all 20 cars in a timely manner and to have them meet the technical & quality expectations of the Porsche engineers and subsequently the end-users.
I am not too sure if #1008 fits the accepted image of a "barn-find" but it is one of the very few Abarth Carreras that is close to being original. It was sold new to Sweden and was raced very successfully by Carl-Gunnar Hammarlund, as you have stated.
It was sold in Sweden to the second owner who raced it occasionally. Afterwards it remained in his possession as part of his car collection.
No. 1008 was advertised for sale in 1985 in Road & Track magazine with an asking price of $105,000 (US).
I have no opinion as to whether the price the second owner received when he sold this car was considered a bargain in comparisons to today's values.
This car now resides in the USA.

Paulie

#3 HistoryBuff

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Posted 17 March 2017 - 16:17

Hoping to reach Paulie and other Zagato Abarth buffs.

Well, I guess it's pretty well acknowledged that though Zagato designed the Porsche Abarth GT/L (or was it Scaglione working for Zagato?) but now more accounts mention Rocco Motto did the actual body building.In the new book Zagato by Luciano Greggio makes the surprising assertion (to me anyway) that Abarth didn't like the way the publicity was going on the first car  with the Abarth name sort of suppressed compared to Zagato so he assigned Rocco Motto to build the rest. I could see that happening, but I also read somewhere years ago that Zagato became worried of the results if they bodied the cars because then they thought all of the companies who raced against Porsche would be mad at them and take their contracts elsewhere  so they were the ones that farmed out the job. I wrote Signor Greggio with this theory and hope he can fly that theory behind those who know the politics of the time so when I mention the cars in the re-introduction of my book Porsche 356 Photo Archive I can have a story most people agree on. .