Abarth 2000 Prototipo, Pininfarina, 1969

I thought I 'knew' EVERY car, that is why I love this thread the best, so many amazing automobiles from a place and time where art and auto design were one and the same!

ps..reminds me of "Death Race 2,000"..."3000?"lol, with David Carradine...a bunch of futuristic autos that looked a LOT like that one were all over the big screen, racing around, blowing up, cool stuff!

 

you don't see women like that anymore either, love the go-go boots!!

 

Hi Steve, here are a few pics. The car is still in Shiro Kosaka's collection displayed in the Abarth Gallery near the Mount Fuji in Japan.
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More pics :

And yes that is an astonishing design. From the pics you can see the front was redone at some point.
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Wow! What an incredible car, thanks for sharing these photos!

 

More from various French magazines...
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Hi Steve, unfortunately I don't have the original mag. I've just collected the scans over the years.
The good news is, Shiro Kosaka will, in the near future, send some of his cars outside Japan for several exhibitions (Abarth 2000 PF, Abarth 750 Record...). This is a partnership between Abarth and the Abarth Gallery Museum. It would be great to see the car displayed to the public.

 

I don't think so. Abarth Gallery is a small museum and it's open only a few days per month.
It would be great to have a book or a website as this collection has some true jewels.

Ferrari P5, Alfa-Romeo Canguro, Alfa-Romeo 33T stradale (probably replica of the prototype), Ferrari 250LM, Abarth 600/750 Record, Ferrari Mythos (replica).
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I hope you wont consider this off topic, but this car just landed in the port last week. I hope to clear customs in the next week or so then, off to limerock for a session. I believe this is the only 500 abarth in North America. Should prove very exciting...

elad
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two comments...I LOVE the 'styling' on those wheels...I am guessing Campy or Cromodora? and I also appreciate the owner's taste in cool eclectic autos!

 

Mang : Wheels were made by Cromodora.

Steve : Shiro Kosaka purchased the P5 chassis directly from PininFarina. At this time the body was lost. It was still fitted with the wheels painted metallic blue as the P5 was painted pearl white with metallic blue wheels for its last photoshoot (I'll post pics later).
Engine was incomplete and was never functional. Chassis is probably custom made from discarded "P" chassis parts found at the factory (same story goes for the 512s speciale and the Modulo). Shiro Kosaka had a new body identical to the original made in aluminium - and that is an important point as the legend says the body was removed, modified and finally put on a 33T chassis to create the Yellow Alfa-Romeo 33 speciale PininFarina. Problem : the 33 PF body is original (I inspected the car myself in 2005) and it is made of Fiberglass. The Ferrari body was aluminium. Fiovaranti made two identical cars in two years but the Alfa was to promote the new lighter materials like FB.

Anyway, the result is amazing. As for the long lost Canguro believed to have been totalled during a test-drive with a journalist in the 60's, the P5 was saved and restored. It is a very important car for the golden age of modern design and I'm glad there are people like Mr Kosaka able to make these restoration projects possible.

 

Discussion and photo's of P5's chassis start on page 2 here:

http://www.glickenhaus.com/jim/project.pdf

Best

 

The G.S. and Cuneo have different chassis numbers. The Canguro has most of the original body/chassis. The nose is new. The
former owner was advertising for a TZ motor/gearbox around 20 years ago, so I think that is not original also.

Tom Tanner/Scale Designs/Ferrari Expo 2009 model contest and photography display-Chicago April 25th 2009

 

Tom is right. The Canguro wreck was found by Gary Schmidt in 1972 under a moisted cover at Bertone in Grugliasco. Gary Schmidt was an American guy living in Germany at that time. He was stunned to discover the remains of this car - thought to be a write-off - totally neglected in one of the warehouses. It was the original car, but the front was missing. The engine bay was empty (car was a TZ2 chassis with a TZ2 engine) and the interior had fire damage and was incomplete. (See the pics taken by Gary Schmidt the day he discovered the car).
Mr Schmidt was not a wealthy guy but he asked if it would be possible to purchase the wreck. He explained he would love to try to restore and rebuild the car.
The guys at Bertone looked at him with discreet smiles (probably thinking "crazy americans...") and offered him a deal : If he would be able to pay the taxes to get the papers saying the wreck is him and if he would be able to get some help to get the whole mess out of the warehouse, then the car will be "his".
Gary Schmidt coulnd't believe his luck and always kept the few receipt proving that, this day, he purchased the Canguro for a mere... $35. Yup, thirty-five bucks !

Car was sent in Germany and Schmidt began working on the car. There were no blueprints or papers availables. Only a few pictures. He bought later the blueprints made by Michele Conti for his 1:10 Canguro model. The blueprint were purchased for big bucks but unfortunately, for nothing as everything had to be redrawn. The good thing is, Gary Schmidt finally found a real TZ2 engine for the car but later went out of funds to complete the restoration. Car was sold to Shiro Kosaka, sent in Modena for two years and got a bare metal restoration and a newly built body.

Two pics of the Canguro in 1964 and the pics taken by Schmidt at bertone in 1972 :
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Here is the P5 chassis & engine when beeing restored at PininFarina (note the blue wheels) and two pics of the last livery of the P5 back in the early 70's :
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not entirely accurate...

the P5 was converted to the alfa 33 and a few years ago they sourced another chasiss brought the alfa to the pinnifarina studio to have electronically scanned to build another P5 recreation.


anyhow thanks for posting those great pics...

cheers

hf