Does anyone have first hand information about the spider being offered at the Bonhams Auction this weekend? Thanks in advance.
Do you have a link to the auction listing? I thought they only made three or four of these things. I seem to remember a feature article in Sports Car International (?) a while back on Frank Manley's blue Zagato Spider. I'll have to find that. This picture is from the 1958 Auto Parade annual. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Bonhams Monaco auction... http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?sContinent=EUR&screen=catalogue&iSaleNo=15487 The Abarth Zagato Spider is Lot 107... http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?sContinent=EUR&screen=lotdetailsNoFlash&iSaleItemNo=3562563&iSaleNo=15487&sServer=http://images1.bonhams.com/&sPath=2007-04/12/7445865-1-2.jpg
No, not of this car, but in general, these models were a bit of a failure, as Zagato never really got the proportions correct (quite the contrary with the coupe version; Double Bubble!). The 750/850 Allemano Spiders, were designed by Michelotti and were far better looking (especially the 850's). Don't let the fact that the motor is not original. Most of these cars blew their originals long time ago and have been replaced with either 850 (903cc) motors or even bigger Autobianchi (1049cc) units. A "Plus" is the fact that the motor in this car is at least a proper Abarth engine (it's hard to tell from that tiny photo, but it looks to be either a 750, or an 850 unit) and also it comes with original hubcaps (very rare!). With an Abarth, it's not the condition that counts, but whether it is complete with all of the bits and pieces.
