Abarth 1000 SP revived on modern components

Abarth and Alfa Romeo joined forces to launch the rare Abarth 1000 SP (‘Sport Prototipo’) 45 years ago, and now, the Italian companies are bringing it back with more up-to-date tech inside.

The new model is a one-off job that mostly resembles the original in terms of design, including the lights, the glass all around, the exhaust tips, and the sculpted sides. It takes liberties with a carbon monocoque cabin, many aluminum parts, triangular wishbones at the front, and McPherson struts in the back. A 1.7-liter turbocharged four-cylinder under the hood produces 240 PS (237 hp / 176 kW). Overall, the spyder seems technically close to the Alfa Romeo 4C.

Size-wise, the successor is much larger than the original, which was only 3,445 mm long, 1,605 mm wide and 930 mm tall with 2,200 mm of wheelbase.

The original 1966 car (see video) used the Fiat 600 tech and platform. It had a stainless-steel tube-frame encased in a plastic body and supported on wishbone suspension. Its dual-carburetor four-pot drove a five-speed manual transmission with 105 PS (104 hp / 77 kW), which was plenty for the car weighing as little as 480 kilograms (1,058 pounds).

The original Abarth 1000 SP claimed multiple racing victories in Europe. Aside from a handful of racecars, around 50 road-legal homologation cars rolled off the lines back then.