Classic Cars Are The Bomb.

A junky 1959 Chevrolet Impala without an engine just sold for $88,500, but why was it worth so much?

https://www.foxnews.com/auto/junky-1959-chevrolet-impala-engine-sold

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I dont know.  I always thought they were the "normal" 8-71/10-71 blowers mounted sideways with a drive mechanism that connected it to the crank & hid the timing gear.  not sure Ive even seen one in person.  I may be old, but not JD old............  LOL. 

 
Carlo Abarth and the almost Corvair Abarth ..

For those who are unfamiliar with the Abarth name, Carlo Abarth in Italy was to Fiats what Shelby was to Ford, and Yenko was to Chevrolet. He was a tuner in the fifties and sixties specializing in small Fiat 500 and 600 models. But he also turned out literally hundreds of other hotted-up models by Fiat, Alfa, Porsche, and Simca. His business started by selling exhaust systems and grew from there.

Karl Abarth was an Austrian with a deep passion for design and performance. His competition history began on two wheels, and continued on four through the 1930s. By then, he had moved to Italy, where by Karl became Carlo. Various collaborative efforts including the iconic Cisitalia occupied his time and talents throughout the 1940s, and led to the formation of his own company, Abarth & C., in 1949. Abarth, born under the astrologic sign of Scorpio, chose the Scorpion as his logo. And although most of the company tuning capital was expended on Fiat, modified variants of Porsche, Simca, Siata, Lancia, Alfa Romeo and Ferrari were produced, while an Abarth-modified Corvair was contemplated.

In FAZA/Car Graphic ABARTH GUIDE by Al Cosentino, on page 144, there is a Corvair section titled "1961 Chevrolet Abarth Corvair Prototipo" (prototype). There's a pic of a stock looking 1961 Corvair Sedan sitting in front of the Abarth Factory. According to Al, Abarth was working on producing a performance kit for the Corvair. Additional gages, special grille, suspension and engine tweaks, plus a free flowing exhaust system There was both a competition/race version as well as more suitable street version designed. Apparently, Carlo Abarth's plan was to provide the parts, development and performance in the form of a dealer kit for the General Motors Corvair cars in the United States.

Extensive development had been done to the Corvair and Carlo Abarth had spent as much time testing the car with all the changes and additions his staff made as they did to any other Fiat Abarth or pure Abarth cars except for the Formula 1. The Corvair Abarth was eventually perfected completely after Carlo Abarth drove it whenever and wherever he could. It was as ready as any of his best creations including all the trimmings. Abarth muffler, grille and instruments. The story is that after about six months of tuning and testing, all of a sudden the work stopped and the car disappeared."

Although the plans to market and sell a complete kit did not come to light, the exhaust work and testing did produce a product that was offered for sale and found in many 1961 era Abarth ads. The Abarth Corvair exhaust was sold along with many other makes and models of free flowing exhaust. There were two models available.

Abarth Corvair - Competition Dual Exhaust Model CV-400C / #1143 $ 84.50

Abarth Corvair - Single Exhaust Model CV-200 / #1136 $ 44.50

There are many rumors why the performance package failed, ranging from Fiat not wanting the competition, to GM itself resisting the partnership. It would make more sense that GM would not support the development of the Abarth Corvair dealer package, as John Fitch was already working with GM in developing his own aftermarket performance package in the Fitch Sprint, as well as GMs development of the Monza Spyder option as a factory performance package.

The Corvair Abarth connection was also referenced in the Motorbooks International Buyer Guides Page 123 of the 128 softcover publication was this information.

"In 1961 Carlo Abarth took a fancy to the new Corvair and developed a complete modification kit for the rear-engine General Motors product. Selling such a kit to GM as a dealer modification would have given a new meaning to the name Abarth in the United States, but it was not to be. Given what happened to the Corvair, it may not have been a wise decision for Abarth at any rate. Abarth's fate would have been a kinder one.

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