The coolest and rarest Abarth ever: 1950 Abarth 205 Vignale Berlinetta

There was a time that I had a small obsession surrounding this car, not as bad as with the 250 SWB, but still… a noticible liking. So I’m sure you can understand why I think it’s sad that this little Abarth is so rare.

How rare, you ask? 3 units in total. The first 2 were powered by a 1.1-litre Fiat engine, and the last was powered by a 1.3-litre Alfa Twin-cam engine. The latter of which ended up being burnt in a garage in Italy, after living a part of its life as Carlo Abarth’s personal car.

What’s so special about the restoration of this particular 205? The person who bought the burnt wreck (and restored the car) factionally, didn’t change a single part. Abarth themselves offered to use another 205 as donor car, seeing as that car was restored, and no longer original. But he refused, and now, without changing 1 part, the 205 Vignale Berlinetta that you can see in the image above is at a near concours condition.

There is only very little to find about the car, but I remember reading about the restoration that’d been done while I was on holiday, and it just boggles the mind. What do you think of both the restoration and car?

• MH