The Abarth X1/9 Prototipo/Stradale Thread

Stradale Photos

These are photos of the King Al's Stradale being requisitioned at the Jacksonville Florida Pier straight off the boat from Italy. Complete with Fiat tour bus!! Don't know if this is Al's first, last, or whatever of his at least two Prototipos. Note Fiat 131 Wagon Tow Vehicle.....HA! I love it. Shaun Folkerts would love this photograph as he has logged many a mile towing a Fiat behind a wagon, but an Audi wagon instead of a Fiat.

The 'on the street' Stradale is on the streets of Torino and driven by the factory rally driver. Note the 'rivet indents' on the fender flares that are consistent with Consentino Stradale Photographs but that do not show up on Prototipo Corsa kits (the flares are smooth). I initially mistook this to mean that the flares were in plastic wherease it could simply mean that they were screwed in to add 'attachment strength' during heavy use. Who knows...it's cool....but you can notice that the Stradale pictures show the indent holes wherease the racing cars do not. I don't know.

Thanks go to Albert Alvarez for scanning these pictures.

prototipo_stradale.jpg


prototipo_stradale2.jpg
 
No speed, and no grip.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tTRPD9EMKo"]YouTube - Team Giacomelli e Scuderia Kinzica[/ame]
 
Not a prototipo replica

Hey Walter....I don't think that's a prototipo replica, colors are similar with the red and the yellow. Cool car anyway.
 
Homologation papers

Alex

Do you have copies of the draft homologation papers that you might share? I am thinking of building a replica as i have a number of the right parts (a spare 232B 16 valve engine, Colotti SC CR dog box etc). But the key thing is to get the suspension right - I have all the photos from Mr Holmes and also some stuff from Reinhard Klein's database and i can see that they used some of the Group 4 124 parts, but dimensions will be key.

PS i saw 23002 a few years back at Volta's - looked pretty tired then

M
 
Neither the Prototipo or the Stradale is sold here in states that i know....

But Chris Obert and Madmatt they both sell Dallara ones.Matt ones are more a street version of it,meaning you don`t need too much of a wide wheel for it......
 
Al bought his X19 prototipo race car sans engine and gearbox (says so on page 123 of his book)

but...on page 112 he describes his attempted fitting an of an original 1300 and four speed back into it to go racing at the '77 Daytona 24 hour...but

"...I just didn't complete the installation. The car is sold to Shiro Kosaka, so I'll probably never race it"

SteveC
 
Which one??

Al had two of the original 6, and the pictures show up to four at his place. So I wonder which one he bought without an engine.
 
The Stradale appears to be the one in the left front (red with dark grey/black contrasting paint) ... it's the only one shown with the fuel filler cap in the front left corner of the bonnet/hood like the Pianta picture on the roads of Turin, and it's the only one to have the narrower stradale flares.

As for the Prototipo ... either of the two at the rear with no front bumper... Al definitely made moulds of the original flares and parts, and according to AlexK #133 was the one Al bought, which Al says he shipped to the US sans engine/transmission.

SteveC
 
Hi,

I am Alex Kartschall from germany and I worked together with Roberto Motta from Italy for the article you posted at page 1.

I don't know if it's clear, there were altogether 6 cars built by Abarth. The picture with serial numbers of http://www.x1-9.it is not right!

TO H02940, Serial # 133, this chassis is one of the cars which where used for the presentation of the X1/9 in 1972 at Sicily. This car I told the "protoype of the Prototipo's", was going to Abarth in 1973. They made the first experiments with this car, before they've got 5 more chassis with serial # 23001 to 23005 in 1974. This car was sold to Al Cosentino, he raced it at Daytona. This and one more Prototipo was sold to Japan later.

TO L65335, serial # 23002 was registered like the other Prototipo's in September 1974, it's one of the two race cars which were used at several rallyes in italy. This car was sold with TO H02940 to Al Cosentino and later together with TO H02940 to Japan. This car actually is in italy and waits for restauration.

TO L65336, serial # 23003: This car was the "Muletto", a test car to test new parts. This car was later sold to an italian man who entered in hill climb and slalom races. The car became a Dallara kit (like you can see on page 80 of the article). The car was bought by Gino Macaluso in the early 1990ies, he rebuilt the car in original condition with the 16V Abarth engine.

TO L65337, serial # 23001: the second race car that was used in several rallyes in Italy. This car was going to france together with TO L65336 and was driven by Darniche/Mahé in several rallyes is france. Fiat was testing Michelin tyres with these cars. In 1975 the Prototipo project was already cancelled by Fiat, anyway they made tests in France with a complete fiat service team. This car was sold to an italian man who entered on many stock car races in Italy. Because the car was damaged too much he restored it to original condition and placed the original 16V engine into it. This and the Macaluso car are the only drivable cars in the moment. In 2005 I visited the owner and was able to see the car "in action". It was very impressive ;)

There are missing 23004 and 23005. One of these must be the Stradale which is still owned by Al Cosentino, the other one is the "mysterious 6th car". We believe that it was a not finished spare chassis for the race cars. The stradale was tested by Giogio Pianta in the streets of Torino, I have one picture where you can see him inside the car. This car was use for the homologation form for the CSAI to get the homologation in group 4 in 1974. This homologation form was on the way to the CSAI office, but Macaluso has got a telephone call to return to Torino before he was able to submit it.

If have documents to attest all I wrote above, including the registration papers of the registered cars and the homologation forms. So I think you can believe in what I wrote ;)

Regards, Alex

Read the posts before ;)
 
I understand that and I did read that post, I guess I ment why are they never really seen at shows and events. While it seems everyone knows who owns or last owned them it seems odd that they are not seen more often. I have been to shows in Europe, The US, Asia, and never seen one on display. Just seems kind of odd that they are all locked up away from public view.
 
Looks most likely...

That's very likely.....unlike the Dallara, the Abarth Prototipo was built 'in house' using Fiat supplied parts where applicable, it would seem that the gauges would fall into that category. The Abarth Fiat 124 Rally was well established by this time, so my guess is yes.
 
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