The Fiat Abarth 1000 OTR is based on the Fiat 850 Sport Coupe chassis, but with a heavily modified Fiat 600 engine redesigned by Abarth, as well as a front mounted radiator and other changes to turn the more pedestrian 850 into a very competitive track car in the sub-one liter class, designed to not only take on the Mini Cooper but also to compete with Porsche 911s in the Turismo classes. At over 100 horsepower, the engine had over twice the output of the engine the 850 came with as standard. This was accomplished though a significant redesign of the engine, utilizing a unique “Radiale” head which featured hemispherical combustion chambers and crossflow design, with four separate exhaust ports rather than the twinned ports on the stock Fiat head. The engine still operates off a single cam and pushrod arrangement but with a dual rocker shaft system to allow for proper operation of the valves within the new combustion chamber geometry. A further increase in power came from the significant increase in compression as well, all coming together to make the radiale engine represent the peak of Abarth’s development of the Fiat 600 block. Despite the car’s incredibly competitive performance, in the United States, it was banned from racing in the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) sanctioned events, mostly because the homologation requirements for the SCCA were that 500 units needed to be produced rather than the FIA’s 50 to meet the European racing standards. This example is one of the few to have been shipped to the United States and was sold new in Pennsylvania and used to race in hillclimb events. After an accident it went into storage, changed hands a few times, generally remaining in Pennsylvania until 1992, when it went to a new owner in Australia. It changed hands in Australia once again in 2005 and finally that new owner completed a restoration on the car to a very high level, repairing the accident damage and refinishing the car, bringing it to the condition it is in today. That owner sold the car to a collector in the United States, returning the car to this country and I purchased the car from that collector at auction. Driving this car is a lot of fun as it does have amazingly good acceleration, though it is fairly evident that it was intended to be a track car from the beginning. There is a front mounted radiator to meet the higher cooling requirements of the much more powerful engine, with piping running from the rear to the front, though there isn’t a thermostat in stock form. As a result, the car runs cool if driven at a cruising speed without traffic, but comes up to operating temperature if you drive it more like a race car, keeping the revs up and pushing the engine. Arguably, it is just a good excuse to push it harder and enjoy what the car is capable of!