MOTOR CARS | 99He had previously won that year’s Monaco, French, British and
German GP races in his works Lotus cars – but on his ‘weekends off’
back in 1965 he had also driven Abarth works team cars.
At the Viennese aerodrome circuit at Aspern on April 11, 1965,
Jochen Rindt had beaten senior works team-mate Hans Herrmann
to win the 20-lap 52km Gran Turismo race, with Karl Foitek’s Lotus
Elan third and Manfred Abels’ Porsche 904GTS fourth. On October
10 in the Preis von Tyrol 25-lap, 70km race at Innsbruck aerodrome
in Austria, Jochen Rindt then drove his works Abarth Simca 2000GT
to beat no fewer than three Porsche 904GTS Coupés, driven by
no less than future Porsche works stars Rolf Stommelen and Udo
Schutz, with Sepp Greger fourth, and the very quick Alfa Romeo TZ2
of works driver Roberto Businello fifth. These Abarth Simca 2000GTs
were indeed in-period Porsche 904-beaters...
Also included within the accompanying documentation file is
a photocopy of the extensive Scheda di Omologazione for the
model, date-stamped January 13, 1964, together with some
correspondence from the Abarth factory, and the car’s original ‘AR
104614’ registration plates.
Despite its long life as a prime exhibit within the Collezione Marnello
Rosso display halls in San Marino and at Falciano, ‘0056’ offered
here appears to be in really sound general order. Its 4-cylinder twin-
cam 8-plug engine – with those enormous 58mm Weber carburettors- turns freely by hand, the cylinder bores and piston crowns look
in very good condition and the water pump also turns freely. It is
possible to select all gears and the clutch is operable, but the brakes
require a full strip and rebuild prior to the car being used.
This fantastic and potentially extremely competitive Abarth
Simca 2000 GT has been inspected on Bonhams’ behalf by very
experienced marque experts who pronounced themselves “in
awe” at its originality and general condition after so long on static
display. We recommend ‘0056’ here as being worthy of the closest
consideration. Expert inspection and re-commissioning will obviously
be necessary before a new owner should consider running it in
earnest – but this is indeed a jewel of the Collection.Please note this vehicle is subject to import tax should it remain in
the EU.
£160,000 - 240,000
€200,000 - 300,000