Abarth 1100 Sport

Abarth 1100 Sport was a 1953 one-off built by Ghia on the last of four Abarth 205 competition chassis. Its engine and transmission derived from the Fiat 1100-103. Chassis 205-104 carried a compact, low and broad Ghia body, with a large oval grille and a raised canopy-like roof element over the glasshouse. The car combined Abarth mechanical components with individually styled Italian coachwork on a Fiat-based mechanical package.

Ghia gave the Abarth a frontal treatment centred on a broad oval grille. The body sat low and wide over the chassis, while the raised roof section separated the glasshouse from the otherwise horizontal body line. Its proportions recalled contemporary Ghia-bodied Chrysler show cars, interpreted here on a much smaller Fiat-based platform. Ghia later used related styling ideas on the Simca 1200 Ghia, another compact coachbuilt design.

The car appeared at 1953 Torino alongside the Fiat 1100-103. Aldo Farinelli reviewed it in Motor Italia and called it a “Masterpiece of Design.” It later went to the United States, where Bill Vaughn renamed it the Vaughn SS Wildcat. At 1954 New York, it was presented with the claim that it carried “the first overhead camshaft V-8 in the USA.” Vaughn planned a limited-production programme, but the project did not proceed beyond this car.

The former Abarth disappeared from public view before Russ Baer rediscovered it in a Maryland barn in 1982. Pat Braden was among its later custodians. A Litton Industries Maryland Division parking sticker dated 1958 remained among the clues to the car’s American history. Following restoration, the car appeared at 2015 Pebble Beach, where it won its class and received a Best of Show nomination.

The surviving car has carried several names during its history: an Abarth 205-based Ghia special in Turin, the Vaughn SS Wildcat in New York, and a restored Pebble Beach entrant. Its original mechanical basis remained the Fiat 1100-103-derived engine and transmission, beneath the distinctive Ghia body first recorded at its 1953 Turin appearance. The proposed limited-production Vaughn programme remained confined to this single car.