by Don Meluzio –
Mike has been gracious enough to allow me to report again on the Radnor Hunt Concours about 15 miles west of Philadelphia in the beautiful farm country of Malvern, Pennsylvania.
The winner of the late model Abarth Class belonging to John and Suzanne Campion –
a 1983 Lancia Abarth Rally 037. This exact car was on the Cover of Octane Magazine last month!
If you search back through the My Car Quest Archives from September 2015 Radnor Hunt you will get some good background info of the concours history. This was the 21st Edition of the event, and I looked through my old programs and it was my 18th consecutive year showing a car at the event, so that pretty much tells you what I think of Radnor Hunt. It is a very picturesque setting on the oldest continuing fox hunting club in the country.
1970 Abarth 2000SP SE 010, one of only 40 produced, one of two right hand drive. It was actually shown at the Abarth stand of the Turin Show in 1970. Owned by Craig Brody.
It was a very diverse field of cars this year, especially since the featured classes were the likes of Auburn, Cord, and Duesenberg, The Race Cars of Roger Penske, an immense showing of Vintage Motorcycles, and one of my favorites, Abarth.
Coming in second in the Early Abarth Class was Don Meluzio’s 1961 Fiat Abarth 1000GT Bialbero, this car was on the pole in the 1961 Nurburgring 1000 Km Race. It led every lap but the last one, it was said to have had mechanical difficulties and was later shipped to the USA, sold to John Norman of Team Roosevelt, and won its class at the Bahama Speedweeks.
I was specifically involved in helping to organize the Abarth Group, and we had a great selection of Abarths. We had quite a few owners come some long distances, but more specifically we had two owners that came from Florida on Hurricane Irma weekend!
Guildo Torchia owns this very interesting 1973 Fiat 124 CSA Abarth. This is a Factory Rally Package, it has independent rear suspension, aluminum doors, fiberglass hood and deck panels!
We had an early Abarth class 1955 to 1966, and a late model Abarth class of 1967 to 1984.
More photos of the Abarth Group are in the slide shows below.
All photos by Tim Peachy and Don Meluzio.
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
Don Meluzio is an avid car lover and collector. He competed in the Porsche Racing Program from 1988 through 1992.
In 1989 he finished 15th in the Porsche Cup USA. In 1991 he finished 9th in the Porsche World Cup. A top 15 finish earned a trip to Stuttgart, where at the Porsche Cup Banquet Professor Porsche presented him with his cash award and a gift. During this time he had already acquired the Porsche 901 Prototype.
He is the president of the Iso & Bizzarrini Owner’s Club and lives in Pennsylvania USA.
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