1969 Abarth 2000 SE 010 prototipo (restoration)

[1959scudetto]

Few years ago I acquired a Politoys Abarth 2000 prototype in a fair condition: roll-bar, side windows and windshield wiper missing, some severe paint-chips, persistent residue from  ugly stickers. But the car looked good, it has indeed a very short wheelbase and therefore very successful in hillclimbs on twisty mountain roads (2 ltr- 4 cyl. engine, 250 hp, gross eight ca. 575 kgs = about 1300 lbs.).

This is how it looked initially:

 

First, the model was cleaned, then the stickers were removed (hard work !) and finally the remaining glue residue was removed by using mineral spirits/petrol. Then it looked like this:

 

As I wanted it to look like a typical period racer, I fabricated 2 headlight bezels with 4 lenses from the spare box (the model is missing front lights  - this was supposed to be a toy), made 2 side windows from clear acetate, bent a rollbar from insulated wire, applied a wiper from my '64 GTO and several decals after repainting the whole body as well as some detail painting on the engine/exhaust and interior - here it is as it looks now:

Of course, the license plate had to be altered - Abarth was situated in Torino and not in Milano, side indicators came from the truck spares. 

Even if some details are wrong (side windows too short, rollbar too thick, wip0er should be of the parallelogram type) it was a rewarding work - I recommend this model to all fans of '60s sports racers !

[Gramps46]

Excellent restoration Helmut.  Restorations can be very rewarding.

[1959scudetto]

On 11/22/2021 at 3:12 PM, Gramps46 said:

Excellent restoration Helmut.  Restorations can be very rewarding.

Thank you Gary, in most cases you can achieve quick results, too.