Stellantis Heritage features at the Paris Rétromobile show, with Alfa Romeo, Fiat-Abarth and Lancia

• Rétromobile, the oldest classic car show in Europe, will be taking place for the 47^th time from February 1^st to 5^th, 2023.
• Of the more than 600 exhibitors, the Stellantis stand is a highlight, proudly displaying four vintage gems: the Alfa Romeo S.Z. (1989) and Alfa Romeo 1900 Super Sprint (1956), the Lancia Rally 037 (1982), and the Fiat-Abarth 850 TC (1964).
• The aim of the Stellantis Heritage department is to enhance the historical heritage of the Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Lancia brands. It fulfills this mission by means of new services and opportunities for fans of vintage cars, such as visits to the Heritage Hub in Turin and to the Alfa Romeo Museum in Arese, Certificates of Origin, Certification of Authenticity, restoration and many other services.

Turin, January 30^th, 2023 – Expected visitor numbers of 130,000, over 600 exhibitors from all over the world and more than 1,000 cars on display: these are the figures for the 47^th Rétromobile at the Porte de Versailles in Paris, the oldest classic car show in Europe.
An essential inclusion at this event had to be the Stellantis Heritage department, founded in Turin in 2015. Its mission is to retrieve, safeguard and leverage the historical heritage of the Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Lancia and Abarth brands, and to promote and disseminate the values they still hold dear, both by taking part in industry events and by offering new services and opportunities to fans of classic cars.

These services and opportunities are emphasized by the link with the cars on the stand mounted for Rétromobile: in this way, the Alfa Romeo S.Z. and Alfa Romeo 1900 Super Sprint set out the new procedures adopted for the Certification of Authenticity of the brand’s classic cars, established in close coordination with the Casa del Biscione itself. The official recognition of the historic cars’ originality is now issued by a certification committee consisting of the brand's top management, industry experts and Heritage technicians, and is the tool to make every historic Alfa Romeo unique.

The same procedures are applied in the "Lancia Classiche" program in which the top management of the Brand and the head of Heritage preside over the committee that evaluates the historic cars and issues the certifications of Origin and of Authenticity, through which both the year of production and the original configuration of the car, both the authenticity of the car and its components and the functioning of the main mechanical parts are certified.

On the Rétromobile stand, Lancia is highlighted by the Lancia Rally 037 – this year is the 40^th anniversary of its victory in the World Rally Championship. This specimen is usually on show in “The Rally Era” section of the Heritage HUB; it stands as a testament to the wealth of the Stellantis historical collection, open to the public on Via Plava, Turin, within the Mirafiori industrial complex. The displays at the Heritage Hub cover an area of 15,000 m², housing around 300 cars from the three brands from Turin (Lancia, Abarth and Fiat), as well as a significant number of Alfa Romeo, Autobianchi and Jeep models. The venue can be visited by booking a guided tour online, to go on a journey of discovery of a priceless historical heritage, a testament to an adventure embarked on over 120 years ago.

Last but not least, the Fiat-Abarth 850 TC – acquired by Heritage in “barn find” condition – was restored to its former glory by the Officine Classiche technicians and their meticulous and laborious restoration work on the bodywork, mechanics, interior, and instruments. The car will be on display as a work in progress, to testify to the quality of the technicians’ workmanship.

Let’s have a closer look at the four gems on show.

Alfa Romeo S.Z. (ES30), 1989

The model on display is more than unique. It was one of the first ever made and is an “ex works” vehicle coming from the Balocco circuit, where it was used to experiment with different solutions. An authentic lab vehicle, it differs so much from later S.Z.s that it could be considered a prototype. This ambitious project, named ES30 – which stands for “Experimental Sports car, 3.0 liters”, the upshot of Alfa Romeo's desire to reaffirm its tradition of rear-wheel drive sports cars, but using new technologies and entrusting the production of around 1,000 specimens to the Zagato coachbuilder, which would go on to assemble them at its plant just outside Milan. This was the genesis of the Alfa Romeo S.Z. (Sprint Zagato), a pure-breed sports car with an unmistakable, assertive silhouette. Mounted on a steel underbody, it features an exterior bodywork made of composite materials and derives its chassis and mechanical specs from the Alfa Romeo 75 racecar (Group A), with the 3-liter V6 engine souped up to 207 horsepower for a top speed of 245 km/h. A first for the car was the use of early computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) systems, resulting in a considerable reduction in development time, but most of all in refinements and changes during construction.

The car was completely disassembled and underwent careful restoration at the Officine Classiche workshop: its body was stripped of paint and treated; the interior was completely regenerated, according to a conservative approach; the fuel tank was cleaned and suitably coated; the engine was carefully checked, including overall fine-tuning; the original wheel rims were cleaned meticulously, to maintain their originality.

Alfa Romeo 1900 Super Sprint, 1956

In 1955, the 1900 Sprint was replaced by the “Super Sprint” version, which remained in production until 1958; 599 units were made in total. Very similar to its predecessor model, the 1900 Super Sprint included the new feature of a five-speed transmission, again at the steering wheel but with closer ratios. The mechanical components were identical to those in the 1900 Super T.I. sedan, with a capacity of 1975 cc, and two inverted twin-barrel carburetors. The straight-four engine delivered an output of 115 hp @ 5500 rpm, reaching a top speed of 190 km/h.

The mark of its pure Alfa Romeo elegance originated in the design by the Touring coachbuilder; combined with all the research into the materials, it gave the car its lightweight characteristics and low aerodynamic coefficient, which were also ideal for optimum performance on the track.

Courtesy of the Certificate of Origin issued by Stellantis Heritage – Alfa Romeo Classiche, we can confirm that the specimen displayed on this stand was manufactured on 14 July 1956 and was sold three days later, indeed in Paris. Its original paintwork was blue, and it also retains the engine it was fitted with at the outset.

Lancia Rally 037, Group B, 1982

Produced by Abarth between 1982 and 1983, this car represents the natural evolution of the Lancia Rally road racing car. Unveiled at the Turin Motor Show in 1982, 200 units were built to obtain type approval in Group B, but only 53 of them were then tuned up for competitions.

Fitted with a four-cylinder twin-shaft injection engine, the power of which ranged from 260 to 305 hp depending on the increase in capacity (from 1995 to 2111 cc), the Rally 037 proved an incredibly high-performance car: lightweight, agile, with great road holding and handling.

Featuring “functional” and angular forms, its original mixed structure (monocoque and tubular) was fitted out by the Pininfarina workshop and their development of an assertive yet elegant body that could push a significant aerodynamic load towards the ground. For maximum efficiency, the body was made of polyester with fiberglass reinforcements, while the two lightweight bonnets, over the engine and trunk, could be completely disassembled. The minimalist and rational interior was the quintessence of competition, whereas some of aerodynamic “appendages” on the pillar and tail – including a striking rear spoiler – raised its performance even higher.

The Lancia Rally 037 made its debut at the Rally Costa Smeralda in April 1982 and officially competed in the 1983 season, in the colors of the official “Lancia Martini Racing” team, dominating the World Championship from the first race onwards (the Monte Carlo Rally, won by Walter Röhrl). That year, Lancia won the World Championship, the Constructors’ world title, second place in the Drivers’ World Championship (with Walter Röhrl), and the European and Italian Championships, courtesy of Miki Biaision, who was then only 25. The car was thus confirmed as a pure sports car that embodied David’s renowned victory over Goliath: indeed, the Lancia Rally 037 was the last two-wheel drive car to win the World Rally Championship, beating more powerful opponents that, most of all, had been equipped with all-wheel drive.

Fiat-Abarth 850 TC, 1964

A very rare specimen of the FIAT 600-based Fiat-Abarth 850 TC, the result of meticulous restoration by the Heritage department’s Officine Classiche: the splendid paintwork on the body, including in the passenger compartment, with the seats and upholstery removed specifically to provide an appreciation of the restoration work.

This model is a genuine racing car, for the obsessive attention Carlo Abarth paid to the complete redesign of his cars in terms of their mechanics and chassis; one example is the fact that each connecting rod between the four pistons was rebalanced by inserting microscopic titanium weights into the metal-casted component, each of which is engraved with the initials of the operator who completed the work.

The Fiat-Abarth 850 TC is the first Scorpion car marked “Turismo Competizione”, a quiet family car transformed into an agile, lightweight and fast racing car that won numerous European competitions. Carlo Abarth took as his starting point the Fiat 600 D, equipped with a straight-four 767-cc engine with its capacity increased to 847 cc, bringing the engine power up to 52 hp at 5800 rpm. The souped-up car could reach 140 km/h, so work was necessary on the braking system, where discs replaced the drums in the front wheels. The Abarth-tuned 600 would also soon be altered in its appearance: under – then in place of – the front bumper came the oil radiators; then to cool the increasingly powerful engine further, the tailgate was kept in a raised position using brackets, foreshadowing what would become the rear spoiler, another typical feature of the barnstorming Abarth.

Successes on the track followed soon after, especially in the endurance races that emphasized both the performance and reliability of the 850 TC. A final point of note, the specimen displayed on the stand has its very own story: the car actually belonged to the Guardia di Finanza (the Italian financial police), which used it to reconnoiter its prevention of and crackdown on smuggling.