Upper Middle Petrol Head Drives Phil's Fiat-Abarth OT 1600 Replica
This is the first instalment of my Upper Middle Petrol Head Drives ... series. However, I suspect that it could also be my last, given that the owner of the featured car, Phil Blake, is a man of unequalled generosity and trust. If I were Phil, I would not have offered me a drive of his hand-built, Targa Tasmania class-winning Fiat-Abarth OT 1600 replica. But that's exactly how I found myself behind the wheel of his diminutive yellow rocket: one day I was chatting to Phil about the car when he said, quite unexpectedly, "you'll have to have a drive!" Clearly, it was an offer that I was never going to refuse! Not totally on top of your early- to mid-1960s high-performance Fiats? According to an ubiquitous on-line source, who describe the OT 1600 as an "extreme variant" of the Fiat 850 Berlina, only four were ever made. I'm putting my money on Phil, though ; he reckons there were five and I have no reason to ...