<VV> Corvair - Abarth

[Taruffi57 at aol.com]

James,
 
I have the big black slip covered 245 pg. ABARTH book by about 5 Italian  
authors - one of whom was Gianni Lurani.   Also, Al Cosentino's big  
slip-covered 456 pg. Abarth Guide, and 4 of his smaller Abarth series  books.  I 
think I may have talked to Al by phone - yrs. ago when he  had his shop in 
Daytona.  I definitely remember talking to Bill Devin from  an ad in Hemmings 
where he was selling a Devin C.  There isn't a word  about a Corvair-Abarth in 
any of those books, but I only recently bought the 456  pg. book so haven't 
gotten through all of it yet.
 
It seems clear that there actually was work going on, and Carlo planned to  
offer performance kits for our cars..
 
Incidentally, I have also been through the Collier Museum in S.W. Florida  
and I remember they had some spectacular racing Porsches in there.  Like  
you say, I think they are no longer open daily for museum visitors.
 
On another subject, Mary & I were in NW Italy in 2006 as part of 
_www.carguytour.com_ (http://www.carguytour.com) .  One of the  highlights of the 
approx. 22 venues we visited was the small and beautiful  Stanguellini museum 
which was in a locked rear section of a small Fiat/Lancia  dealership.  They 
had several small bore DOHC racing engines on stands,  many 
vintage/collectible car parts, etc. and about 15 cars in there.  I was  taking pics and 
video'ing like a maniac.  However, the most spectacular  stop was the Alfa 
museum.  I need to convert my 8mm camcorder footage to a  disc - that is if the 
tapes have not yet deteriorated.  The stuff that was  in there was truly 
jaw-dropping.  That trip was where I saw and took pics  of the Corvair Testudo 
(turtle) at the Bertone museum.  Unfortunately I got  hit with a virus on my 
computer and many of the pics from that trip are in that  contaminated hard 
drive - which I still have.  Need to find a geek who may  retrieve them for 
me.
 
Joe Dunlap
Florida