The Autobianchi A 112 was produced from 1969 until 1986 in over 1.4 million units. It was born to counter the Mini, built in Italy by Innocenti.
The Fiat group decided to tackle the problem by entrusting Autobianchi, recently integrated into Fiat, with the development of a small city car.
At 3.26 m long, the A 112 will fulfill its popular small car contract. But here it is… Mini will release the 1275 GT and the Cooper. The response will not be long.
Carlo Abarth arrives
In the Fiat group, sports preparations were made on the basis of Fiat 600 (Abarth 850 TC) in a traditional way.
At the end of the sixties, the wizard – that’s Carlo’s stage name – joined the Fiat group; the A 112 goes through his workshop to be able to reach a wider clientele.
In 1969, Carlo Abarth offered a first version of the A 112 pushed to 105 horsepower. A little too much for the staff of Fiat, which rejects the project with handling that is a little too sharp.
A first A 112 Abarth
In 1971, a first version came out of the sorcerer’s workshops, marked by the scorpion; it has only 58 horses but already a lot of bite.
In the Abarth workshops, the engineers started from the Fiat base of 903 cm3 rebored to 985 cm3 to increase the compression ratio, change the crankshaft and install a Weber twin-barrel carburettor.
In these pre-GTI years, the sports city car did not yet have its letters of nobility; the Golf or the Renault 5 will come out in 1975 and 1976. Success is not there because the little beast is expensive.
Started in 1973
Between 1971 and early 1973, 4,600 Abarths were sold. In March 1973, the series 2 tumbles; the appearance of plastic makes the car cheaper to manufacture and modernizes the appearance of the car.
The spiral of success was triggered with more than 13,500 sales until 1975. In 1976, a new turning point came with the arrival of the large 1050 cm3 engine and its 70 hp. He will cohabit for a few months with the little 58 horsepower which will quickly disappear.
This seems little compared to the 110 hp of the Golf GTI released at the end of 75. But the Abarth is 150 kg lighter. From version 3 to 7, the engine will not change.
End of career in 1985
From the 4th series, only aesthetic modifications will punctuate the life of the A 112 Abarth. The main modification will be the adoption of a 5-speed gearbox with version 4.
Innocenti will try to counter the grip of Abarth by releasing the Innocenti turbo De Tomaso but the customers will follow the Abarth.
The A 112 will know the rally and many amateur drivers will be revealed at the wheel, in particular François Delecour and Attilio Bettega. The liveliness of the car will make its reputation. In 1985, it ended its commercial career after selling 140,879 copies.