Fiat’s Square-Jawed 131 Abarth Rally Stradale Hates Curves, Loves Corners

Has there ever been an occasion when whacking a huge set of arches on a car didn’t make it look 100 times better? It certainly worked for the Fiat-Abarth Rally Stradale, which was transformed from a fairly anonymous sedan into this seriously butch-looking rally weapon for Fiat’s assault on the World Rally Championship back in the late 1970s.

The car pictured here is one of just 400 made to homologate the Fiat 131 for Group 4 competition, and is heading for auction this week with RM Sotheby’s where it’s expected to make anywhere between CHF 95,000-150,000 ($103-163k).

That may sound like a heap of money for a car you’ve probably never heard of, but at the tail end of the 1970s, the 131 Abarth was the hottest rally car on the planet. Between 1977 and 1981, Abarths notched up three WRC Manufacturers titles and two Drivers titles, carrying on the good work done by their wedgy Lancia Stratos cousins, which had dominated rallying earlier in the decade.

The hot 131s were a joint project between Fiat, Abarth – which by the mid 1970s was owned by Fiat – and coachbuilder Bertone. Regular production 131 Mirafioris would leave Fiat’s factory before being shipped to Bertone where they were fitted with those bulging fender flares, a fibreglass hood and trunklid, and modified to accept a strut-based independent rear suspension setup that replaced the stock live rear axle.

Under the hood was a 2.0-liter, twin-cam, 16-valve inline four that sucked through a Weber carb and made 138 hp in street trim. Which might not sound that exciting, but Autocar Magazine recorded a respectable 7.2-second zero to 60mph time in a late 1970s test, and since even the road-going Abarths were supplied with non-synchro transmissions, driving one was never going to be what you’d call dull.

Unless, you happen to have already driven one of the full-blown rally versions, that is. Fitted with Kugelfischer mechanical fuel injection and dry-sump lubrication, the race versions produced 238 hp, 99 hp up on the street cars. The white car pictured here, which took Walter Rohrl to victory in the 1980 San Remo Rally and helped Fiat win its final WRC Manufacturers’ title, sold last year for $412,500 (£297,000).

The red Stradale can’t claim and Rohrl connections, but it does look stunning thanks to a combination of low miles (just 31,500 from new) and a 16-month restoration that landed the owner with a bill for almost $50,000 (£36,000).