Abarth Simca 2000 Corsa

The Abarth-Simca 2000 was the last product of the Abarth and Simca partnership, which ended when Chrysler took over Simca in 1965. It used a Simca 1500 block with a pair of 58mm-choke Weber DCO carburettors, and in its most developed form made more than 200bhp. This is chassis 0054, a short-nose Corsa with a well-documented Italian competition record from 1964 to 1967, mostly in hill climbs. It also ran in the 1967 Targa Florio as car number 144.

The car came to Britain after a restoration in Germany by Erwin Derichs, having been imported from Italy in the late 1980s. It was authenticated by Abarth authority Tony Castle-Miller before John Ruston bought it, then rebuilt by GB Race Engineering. It finished 5th overall in the 2005 Magny-Cours three-hour race. Paul Hocking raced it from 2006, including at the Goodwood Revival and Spa Classic, and won the 2013 GTSCC class championship.

Accident damage at Spa in 2018 led to a full restoration costing more than £200,000, documented with invoices and photographs. The car is offered with its original engine block, replaced in 2010, plus history files and more than sixty period photographs. It currently has a Hewland 5-speed gearbox. New HTP papers would need the homologated 4- or 6-speed gearbox to be fitted.