1969 Fiat Abarth 2000 Pininfarina Scorpione

The one-off Abarth 2000 Scorpione concept car was built in 1969 by Pininfarina. Based on the Fiat Abarth 2000 Sport Spider's chassis, it comes in rosso corsa with a 220 horsepower four-cylinder DOHC that shoots flames. 

Pininfarina stunned the world at the January 1969 Brussels Motor Show with a striking wedge-shaped one-off based on an Abarth sports racer. It featured Abarth's own twin-cam, sixteen-valve four cylinder engine, mounted behind the rear axle. For the Scorpione, it was detuned slightly but still produced an impressive 220 bhp. The completed car tipped the scales at just 740 kg.

Known as the Scorpione in reference to Abarth's famous scorpion badge, the showcar's most distinguishing cue was the straight line that ran from the nose all the way to the roof, doing away with the traditional three-box principle of nose, cockpit and tail. Responsible for the design was Filippo Sapino, who had joined Pininfarina just a few years earlier from Ghia. With no room in the singular design for traditional headlights, the Scorpione is equipped with central unit, consisting of six separate lights that can be rotated up when needed. There is also no accommodation for conventional doors, instead the entire windshield can be lifted up to provide ample access to the cockpit. Showing its racing roots, the cabin is very minimalistic with the simple dashboard dominated by a large rev-counter.

The striking one-off had not been in Europe for nearly four decades until it was shown at the 2014 Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este where it created the same stir as it had done 45 years earlier in Brussels. (ultimatecarpage.com & jalopnik.com)

(Photos from ultimatecarpage.com & supercars.net)