Rarities pack out Paduan show
There was plenty of variety at the 2018 running of Auto e Moto d’epoca in Padua, Italy, on 25-28 October. Increased manufacturer involvement and the volume of cars for sale ensured club displays were down on previous years, but quality trumped quantity. One of the most talked-about cars was on the Zagato Car Club stand. The 356 Carrera Coupé Zagato was reputedly mapped out in 1959, but remained a rendering for six decades before being built under the coachbuilder’s ‘Sanction Lost’ programme. Zagato products starred elsewhere, too, not least the Giulia TZ1 with Registro Alfa Romeo, but it was overshadowed by a nearby ex-roberto Guerrero March-alfa Romeo Indycar.
Among the rarest cars in the club hall was the Fiat 600D-based, glassfibre-bodied Stellina on the Registro Autobianchi stand; only 502 were made and survivors are scarce. More noticeable still was the Autobianchi A112 Bertone Runabout with Club X1/9 Italia, a fab one-off restored to its original 1969 spec. More conventional, in relative terms, was the brace of twin-cylinder, Fiat 500-based Autobianchi Trasformabiles in the oh-so-pink Bianchina Club display.
The SM Club Italia mustered a bizarre tricolore-liveried example, with a trailer that comprised half an SM. Other oddities included a Milan-made, licence-built Renault Dauphine exhibited by the Alfa Special Historic Club.