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Abarth 500 Kid's Ride
On Cars - Pedal and 6V Electric
The Abarth brand was founded in the
late 1940s and produced successful
racing cars in the 1960s as well as
producing tuning kits for normal
road cars. In the 70s the brand was
sold to Fiat who used it to create
their own racing department, but the
brand seemed to fade out in the 90s
and early 00s. Fortunately, Fiat
revived the brand in the late 00s
and kept Abarth separate from their
usual range. In some specialist Fiat
garages, Abarth cars were a separate
section of the showroom and their
own staff.
The Abarth 500 is a performance
model of the Fiat 500, with an added
bodykit. With the slogan 'Small But
Deadly', the Abarth was dubbed
'Supercar of the people' by the
Telegraph. The square design and
rounded headlights are reminiscent
of the 1967 Abarth Roadster, and the
look is completed with the
distinctive Abath scorpion logo.
This Abarth supermini might be a
bit chunkier than we are used to,
but it certainly has attitude!
If you would like a little more
info on the original car, please
click
here.
Click here to
go to the Abarth riding toy category
Please scroll down to see
information on the individual cars,
alternatively you can jump to the
following:
Kids Cars
Driver's packs
Why should I buy a licensed Abarth
ride on?
Age
Suitability
After-sales service for your riding
toy
Safety
Abarth Kids Riding Toy - Pedal
Abarth Kids Riding Toy - 6V Electric
Drivers Packs
Both Abarth 500 kids cars come with
a free, personalised driver's pack
for your child. This includes a
personalised MOT certificate,
personalised registration documents,
driver's licensed and numberplate
sticker pack. Please
click here to see more information
on your free ride-on driver's pack.
Why Should I Buy a Licensed Abarth?
Licensed Abarth ride-ons are
designed and produced alongside BMW
themselves, meaning the quality and
durability has been well tested.
All our
Abarth riding toys have the same
basic features:
-
Steel
Chassis - can easily withstand a
child jumping in and out.
-
Tough
polyethylene bodywork - flexible
and strong, avoids damage to the
ride-on or furniture if there is a
crash.
-
Deep
injected paintwork - allows
scratches to be buffed away
easily.
-
Realistic alloy-like wheels.
-
UK
based service centre and 1 year
guarantee.
-
Authentic logos, badges and
stickers.
-
Top
quality European construction and
design.
Age
Suitability
The 3+ rating on
Abarth
kids cars is based on safety reasons
rather than ability or size. Our
Abarth
ride ons are well designed, so will
allow many 18 month olds to reach
the pedals and steer. They will
probably also amaze you with their
ability after a short time. However
a young child may lack the judgement
to avoid a tree or might start
chewing small parts and for this
reason the manufacturers recommend
various age guidelines. The parent
ultimately controls the environment
the
Abarth
riding toy is used in and
understands the child better than
anyone else. The manufacturers can
only offer guidelines and their
recommendation is based on the
average child.
Please
click here for a complete guide to
buying a kids car
After-Sales Service
Purchasing one of our licensed
Abarth ride-ons gives you exclusive
access to TotParts and a 1 year
guarantee. Toys Toys build their
Abarth riding toys to the highest
standards, so we know they will last
for years. Therefore we offer a 1
year guarantee, if anything goes
wrong with your Abarth kids car we
will sort it out free of charge.
Please
click here to see more about
TotParts.
Safety
An
Abarth riding toy will offer your
child years of fun and happy
memories, as long as you ensure you
follow safety guidance:
-
Choose an area that is wide and
clear of obstacles.
-
Do
not use your Abarth riding toy
close to parked cars.
-
Avoid
using your Abarth kids car on icy
surfaces and avoid using in
excessive wet or snowy conditions.
-
Look
for a smooth surface for your
Abarth ride on and avoid large
holes, ruts, tree roots etc.
-
Only
use your Abarth kids car in day
light, or in well lit areas.
-
Make
sure you avoid an routes with are
near roads, streams or ponds.
-
Stay
seated at all times and do not
attempt stunts or tricks in your
Abarth.
-
Keep
arms and legs well tucked in.
Ensure clothing such as scarves,
drawstrings etc are kept away from
the Abarth's wheels and other
moving parts.
-
Dress
properly with appropriate clothing
and footwear.
-
Ensure children are supervised at
all times.
Full
Abarth Article
Article courtesy of Fiat,
please
click here for the original.
The Fiat 500 Abarth, the hot version
of Fiat’s new small car that is
breaking sales records in all its
markets, has made its debut at the
Geneva International Motor Show (4
March 2008) with Fiat forgoing the
usual show girls to pull the covers
of its new 99 kW hot baby, replacing
them with two owners of the original
500 Abarth who have gone onto rather
bigger things in the industry – Fiat
Group CEO, Sergio Marchionne, and
Ferrari President, Luca di
Montezemolo.
Faithful to the saying coined for
Abarth cars in the 1960s (‘small but
wicked’), the 500 Abarth promises to
be a ‘small’ car with generous
performance qualities. The car on
display at the Geneva show is
equipped with a Fire 1.4 16v Turbo
petrol engine which delivers a
maximum of 135 bhp (99 kW) at 5,000
rpm and peak torque of 206 Nm at
3.000 rpm in ‘Sport’ mode (in
‘Normal’ mode torque is reduced to
180 Nm at 2,500 rpm). This
brilliant, smooth new engine is also
a friend of the environment: like
the regular Fiat model it is derived
from, the new Abarth will respect
future Euro 5 legislation.
Another interesting feature of the
500 Abarth is the fact that it
adopts the new TTC (Torque Transfer
Control) system, which improves the
transfer of drive torque to the
wheels, but, above all, ensures that
the car behaves impeccably on bends,
making it safer and more
entertaining to drive when you put
your foot down.
Respecting Abarth tradition in full,
the styling of the 500 Abarth is not
a mere exercise in interpretation,
because it significantly improves
the car’s performance. The best
proof of this stylistic approach can
be found in the attention paid to
the aerodynamics and functionality
of certain elements. For example,
compared to the basic body, the 500
Abarth optimises aerodynamic
behaviour both with the roof
extension and a large winged
spoiler, and with a ‘slide’ that
links up to the underbody,
optimising the airflow output, and
involving much of the rear bumper.
Underlining two sporting elements –
the spoiler and the slide – help to
reduce drag and increase grip at
high speed. What is more, the front
slits on the bumper heighten the
sporty styling but also perform a
useful function, cooling the two
intercoolers positioned at the
sides. That is not all. On either
side of the ‘slide’, there is an
exhaust pipe that corresponds to the
symmetrical exits of a single
silencer positioned transversely
(branded with the scorpion logo,
like those in the 1960s).
On the side, sideskirts envelop the
curves of the car creating a more
vertical profile, which improves the
Cd. But it is the front that really
announces that the 500 Abarth has
the equipment of a true GT: the
‘triptych’ of air intakes consists
of a central inlet, which is larger
than on the basic model, with a much
broader upper slit (above the number
plate); the two ‘nostrils’,
positioned symmetrically at the
sides of the bumper, correspond
exactly to the position of the two
identical intercoolers, which are
just visible through the ‘nostrils’,
guaranteeing airflow in and out.
The nose with its trim has been
‘pushed forward’ to create the space
necessary for the turboblower; this
makes the side view of the 500
Abarth more pronounced and obvious,
in perfect harmony with Abarth
tradition, recalling the 850 TC and
1000 TC, on which the externally
applied manifolds were immediately
visible and recognisable as a
characteristic feature of the brand.
The trim itself differs from the one
on the Fiat 500 because it is in a
single piece: the Abarth logo, which
appears for the first time without a
chrome surround, ‘floats’ on a
finned surface that serves as an
additional air intake. The Abarth
shields positioned on the sides are
shot through by a tri-colour arrow,
like the ones on the Abarth 595 and
695 in the 1960s, a symbol of the
brand’s racing image
And finally, the 16” and 17” wheel
rims come in different styles: from
multiple spokes to beading of the
bore holes (a clear reference to
styles adopted for forged wheels in
the 1970s).
The roots of the new 500 Abarth go
deep into the history of motorsport
in the Sixties. A brief history
follows of the forefather of the car
displayed today in Geneva.
It all began in July 1957 with the
launch of the ‘Nuova 500’, the car
created by Dante Giacosa and powered
by a twin-cylinder engine (capacity
of 479 cc) that delivered a maximum
of 13 bhp, for a top speed of 85
km/h. Carlo Abarth fell in love with
this small Fiat, and immediately
recognised a challenge: he was soon
convinced that, with suitable
tuning, it could become a very fast
little car. He maintained the
original cylinder capacity, but
increased the compression ratio
(from 6.55:1 to 8.7:1), and fitted a
Weber 26 IMB carburettor and a
special Abarth exhaust: this
generated an extra 7 bhp compared to
the basic model, bringing it up to
20 bhp which, with successive tuning
stages, eventually reached 23 bhp.
On October 15, 1957 a number of
similarly tuned cars, but all with
standard bodywork, were sent to the
Monza racing circuit for a speed
test, to show that the ‘Abarth
treatment’ could produce
extraordinary results.
The injection of horsepower and the
special Abarth edition of the ‘Nuova
500’ made a significant contribution
to the success of the standard
model. That same year two more
versions of the new Fiat also
appeared: the ‘500 Coupe’ Zagato and
the ‘500 Coupe’ Pininfarina. The
first won for Abarth in the Italian
Class 500 Championship of 1958,
driven by Ovidio Capelli. That same
year, Carlo Abarth wanted to show
that the ‘Nuova Fiat 500’, suitably
transformed and with even more
power, could produce brilliant
performance (compression ratio of
10.5:1, optimised intake and
exhaust, power delivery of 26 bhp
and top speed of 118 km/h), and as a
result for a whole week the small
Fiat – sporting a Scorpion on its
front – performed a ‘marathon’ that
went down in history: in seven days
and seven nights it covered a
distance of 18,186 kilometres at an
average speed of 108 km/h, breaking
6 international records, by
travelling:
-
in 4 days, 10,457 km at an
average of 108.9 km/h;
-
in 5 days, 12,933 km at an
average of 108.2 km/h;
-
15,000 km in 139 hr 16’ 33” at
an average of 107.6 km/h;
-
in 6 days, 15,530 km at an
average of 107.8 km/h;
-
10,000 miles in 149 hr 09’ 29”
at an average of 107.8 km/h;
-
in 7 days, 18,186 km at an
average of 108.2 km/h.
With this umpteenth success, Carlo
Abarth proved that it was possible
to build racing cars derived from
small runabouts, and the motto
‘small but wicked’ was coined.
And so the Sixties started; they
have since been described as the
heyday of the Scorpion, thanks to
its huge success in racing and on
the market. This decade also
represented the period of the
greatest generational rebirth in the
Twentieth century. The age of
technology began: in the space
industry, preparations were underway
to put a man on the moon, eight out
of ten Italian homes now had a
television, people travelled by car
listening to the radio, all types of
periodicals and publications were
born, habits were changing, and so
were the Italians.
It was no coincidence that the most
important developments to the ‘500’
Abarth were introduced in this
revolutionary period. In 1963, Carlo
Abarth, who was a natural
technologist and innovator, decided
that he wanted to make the new ‘500’
even faster; so he increased the
cylinder capacity from 499.5 cc to
595 cc, obtaining a power delivery
of 27 bhp. The extensive work
carried out on the engine and
changes to the fuel feed system,
with the adoption of a Solex C28 PBJ
carburettor instead of a Weber unit,
enabled the Fiat 500 Abarth to pass
the 120 km/h mark.
The Scorpion’s small sports car was
immediately recognisable by the
Abarth grille on the nose,
accompanied by the distinctive metal
logos of the model and the Abarth
shield on the sides, with the claim
‘Campione del Mondo’ (World
Champion).
A few months after the market launch
of the ‘595’, the plant in Corso
Marche launched the ‘conversion box’
containing all the parts necessary
to make a Fiat Nuova 500 identical
to an Abarth 595, in terms of
engineering but also of styling:
pistons, camshaft, engine, cylinder
head gasket, exhaust, oil sump,
chrome-plated grille with lateral
trims, enamel shield and chrome
wording.
This showed that Carlo Abarth’s
engineering genius was attune to the
aspirations of the young, managing
to meet the demand for brilliant
performance even on cars used for
everyday driving and not only to
race.
For the Corso Marche plant, 1964
began with the presentation of the
Fiat Abarth ‘595 SS’, an even more
evolved, more powerful version of
the ‘595’. This small bombshell
developed as much as 32 bhp for a
top speed of over 130 km/h, causing
quite a stir in the racing world. It
differed from the previous model for
the black rubber hooks on the
bonnet, the ‘SS’ logo on the front
and rear lids, and ‘esse esse’
written on the dashboard.
They were stylistic details that
underlined the sporty personality of
this small car. And it was by then
customary for Abarth to market not
only the car but also a conversion
kit that allowed the owner of a Fiat
500 to transform it into a ‘595’ SS,
and to put himself behind the wheel
of a real Abarth sports car.
The last version of the ‘595’ was
the ‘595 SS Competizione’: wider
track, wider tyres, wheelarches with
protruding red shanks, a power
delivery of 34 bhp and a top speed
of 130 km/h. In other words, Carlo
Abarth had created a new car for new
victories. The roll of honour of
this runabout with the Scorpion
treatment included a long, long list
of triumphs, from its debut at the
Monza circuit in 1964 with Franco
Patria, right down to the Italian
Touring Trophy 600 class with
Leonardo Durst at the end of the
same year.
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