Start with what the Abarth-Simca 1300 Bialbero is: a car with 1288 , built from 1962 to 1965, in the decade that gave the world the pony car and the mid-engined supercar. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Mario Colucci.
Where it came from
The Abarth-Simca 1300 GT is a sports racing car built by Abarth from 1962 to 1965. Abarth realized that the Fiat 600-based cars had reached their maximum potential and chose the similarly laid out Simca for their next car, especially since the Simca engine (with its crossflow head) offered great tuning possibilities.
Under the skin
The engine is 1288 other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. On the scales it comes to 630 kg. Drive goes through a 4-speed manual. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 2090 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Ferrari 250 GTO, the Alfa Romeo Giulia, the Maserati Quattroporte. Nearby in the Abarth catalogue sit the Abarth 1000 GT Coupé and the Abarth 124 Rally.
Owning one today
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Abarth-Simca 1300 Bialbero has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.