Topic: #A030 by Amsterdam SOLVED: ASA 1000 GT

[Amsterdam]

Tell me what this is and I will give you a point

[Amsterdam]

Yes!!
Info according to my source:

Undoubtedly one of the highlights of the 1961 Turin Motorshow was the 2 door prototype showcased at the Bertone stand, a car that was designed by Giugiaro with (aledgedly) the blessing of Enzo Ferrari (the engine and chassis were designed at Maranello). Despite their approval, Ferrari made it known the design would never enter production. But the car was simply too beautiful to ignore, and backers launched ASA or Autocostruzione Societa per Azione . Chief amoung these was the Oronzo de Nora petroleum company, and the ASA 1000 GT would enter volume production in 1964, built at the rate of around one per week. Ultimately the roll of the dice would show snakes eyes, production ending only a few short years later, and ASA disappearing from the automotive landscape forever. Production versions did not have the fairings for the headlights as shown on the prototype, and the only production variant to appear was a Spider version with a fibreglass body, again designed by Bertone, and displayed in 1963.

Point is yours

[Carnut]

The ASA story is a long one and that's part of it.
According to most observers Enzo Ferrari actually ordered the design, never intending to produce it himself but to develop it then sell the rights to someone else to produce up to 3000 of them.  In fact this car was originally called the 'Ferrarina' and appeared as such at the Turin Show in 1961 on the Bertone stand.  This was in actual fact the second version of the car, the first having been a Pininfarina design on a Fiat 1200 chassis.  The engine was originally an 850 cc 4 cylinder and was one third of a 250GT engine with a bore of 65mm and a stroke of 64mm topped by a SOHC and producing 75 bhp at 6800 rpm.  The eventual production car had a 1000 cc development of this engine.

The chassis was a typical Ferrari tubular affair with a sold rear axle, coil springs and sway bar - and it sported 4-wheel disc brakes!   The one-litre engine produced 97 bhp (fantastic for the time) but with a steel body weighing 1870 pounds performance was only reasonable rather than sparkling.

When the car entered production the 'Ferrarina' name had disappeared and it was simply known as the ASA 1000 GT, but it was nevertheless a proper Ferrari in miniature.  The design had been bought by the Milanese company De Nora Electromechanical and in its 3-year production run 118 cars were produced, 90 coupes, 17 spiders and 11 prototypes.  Selling a 1-litre car for Porsche prices proved beyond their capability!

So although it was Enzo Ferrari's baby he would never put his name to a car without the 'proper' number of cylinders for a Ferrari - not for a long time, anyway!

Interestingly one other type of ASA also appeared, a Bizzarini-engineered Drogo-bodied car named the ASA GTC which appeared briefly at Monza in 1963.  With its aluminium body reducing its weight to only 1300 lb it went rather better, but got nowhere...

All-in-all a complete waste of a really beautiful little design.

[Carnut]

I have a feeling the Bizzarrini car is the one they called the ASA Roll-Bar, although that might be a different version as I have it as dating from 1965.  Here it is pictured below (the car has already featured as an AutoPuzzle):

[Allemano]

No, the Drogo car is not the Roll-Bar. It's this one:

[Paul Jaray]

The one you posted, Carnut, is the RB (Roll Bar) made in 2 versions: RB 418 and RB 613, one with a 4-cylinder 1754cc engine and the other with a 6-cylinder 1290cc engine in 1966 circa. The Drogo-Bizzarrini one is quite different.

[Allemano]

The "Roll-Bar" was actually called ASA 613 RB. Here are two more current pics of all three ASA models:

[Allemano]

(...) is the RB (Roll Bar) made in 2 versions: RB 418 and RB 613, (...)

Quite interisting. Never heard about the RB 418!

[Paul Jaray]

...and this is the Mille, as shown at the Turin Salon. The logo was an Italian flag with the word 'Mille'.

[Paul Jaray]

(...) is the RB (Roll Bar) made in 2 versions: RB 418 and RB 613, (...)

Quite interisting. Never heard about the RB 418!

From the beginning the Roll Bar was available with a Six, 1.3 litre for the home market and with a Four, 1.8 litre for export.
It was not officially called 418, but the previous model, the 411 GT (4-cylinder 1092cc) and the 613 itself gives a clear idea on the meaning of these names.

[Carnut]

Maybe it's time for Mr Sannia to write a book "The ASA Story"!

[Amsterdam]

Great pics and extra info
You guys could write the book yourself

[75america]

Maybe it's time for Mr Sannia to write a book "The ASA Story"!

There exists already a nice book about ASA: ASA L'epopea della "Ferrarina"
Unfortunately, like many great books about Italian cars, it's written in... Italian

[grobmotorix]

I saw this bunch of ASAs in 2014 in Het Loo/NL: