Maybe is the cultural thing, but when I was growing up original Abarth 1000 TC was a legendary car. I think it still is today. I always associate it with racing, since it was the first proper race car. Before Abarth people used to race large Mercedes and similar cars. I know a guy who was driving in in european championship with it, and he has 2 pieces at home. You wouldnt believe how much effort is put in that thing by Abarth in order to make it so fast. Everything is made as light as it gets, even suspension parts look like cheese with holes everywhere. Final versions with injection were around 140hp, which was pretty fast back then for around 500kg car.
My father was racing then, since he was also a racing driver back in 1970ties and always talks with respect about them.
Now, I am not saying that there should be a direct parallel with a new Fiat 500 Abarth, but still there are similarities and I find the car really cool. Alex drove me in it couple of days back and its really awesome, impressivly fast for its size! Well done Alex !