A Cinquecento with a scorpion on the nose, the rear hood locked open, and a top speed of 140 km/h. In 1957, the Nuova 500 had 479 cubic centimeters, 13 horsepower, and could reach 85 km/h. Seven years later, the same engine developed 38 hp and humiliated cars of a higher class and price.

Behind it was Carlo Abarth, Viennese by birth, a former motorcyclist hampered by injuries, who arrived in Italy without a factory or capital. He didn't build cars from scratch: he took the ones everyone else already had and changed their character. In 1958, Fiat, instead of stopping him, supplied him with the cars and paid him a bonus for each victory, including those of private customers. The competitor became a sponsor.

In this episode: why that hood stayed up and it wasn't a defect, how you go from 500 to 689 cubic centimeters, what changes the hemispherical cylinder head of the Radiale version has, what 10 world and 133 international records mean, why only 150 of approximately 1,000 units built remain today, and how the story ended on July 31, 1971, when Abarth gave up its name and the scorpion that still adorns every 500 sports car today.

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