Story and Photos by Rick Carey

After more than 50 years, the Abarth Biposto was discovered in Connecticut, and on June 5th was auctioned at Rockefeller Center in New York.

The headlines on Thursday were dominated by the venality of the immensely wealthy and successful doyen of domesticality, who sacrificed her reputation and the investments of thousands and thousands of shareholders in her company to cover up an unscrupulous, but not strictly illegal, stock trade that netted her a few thousand dollars.

At the same time the self-righteous editors of the New York Times fell on their swords for looking askance at misrepresentation.

While those dramas played out on the news tickers of Times Square, a few blocks away in Christie's auction room at Rockefeller Center history of an entirely different sort was made. It was a small enough event, but it reinforces the unfortunately rarely expressed fact that most folks in this world prefer to be honest, straightforward and appreciate the aesthetic of beauty, not venality and pay a fair price for it.

Franco Scaglione's little Abarth 1500 Biposto Bertone coupe, lovingly preserved by Richard Austin Smith for fifty years, caught everyone's attention at Christie's auction at Rockefeller Center. Dusty and dirty from its 30 years in Smith's garage, pelted by unrelenting rain and attracting continuous questions from New Yorkers, it was the star of the show, even up against the Pebble Beach class-winning Delage D8-120 Chapron Cabriolet, Frank Sinatra's Lamborghini Miura P400S and an Alfa Romeo 6C1750 Gran Sport with Touring coachwork.

In a good turnout for a mid-week afternoon sale in New York, all the latter cars sold, but none of them exceeded their low estimate in the catalog. The Abarth? It blew through its low estimate on about two bids, slowed up after passing through its high estimate in the mid-$100,000s then took off again with serious bidders on the telephone who bumped it steadily up through the stratosphere before selling to an American bidder for $260,000 hammer, $293,500 with Christie's buyer's commission, a world's record for an Abarth at auction.

It was well over twice the high estimate of $120,000. The Abarth combines uniqueness (it is the only exemplar of both its body styling and its chassis), brilliant design, historical importance and a great story of its long term relationship with Richard Austin Smith. Everyone who saw it appreciated its importance, even the New York passersby who had no idea what it was or represented. The bidders willingly parted with serious money to become the next chapter in its remarkable story.

The passion for a beautiful automobile triumphed at Christie's even as both Martha Stewart and the editors of the New York Times paid for their hubris.