Rumours of a collaborative agreement between Abarth and the French company of Simca began to circulate in 1961.

Late in 1961 the Simca company – which had been founded by Italian entrepreneur Enrico Teodoro Pigozzi, launched its most successful model – the Simca 1000.

This was its first rear-engined car and also a neat four-door saloon whose chosen power unit was Fiat 600-derived, emerging as a 944cc 4-cylinder providing 35bhp in standard form.

Carlo Abarth's old Viennese sparring partner, Rudi Hruska, had become a technical consultant to Simca, and regularly brought Abarth's successes with its Fiat-based cars to the company boss's attention.

The idea of competition success reflecting credit upon the source-vehicle manufacturer really appealed and Abarth was then invited to become a promotional partner.

Abarth was to produce a Gran Turismo car using Simca 1000 components as its base, and hence the 'Simca-Abarth' or 'Abarth-Simca' – the terms are interchangeable - 1300 emerged.

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