I removed the old and rusty exhaust from a Lusso I have at my shop and started installing correct Abarth style reproduction exhaust system. There seems to be a lot of confusion with Vintage Ferrari Exhausts and I’ll try to help clarify the issues. The exhausts I will cover here are specifically for the 250GT Ferraris manufactured roughly from the late 50s to the mid 60s. Originally, Abarth was supplying Ferrari with exhaust systems, so cars like SII PF Coupes, 250 Lussos, 250GTEs and some 330GTs came with Abarth Exhausts. By the mid to late 60s Abarth stopped supplying exhaust systems, and companies like Cereto, Spacem, and ANSA started supplying exhausts. Once a company like ANSA became the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer), they were asked by Ferrari to supply replacement exhausts for the previous models. So in the late 60s, if you needed a replacement exhaust for your Lusso, Ferrari would supply an exhaust that was manufactured by ANSA. Enough time has gone by and many original exhaust systems were replaced long ago with ANSA systems that people have forgotten that ANSAs were the replacement exhaust. It’s only been through research and finding original unrestored cars with preserved original exhaust systems that we can prove this story is true.

Through the collaboration with several shops and my exhaust manufacturer, we have come up with an exhaust system that reproduces the original Abarth Exhaust system. Just last year, we even had the Ferrari Classiche Department approve the system for certification.

The biggest difference between the correct Abarth exhaust and the incorrect ANSA exhaust is the detail on the exhaust tips. Abarth used a steel tip that had a separate chrome sleeve that slid on the end of the tips while ANSA simply chromed the whole tip and painted half of it black. ANSA then added the all too familiar red tape between the transition of paint to chrome along with the orange paint inside the exit of the exhaust.

The Abarth tip is also a sharp transition between the pipes and the tip, while the ANSA had a more rounded transition. The correct Abarth tip you see here will get wrinkle painted and the chrome tips will be added once the whole exhaust is painted and installed.