The History of ABARTH

Karl Alberto Abarth

Carlo Abarth (15 November 1908 – 24 October 1979), born Karl Alberto Abarth was an automobile designer. Abarth was born in Austria, but later was naturalized as an Italian citizen; and at this time his first name Karl was changed to its Italian equivalent of Carlo. Abarth was born in Vienna, during the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As a teenager, he worked for Castagna in Italy (1925–27), designing motorbike and bicycle chassis. Back in Austria, he worked for Motor Thun and Joseph Opawsky (1927–34), and raced motorbikes, winning his first race on a James Cycle in Salzburg on 29 July 1928). He later was European champion five times, along continuing the engineering. After a serious accident in Linz he abandoned motorbike racing, and designed a sidecar (1933) with which he managed to beat the Orient Express railway on the 1,300-kilometre (810 mi) stretch from Vienna to Ostend (1934). He moved permanently to Italy in 1934, where he met Ferdinand Porsche’s son-in-law Anton Piëch, and married his secretary. Abarth was long hospitalized and had his racing career end, due to a racing accident in Yugoslavia (1938). Abarth got to know both Tazio Nuvolari and the family-friend Ferry Porsche, and with engineer Rudolf Hruska and Piero Dusio, he established the Compagnia Industriale Sportiva Italia (CIS Italia, later becoming Cisitalia), having the Italian Porsche Konstruktionen agency (1943–48). The first automobile outcome of this cooperation was the rather unsuccessful Tipo 360 F1 prototype. The CIS Italia project ended when Dusio moved to Argentina (1949).

Carlo Abarth then founded the Abarth & C. company with Armando Scagliarini (father of Cisitalia racing driver Guido Scagliarini) in Turin (31 March 1949), using his astrological sign, the Scorpio, as the company logo. The company made racing cars, and became a major supplier of high-performance exhaust pipes, that still are in production as Abarth. Carlo Abarth personally set various speed records at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza (20 October 1965). He sold the company on 31 July 1971 to Fiat and continued a while as a CEO and then moved back to Vienna, Austria. His wife Anneliese (born 1939) continues to head the Carlo Abarth Foundation and also wrote a biography of his life in 2010.

Carlo Abarth began his well-known association with Fiat in 1952, building the Abarth 1500 Biposto upon Fiat mechanicals. In the 1960s, Abarth & C. S.r.l was quite successful in hillclimbing and sports car racing, mainly in classes from 850cc up to 2000cc, competing with Porsche 904 and Ferrari Dino. Hans Herrmann was a factory driver from 1962 until 1965, winning the 500km Nürburgring in 1963 with Teddy Pilette. Later, Johann Abt was promised by Carlo Abarth that he could drive a factory car for free if he won all the races he entered—which Abt nearly did, winning 29 of 30, the 30th being a second!

Along with its racing cars, Abarth produced high-performance exhausts. Later, Abarth diversified in producing various tuning kits for road vehicles, mainly for Fiat. Abarth was also associated in producing sports or racing cars with Porsche and Simca.
Abarth was sold to Fiat on July 31, 1971, and the racing team sold to Enzo Osella. Abarth became the racing department of Fiat, managed by famed engine designer Aurelio Lampredi. Some models built by Fiat or its subsidiaries Lancia and Autobianchi were co-branded Abarth, the most famous being the Autobianchi A112 Abarth.
Abarth also prepared Fiat Group’s rally cars – Fiat 124 Abarth, Fiat 131 Abarth and World Rally Championship winning Lancias. In 2007 Fiat Automobiles SpA relaunched the brand with the Grande Punto Abarth and the Grande Punto Abarth S2000.

The Cars of Carlo Abarth (1949 – 1971)

The History of The Abarth Scorpion