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| Abarth & C. S.p.A. is an Italian racing and road car maker and performance division founded by Italo-Austrian Carlo Abarth in 1949.[3] Abarth & C. S.p.A. is owned by Stellantis through its FCA Italy S.p.A. division. Its logo is a shield with a stylized scorpion on a yellow and red background.[4] Carlo Abarth was sporting director of the Cisitalia racing team starting in 1947.[5] The following year the manufacturer folded, and founder Piero Dusio flew to Argentina. Abarth, funded by Armando Scagliarini,[a] took over Cisitalia's assets and on 31 March 1949 Abarth & C. was founded in Bologna.[6][7] Carlo's astrological sign, Scorpio, was chosen as the company logo. From the Cisitalia liquidation Abarth obtained five 204 sports cars (two complete Spiders and three unfinished), a D46 single seater and various spares.[5] The 204s were immediately rechristened Abarth 204 A.[5] Abarth built and raced sports cars developed from the last Cisitalia cars. In addition to Guido Scagliarini, the "Squadra Abarth" racing team lined up celebrated drivers including Tazio Nuvolari, Franco Cortese and Piero Taruffi. Notably Tazio Nuvolari made his last appearance in racing at the wheel of an Abarth 204 A, winning its class in the Palermo–Monte Pellegrino hillclimb on 10 April 1950.[8] Alongside racing, the company's main activity was producing and selling accessories and performance parts for Fiat, Lancia, Cisitalia and Simca cars, like inlet manifolds and silencers.[9] On 9 April 1951 the company's headquarters were moved to Turin;[7] Abarth began his well-known association with Fiat in 1952, when it built the Abarth 1500 Biposto on Fiat mechanicals.[10] In the 1960s, Abarth was successful in hillclimbing and sports car racing, mainly in classes from 850 cc to 2000 cc, competing with Porsche 904 and Ferrari Dino. Hans Herrmann was a factory driver from 1962 until 1965, winning the 500 km Nürburgring in 1963 with Teddy Pilette.[11] Abarth promised Johann Abt that he could race a factory car free if he won all the races he entered.[when?] Abt almost succeeded: of the 30 races he entered, Abt won 29 and finished second once.[when?][11] Abt later founded Abt Sportsline. Abarth 595, derived from the Fiat 500 Abarth produced high-performance exhaust pipes, diversifying into tuning kits for road vehicles, mainly for Fiat. A racing exhaust was produced for the 1950s Lambretta models "D" and "LD". Original Abarth LD exhausts are now valuable collectors' items. Reproductions are available which carry the Abarth name, how Fiat feels about this is not known. Lambretta even held several 125 cc motorcycle land speed records during the 1950s thanks partly to the exhaust that Abarth developed for them.[12][13] Abarth also helped build sports or racing cars with Porsche[14] and Simca. |
