Carlo Abarth
{{Short description|Italian automobile designer (1908–1979)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Carlo Abarth
| image = Carlo Abarth.jpg
| caption =
| birth_name = Karl Albert Abarth
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1908|11|15|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Vienna, Austria-Hungary
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1979|10|24|1908|11|15|df=yes}}
| death_place = Vienna, Austria
| nationality = Italian
| other_names =
| occupation = Automobile designer
| years_active = 1925–1971
| known_for =
| notable_works =
}}
Carlo Abarth (15 November 1908 – 24 October 1979), born Karl Albert Abarth, was an Italian automobile designer.
Abarth was born in Austria, but later was naturalized as an Italian citizen; and at this time his first name Karl Albert was changed to its Italian equivalent of Carlo Alberto.{{Cite web |url=http://www.sportingfiatsclub.com/models/124/CarloAbarth.asp |title=Carlo Abarth |accessdate=26 January 2008 |work=sportingfiatsclub.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091208003350/http://www.sportingfiatsclub.com/models/124/CarloAbarth.asp |archive-date=8 December 2009 |url-status=dead}}
Biography
=Before World War II=
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.[http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z11226/Fiat_Fiat%20Record%20Monza%20Bialbero/default.aspx conceptcarz.com] (last accessed 6 March 2007) Back in Austria, he worked for Motor Thun and Joseph Opawsky (1927–34), and
raced motorbikes,[http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/con-abart.html Abarth Corse SpA] from grandprix.com (last accessed 6 March 2007) winning his first race on a James Cycle in Salzburg on 29 July 1928.[http://www.abarth.nl/index.html Carlo Abarth] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070503035852/http://www.abarth.nl/index.html |date=3 May 2007 }} from abarth.nl (last accessed 6 March 2007) He would be European champion five times, along with continuing his 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 {{convert|1300|km|sing=on}} stretch from Vienna to Ostend (1934).[http://www.reinhard-mergel.de/not_only_old_cars/italian_cars/Abarth/Abarth__Historie/abarth__historie.html Abarth Historie] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929035600/http://www.reinhard-mergel.de/not_only_old_cars/italian_cars/Abarth/Abarth__Historie/abarth__historie.html |date=29 September 2007 }} from reinhard-mergel.de (last accessed using Google cache, 6 March 2007)
He moved permanently to Italy in 1934, where he met Ferdinand Porsche's son-in-law Anton Piëch, and married his secretary.[http://usuarios.lycos.es/cporschecat/angles/porsches/cisiteng.htm Cisitalia] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226053816/http://usuarios.lycos.es/cporschecat/angles/porsches/cisiteng.htm |date=26 February 2008 }} from usuarios.lycos.es (last accessed 7 March 2007) In 1939 Abarth was long hospitalized and had his racing career end, due to a racing accident in Ljubljana, Slovenia.{{cite news |title=Spet tisoči pri dirkah |url=https://www.dlib.si/stream/URN:NBN:SI:DOC-EKUHZ5TE/3dcbd845-6a6c-4408-9645-41e1075e740e/PDF |accessdate=29 April 2019 |work=Jutro. Ponedeljska izdaja |date=13 November 1939 |page=7}} Other than visits to Austria and Italy, he remained in Slovenia until the war was over. During this time he worked at Ignaz Vok's factory.{{cite web |title=Abarth History |url=https://www.abarthisti.co.uk/abarth-history/ |website=Abarthisti |accessdate=27 July 2019}}
=After World War II=
Following this, he moved to Merano, from where his ancestors originated.[http://www.histomobile.com/histomob/internet/1/histo02.htm Abarth history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080225035419/http://www.histomobile.com/histomob/internet/1/histo02.htm |date=25 February 2008 }} from histomobile.com (last accessed 6 March 2007) Abarth got to know both Tazio Nuvolari and the family-friend Ferry Porsche, and, together 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 (see also Porsche 360). The CIS Italia project ended when Dusio moved to Argentina (1949).
Abarth then founded the Abarth & C. company with Cisitalia racing driver Guido Scagliarini in Bologna (31 March 1949),[http://www.lanciarally037.com/abarthpage.htm Abarth ... attenti alle scorpione!!!] from lanciarally037.com (last accessed 6 March 2007) using his astrological sign, the scorpion, as the company logo. The same year, Abarth & Co moved to Turin. Financed by Scagliarini's father Armando Scagliarini, the company made racing cars, and became a major supplier of high-performance exhaust pipes, that still are in production as Abarth. On 20 October 1965 Abarth personally set various speed records at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.[http://www.italiaspeed.com/2007/motor_shows/geneva/preview/abarth/history.html Behind the Abarth name] from italiaspeed.com (last accessed 6 March 2007)
He sold the company on 31 July 1971 to Fiat, although he continued to manage it as a CEO for a period.{{cite web|url=http://abarthcarsuk.com/about-abarth/the-history-of-abarth/|title=The history of Abarth|access-date=28 May 2014|work=abarthcarsuk.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529052707/http://abarthcarsuk.com/about-abarth/the-history-of-abarth/|archive-date=29 May 2014|url-status = dead}} Later he moved back to Vienna, Austria, where he died in 1979.{{Cite web |title=UNIQUE EXHIBITION Tribute to Carlo ABARTH |url=https://www.retromobile.com/Visitors/Exhibitions-and-events/Events-2018/UNIQUE-EXHIBITION-Tribute-to-Carlo-ABARTH |access-date=22 October 2021 |website=www.retromobile.com}}
Personal life
Carlo Abarth was married three times. His first wife was the secretary of Volkswagen's head Anton Piëch in Vienna.
He married his second wife, Nadina Abarth-Žerjav from Ljubljana, in 1949. She was the daughter of the Slovenian politician Gregor Žerjav. They lived together in northern Italy until 1966, and they divorced in 1979.
The same year, about six weeks before his death, Abarth married his third wife, Anneliese Abarth; she continues to head the Carlo Abarth Foundation{{cite web|url=http://www.abarth-online.com/|title=Carlo Abarth Foundation}} and wrote one of his biographies in 2010.
References
{{Reflist}}
Sources
- {{cite book|title=Abarth, L'uomo, le macchine|first=Luciano |last=Greggio|year=2002|language=Italian|publisher=G. Nada|ISBN=88-7911-262-7}}
- {{cite book|title=Carlo Abarth: Mein Leben mit dem genialen Autokonstrukteur|first=Anneliese |last=Abarth|year=2010|publisher=Herbig Verlag|language=German|ISBN=978-3-7766-2631-5}}
External links
- [http://www.abarth.it/ Official Abarth site]
- [http://www.myabarth.com/ Fiat Abarth Photos]
- [http://www.abarth-gmr.be Abarth works museum – Lier – Belgium]
- [http://www.abarth.be Tribute to Carlo Abarth – Scuderia La Fortuna]
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Category:Italian automobile designers
Category:Italian founders of automobile manufacturers
Category:Italian automotive pioneers
Category:Italian motorsport people
Category:Austrian emigrants to Italy
Category:Engineers from Vienna