Karl Abarth
Karl (Carlo) Alberto Abarth (November 15, 1908 – October 24, 1979) was an Austrian born automobile designer, he changed his nationality later to became an Italian citizen, at the same time his first name name Karl was changed to its Italian equivalent Carlo.
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 July 29, 1928). He later was European champion five times. After a serious accident in Linz he abandoned motorbike racing.
He moved permanently to Italy in 1934, where he met Ferdinand Porsche’s son-in-law Anton Piëch, and married his secretary. 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).
Carlo Abarth then founded the Abarth & C. company with Armando Scagliarini (father of Cisitalia racing driver Guido Scagliarini) in Turin (March 31, 1949) using his star 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 (October 20, 1965). He sold the company on July 31, 1971 to Fiat.
