Profiles

The History of Abarth

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Carlo Abarth with his fleet of cars, 1965
Carlo Abarth with his fleet of cars, 1965

Over 10,000 individual race victories, 10 world records and 133 international titles are part of the racing heritage behind the Abarth marque. In fact, success in competition has always been one of the cornerstones of the Abarth story, and it is no less important now than when Karl Abarth founded ‘Abarth & C’ over 60 years ago in 1949.

Karl “Carlo” Abarth, born on November 15, 1908, in Vienna, had racing in his blood and was a five-time European motorcycle champion by his mid-20s. This was a feat made even more astonishing when considering that he achieved this success using his own hand-built motorcycles and with no official factory support. Success came at a price, however. In 1939, Abarth suffered a near-fatal accident during a race in Yugoslavia.

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