Carlo Abarth, born Karlo Alberto Abarth in Austria, wnet to towrk at Carrozzeria Castagna in Milan as a youth, designing motorcycle frames. In his native Austria he took up motorbike racing, and became a five-time European champion, before leaving the sport after a serious accident. He moved to Italy for good in 1934, and took the Italian form of his first name, Carlo.

In Italy, he fell in with the movers and shakers of the European motor industry: Anton Piëch (Ferdinand Porsche's son-in-law), Tazio Nuvolari, Ferry Porsche, engineer Rudolf Hruska, and Piero Dusio, the latter responsible for Compagnia Industriale Sportiva Italia, better known as Cisitalia. It was with Dusio that Abarth got a good start in the industry, although the project he was assigned, the Cisitalia Tipo 360 four-wheel-drive Formula 1 car, was a notorious failure.

After Dusio moved to Argentina in 1949, Abarth founded Abarth & C., giving it the logo of his astrological sign Scorpio. The com