The legendary Mario Colucci has died at the age of 78. He was the man who converted most of the standard production Fiats and Simcas into Abarths that won over 7,300 races and hillclimbs between 1956 and 1971. Active until the last, Colucci, a self-effacing genius, had recently formed a new company called Nova Progetti with another ex-Abarth stalwart, Renzo Avidano, who was Carlo Abarth’s right hand man and motorsport director for most of the company’s lifespan.
Born in Livorno on Italy’s Ligurian coast, Colucci began his illustrious career with Alfa Romeo in 1932, contributing to the design of a string of road cars like the elegant 6C 2500 Freccia d’Oro and the milestone Giulietta, before becoming Portello’s head of design in 1948.
Soon after completing the Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ project, Colucci was headhunted by Carlo Abarth. “But Alfa Romeo did not want to let me go,” Colucci recalled later. “They even threatened Abarth, who was a supplier of exhausts for the Giulietta, with the cancellation of his contract if he persisted in trying to poach me from their design department.” However, Abarth did persist and got his man in 1960.
The choice of Colucci was a gifted one, for he laid the foundation for most of the company’s motor racing successes in its 15 years of competition. He did so by designing his new company’s first racing barchetta with a tubular chassis and from that came a long succession of victorious twin came racers, including the 750, 850 and 1,000 cc Abarths.
When Abarth was absorbed into the giant Fiat group, Colucci was put in charge of its racing car design department. His star creation was the Fiat Abarth 131, with which the Italian manufacturer and its drivers won the World Rally Championships of 1977, 1978 and 1980.
Submitted by Robert Newman
