For the next few years owners and campaigners of Abarth racing and road cars had to depend on dwindling supplies of original spare parts which could still be found at ex-official parts suppliers and preparation shops alike. By the late 70s and early 80s these supplies had mainly dried up and by this time people were aiso beginning to finally realize the value and "collectibility" of historic Abarths but found there was no longer a continuous and reliable source of' parts to rebuild or even just keep their cars running.
Enter Anthony Berni. After moving to Italy in 1979 to take up a post in Ferrari's racing department at Maranello, British-born Berni worked with the "Commendatore" for two years gaining invaluable experience on how a professional racing team was run but even more important on where to source spare parts, services and knowhow for top quality racing products. In 1981 Berni decided to "go-it-alone" and set up business exporting spares for Italian historic and collector cars such as Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa Romeo and to a lesser extent, Abarth.
A meeting with Leo Aumüller, fabled German collector of Abarths, changed Berni's life and strategy of his young company. Aumüller had gone to Italy to inspect a cache of Abarth parts which Berni had found at an ex-tuning shop in Milan and after purchasing most of them, he invited Berni to visit his collection of cars in Germany. When Berni saw the Aumüller collection he remained naturally overwhelmed and things just started happening from there. A 1000 TC Berlina Corsa was purchased by Berni as a restoration project and after searching for original parts to restore the car and discovering there was hardly anything to be found, he began remanufacturing many missing items for a large range of historic Abarths including 595 / 695 / 750GT / 850-1000TC / TCR / MONOMILLE / BIALBERO / SP / OT and so on.
Berni was not satisfied with just reproducing parts to original spec and where possible using the original manufacturer and tooling to do so, but also wanted to put these parts to the test, the "ultimate" test: the race track. Berni Motori racing was thus formed and has been campaigning its 1000 TCR and 1000 SP models successfuliy for a number of years in the Italian Historic Car Championship. Invaluable experience has been gained on the track and subsequently transferred to parts production so that clients enjoy the benefit of tested and proven material.
Corso Marche is still there and the original Abarth facility can still be
seen even though part of it has been demolished to give way to a new,
smart, Lancia Dealership. If you want to purchase parts however for your
historic Abarth - the right parts -then you must visit Via Monte Vioz
in Maleo or contact us by phone or fax.This year is BERNI MOTORI's 25TH ANNIVERSARY and to commemorate the event we have published a 28 page brochure containing our new range of products. To receive a copy go to "PURCHASING".
Thanks to all our clients past, present and future and we hope to continue giving them reliable and honest service for many years to come. Long live the name of Abarth and "le piccole macchine con gran brio.."
