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| Enrico Nardi's small workshop located on the Via Lancia in Torino, was a real heaven for car fanatics. Working in the shade of the large LANCIA building, one could hear day after day several engines revving on the testbanks. All sorts of cars went to the Via Lancia to be modified by Nardi as he was very skilled in this matter. Nardi had a real passion for mechanics and Vincenzo Lancia hired him to work on the Lancia Lambda - Astura - Augusta and Aprillia. In 1937 he worked for Ferrari where he was testdriver and drove the 158 Alfetta well before Farina did! In 1947 he created his own company with Renato Danese (hence ND). In those days Nardi wanted to create a light racecar powered by a flat twin BMW engine. To do so he combined the engine with a Fiat 500 A chassis. The result was magnificent. On its first race (Coppe dei Dolomiti) the 750 NARDI arrived 30' before the second contender arrived. The car weighed 290 kg as a mono seater and 360 as a double seater. Top speed was 200 km/h and 180 km/h for the latter. After other brief attempts on the racing scene, Nardi focussed mainly on engine accessories which made the name "NARDI" very famous. Nardi built almost anything going from brakes through gearboxes, camshafts, pistons... the most succesful items were of course the wooden steering wheels, used as original equipment on all the better Italian cars and prototypes showed all over the world. Even some American cars had a Nardi steering wheel fitted! Nardi died in 1967. His name is still very well known today, but it's a pity to see the name Nardi being used to sell junk like keyholders and alloy wheels which have no relation whatsoever with what Enrico Nardi had in mind .. even the signature is not looking the same anymore! Virgilio Conrero was another famous tuners, whose name is going into the same direction... and some "Conrero" stuff can be found in almost any service station... Check this webpage about Rick McBride's visit to Enrico Nardi... but come back here afterwards! |
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