1972 Giannini Gruppo 2 Corse

The story of Giannini is the tale of the Italian car tuners, the specialists who took many of the big manufacturers’ road-going products and changed them, modified them, raced them, sold them, and supplied accessories for them. Abarth was one of the great “tuners,” however Giannini, for a long period in Italian racing, was just as competitive. For many, the Giannini story may come as a surprise, in part, because it was founded as early as 1920, but also due to the fact that it is still producing cars, with modified versions of the very latest FIATs. For Giannini, and in fact most of the specialty Italian tuners, the inexpensive small cars made by FIAT have lent themselves well to the whole process of ingenious improvement and development.

The Gruppo 2 Corse featured in this account is just one of a long line of machines which came from the fertile minds of Attilio and Domenico Giannini and is often mistaken for the more widely known Abarth versions of the FIAT 500, 600 and 850. Gianninis were fundamentally Italian – built for the national market and competition scene with a few extravagant excursions outside the country.