Tulio Crespi S.A. (

trade name A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...

: Crespi Competición) is an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

manufacturer, founded in 1962 by Tulio Crespi (b. June 22, 1938), a former racing driver. With an industrial plant in

Balcarce, Buenos Aires San José de Balcarce (shortened to Balcarce) is a city in Buenos Aires Province (Argentina) about west of Mar del Plata with a population of approx 44,064 (2010 census). It is the ''cabecera'' (head town) of the Balcarce Partido (District of Bal ...

, Crespi has been producing

s and

Formula racing Formula racing (known as open-wheel racing in North America) is any of several forms of open-wheeled single-seater motorsport. The origin of the term lies in the nomenclature that was adopted by the FIA for all of its post-World War II single- ...

vehicles.Fábrica Crespi Competición
by Verónica Martínez on Welcome Argentina Crespi made significative contributions for Formula Renault 2.0 (building many chasis for former

Formula 4 FIA Formula 4, also called FIA F4, is an open-wheel racing car category intended for junior drivers. There is no global championship, but rather individual nations or regions can host their own championships in compliance with a universal set of r ...

) and Argentine

Turismo Carretera Turismo Carretera (Road racing, lit., ''Road Touring'') is a popular stock car racing series in Argentina, and the oldest auto racing series still active in the world. The series is organized by Asociación Corredores de Turismo Carretera. The ...

. Its

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

s included models ''Tulio'' and '' Tulieta'', both exhibited at the 1975

Paris Motor Show The Paris Motor Show (french: Mondial de l'Automobile) is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held during October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show presently take ...

, the first time an Argentine manufacturer participated in the biennial. In the last years, the company expanded its products line to

mini truck Mini truck, also called a micro-truck, are tiny but practical light truck Light truck or light-duty truck is a US classification for vehicles with a gross vehicle weight up to and a payload capacity up to 4,000 pounds (1,815 kg). Similar good ...

vehicles.

History

Tulio Crespi started his career as

racing car Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

constructor, giving his first steps in "Fórmula Mini Junior", where he also made good performances as a driver. In mid 1960s he made cars for

open-wheel racing car An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have thei ...

category

.Crespi - Medio siglo creando automóviles
on Auto Historia
on Depo.com.ar, 16 Sep 2021 In 1967, racer Nasif Estéfano crashed his

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

in the Autódromo de Buenos Aires, destroying it completely. The destroyed car was taken to the Crespi's workshop in barrio of Chacarita. Estéfano commissioned Crespi to rebuild the car with a new design that fit to

rules. The remodelled car was named "Petiso". Its success in subsecquent competitions encouraged Crespi to build a limited-series of that car. The first sedan built by Crespi, inspired on a

Maserati Ghibli Maserati Ghibli is the name of three different cars produced by Italian automobile manufacturer Maserati: the AM115, a V8 grand tourer from 1967 to 1973; the AM336, a V6 twin-turbocharged coupé from 1992 to 1998; and the M157, an executive s ...

seen by him during a trip to Europe with TC drivers, was named "Tulia". The prototype was finished in mid-1969 and featured in the Rural Exhibition that same year. The ''Tulia'' reached a top speed of 230 km/h. During its first three years of production, 10 units were sold. It is believed that a total of 30 units were produced. Postal_Tulieta

Crespi's most famous model, the Tulieta GT, came into production in 1972. The engine was a 1397cc or 85 cubic inch engine made by

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...

, and was known for being unreliable as well. It was the same engine used in the 1976 R5 Alpine/Gordini, which produced 93 horsepower. The C6J Turbo engine was also used in a small number of the GTs. Later in 1977 Crespi ended production of the Tulieta GT, and only a few survive today. A total of 45 units were made. Articles published on automobile magazines of Germany, France, and Japan about his business gave Crespi's global recognition so he received invitations to participate in the

, which he had to refuse due to lack of financial resources. Nevertheless, in 1975 Crespi was invited to take the vacant place of British manufacturer Lotus which had withdrawn. After some arrangements, the

Argentine Air Force "Argentine Wings" , mascot = , anniversaries = 10 August (anniversary) 1 May (Baptism of fire during the Falklands War) , equipment = 139 aircraft , equipment_label = , battles = * Operation Independence * Operation Soberanía * Falklan ...

provided a

Lockheed C-130 Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally design ...

to transport two cars, a Tulia and a Tulieta to be exhibited at the 62nd. Paris Show.Cómo trabaja Tulio Crespi, el argentino que con sus diseños triunfó en el Salón de Paris
on ''La Nación'', 11 Feb 2017 by Agustín Lafforgue It was the first time in the history of the show an Argentine manufacturer exhibited cars designed and produced in the country. By mid-1970s, the Chacarita workshop could not keep up with the growing demand of vehicles. Helped by

Juan Manuel Fangio Juan Manuel Fangio (American Spanish: , ; 24 June 1911 – 17 July 1995), nicknamed ''El Chueco'' ("the bowlegged" or "bandy legged one") or ''El Maestro'' ("The Master" or "The Teacher"), was an Argentine racing car driver. He dominated t ...

, Crespi could acquire a land on PR226, only 4 kilometers distant from the city of Balcarce (home town of Fangio) to build and industrial plant and make Crespi's business grow. The factory was inaugurated in early 1980s and it has been producing vehicles since. In 1985, Crespi launched the ''Spiaggia'', a small

convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving expe ...

built on a

Renault 4 The Renault 4, also known as the 4L (pronounced "Quatrelle" in French), is a small economy car produced by the French automaker Renault between 1961 and 1994. Although the Renault 4 was marketed as a short station wagon, its minimal rear overhang ...

platform. It had a reinforced plastic body, inspired on

Renault 5 The Renault 5 is a four-passenger, three or five-door, front-engine, front-wheel drive hatchback supermini manufactured and marketed by the French automaker Renault over two generations: 1972–1985 (also called R5) and 1984–1996 (also called S ...

and four seats. Crespi's most recent vehicle was ''Campomóvil'', a

that featured a glass fibre-reinforced resin body and powered by a

Briggs & Stratton Briggs & Stratton Corporation is an American manufacturer of gasoline engines with headquarters in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Engine production averages 10 million units per year as of April 2015. The company reports that it has 13 large facilit ...

engine, released in 2012. In 2022, Crespi launched a new version of the Campomóvil equipped with an

electric motor An electric motor is an Electric machine, electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a Electromagneti ...

.El primer utilitario eléctrico lo fabrica Tulio Crespi
by Javier Delle Rose on Carburando, 18 May 2022

Business

Crespi Competición has exported its prototype cars to Ecuador, Colombia, México, and Chile. The company is also provider of racing cars for

, TC 2000, and Turismo Nacional. Crespi's cars has been driven by Juan Manuel Fangio II, Oscar Aventín, Guillermo Ortelli, Omar Martínez, Fabián Acuña, Juan María Traverso, Daniel Cingolani, Miguel Etchegaray, Juan Manuel Silva, and Tito Bessone, among other notable drivers.

References

External links

* {{Automotive industry in Argentina Argentine companies established in 1962 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1962 c