There are many small artisan businesses in the Modena area, often hidden and unknown to most, which have contributed significantly to the affirmation of these areas in the world of work.
Whether it be agri-food, manufacturing or precision mechanics companies it doesn’t matter: the difference is made by the men of this land, rich and generous for those who are committed to succeeding in their work, carried out with commitment and dedication and with enviable technical competence.
There is a constant that links these excellences: it is people. Moved by an exceptional passion, proud of their traditions and of the results that, with their work, have led them to excel worldwide.
If you take the road that goes north from Modena towards Verona, between the Secchia and Panaro rivers, you will arrive at Bastiglia. This small town, an integral part of the institution of the Sorbara Union, an area of excellent Lambruschi production, hides, in the heart of the small industrial area, one of the most incredible artisan realities: the Auto Sport body shop.
Franco Bacchelli.
It all begins with Franco Bacchelli's first job as a shop boy at Piero Drogo's Sports Cars body shop in Modena, at the end of the 1950s. With great constancy and an even greater passion, Franco Bacchelli begins his training, specializing not only in the beating of steel and aluminum bodies but also in the lightest and most innovative materials of those years.
Photo by Nanette Schärf.
Photo by Nanette Schärf.
Photo by Nanette Schärf.
Photo by Nanette Schärf.
It is a world that revolves around the small / large factories which, in those years, have to rely on local suppliers to complete their cars, Maserati, Lamborghini and Ferraris above all.
And it’s precisely in one of the most important and famous ateliers, more precisely at the Scaglietti body shop, that Franco Bacchelli meets Roberto Villa, who is also an expert “battilastra” (plate-beater) and specialist in aluminum bodywork. Mutual esteem unites them in a project that sees the light in 1972, when Bacchelli & Villa, specialists in maintenance and repair of sports cars and Gran Turismo, is born.
These are difficult years, where in a few seasons you pass from the new economic boom to austerity, only the quality of the work allows us to keep such a specialized company alive.
Franco Bacchelli and Ferrari 250 Le Mans.
In fact, thanks to the skills acquired over the years for the processing of fibers, resins and aluminum, at the Bastiglia headquarters are transformed - and interventions carried out on - many important Ferrari models, one above all the transformation of the 512 BBs into the Le Mans versions.
Roberto Villa.
Roberto Villa passed away a few years ago, when the firm had already turned into a company, the Auto Sport in fact, at the helm of which only Franco Bacchelli remained, supported in his work by a small workforce today super-specialized in restorations of classic cars and in racing car repairs.
Franco Bacchelli and Massimo-Bellei.
The excellence of the work is such that it is at the Bastiglia headquarters that many vintage Ferraris are sent for restoration work directly by the Ferrari Classiche department.
The work integrates itself perfectly with other assignments such as, for example, the painting of the valve covers with wrinkle paints for the Maserati and Ferrari production, which allowed Franco Bacchelli to receive an offer to sell the business to Ferrari itself, offer accepted by Bacchelli, which will allow his company to continue a small but important history of Italian motoring.
Ferrari 275 GTB Bacchelli.
Lastly, I would add two notes.
The first is an unexpected recognition - and for this reason even more welcome - which saw Franco Bacchelli as the protagonist in the United States, invited as guest of honor at the Concours d'Elegance of Peeble Beach in California two years ago (invitation repeated also in the last two years but rejected due to the Corona virus).
Franco Bacchelli. Photo by Nanette Schärf.
The second is the modesty that distinguishes Franco, a meek and kind person who has managed to be important for his value and his qualities not only as a craftsman and man but also as an artist, because at this level we are talking about art.
By Alberto Galassi
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