Franco Sbarro

Franco Sbarro is a Swiss automotive innovator, born in southern Italy to a farming family a few months before the outbreak of the Second World War, who founded the Sbarro car company in Switzerland in 1971. He left Italy in 1957 after finishing his studies and moved to Neuchatel, where he worked as a mechanic, and he built his first car, the Filipinetti coupe, from plans for a Volkswagen Karmann Ghia with an uprated 1.6 litre Volkswagen engine. He became one of the most prolific concept car builders in the world, known for unique concept cars and custom vehicles shown at the Geneva International Motor Show. His 1984 Super Eight is a one-off hatchback on a shortened Ferrari 308 GT4 platform, inspired by his earlier Super Twelve. The Sbarro car maker has no link to the Sbarro pizza chain apart from the name.