Beccaris

Introduce

Est. 1938

Towards the end of 1938 Temistocle Beccaris founded a small metalworking shop as a sole trader, specializing in the processing of sheet metal for the manufacture of automobile bodies. He made entire bodies and individual parts on behalf of other bodybuilders. In 1940 he had to interrupt his manual activity when he was called up to serve at the front during World War II, and in 1945 he resumed it. The company's headquarters were originally in Via Sostegno 83 on the outskirts of the municipality of Grugliasco bordering Turin; The place is in the Piedmont region in the then province of Turin, but had to give the district in question to Turin in 1945. In 1952, Beccaris moved the headquarters within Turin to the nearby Via Francesco De Sanctis 150/12 (today: Via Santa Maria Mazzarello 30/12). The company continued to grow, however, and so in 1955 he founded a new, much larger company called ILLAT.  ILLAT stood for Industria Lavorazione Lamiera Automobili Torino, in english simply: Industry for processing automotive sheet metal, Turin. Other shareholders besides Temistocle Beccaris were his son Carlo and Michele Giovara. The original factory was replaced by a new workshop at 32 Via Col di Lana, which they left in 1957 to the Corna brothers, who were also coachbuilders. The cooperation formally existed until 1960, when the company was declared insolvent. However, father and son Beccaris had already turned away in 1959 and opened a new workshop together with Egidio Teraschi. The reasons for the decline of the ILLAT company are not known in detail. However, it falls at a time in which some, including well-known body construction companies, which, without specialization, only produced in a manual, non-industrial style. The development was accelerated by the transition from passenger cars with separate chassis to self-supporting bodies, which were less suitable for the construction of individual items and small series. At the same time, large-scale manufacturers increasingly offered mass-produced coupés, convertibles and station wagons at lower prices. In 1959 Carlo Beccaris left the already dormant company ILLAT, which was initiated by his father. He joined forces with Egidio Teraschi and founded Beccaris & Teraschi S.n.c.. The new company was based at Strada Antica di Grugliasco 295 in Turin. Temistocle Beccaris also took part again. In 1960 there was a collaboration with the sports car manufacturer Abarth. Beccaris specialized in the processing of light metal sheets from aluminum alloys and their assembly into weight-saving light metal bodies, mostly in a closed form as a coupé, occasionally as a minimalist racing spider. The proportion of time-consuming manual labor remained very high. Despite the important Abarth contract, financial difficulties arose in 1962. The number of units remained low, probably only in the double-digit range. There were also not enough other customers for a sufficient capacity utilization. Beccaris & Teraschi had to close at the end of 1962.