CRM

At the end of April 1965, 72 orders were officially on record — 38 of them with CRM in Modena. More than with all the other builders put together.

The tubular frames were built by Manicardi e Messori in Modena, the bodies by Fantuzzi, also in Modena. The first cars were delivered in 1964, though no race was held that year. In 1965 CRM was the most common make on the grid; from 1968 it was no longer built.

At the first Formula Monza race on 10 May 1965, Walter Frodi and Maurizio Montagnani won the two heats. Montagnani, twenty-four, from Casinalbo near Modena, became the first champion of the Trofeo Cadetti.

His car is listed in two different ways. An account of the class’s beginnings calls it a CRM, “modificata e preparata da Oleari e Gibertini”. The entry list of the first race, by contrast, gives the make at his number 1 as Gibertini & Oleari. The two are not incompatible — a CRM rebuilt so far that it was entered under the name of the men who rebuilt it. It is not settled.

From the final standings of the fourth Trofeo Cadetti Agip 1968 — seven of the twenty-three classified drivers were in a CRM:

Race results also show these drivers on CRM: Bionda, Farneti, Taroni, Corti, Pistono, Maggioni, Rossi, Carrà, Mariani, Daverio, Boschini, Miolli, Bertaccini. Renato Benusiglio drove a car listed as “Lab-Crm”, Alberto Colombo a CRM in 1967.

When the firm was founded and when it closed, and who built it up, we do not know — none of the sources we checked names a person. If you know anything, please get in touch.

A CRM of 1966, first series with an aluminium cell, with the Fiat 500 “sogliola” engine. Completely restored a few years ago and not used since. The nose and the rear wing have been changed; both come off without trouble to return the car to original. The chassis number is not known.