Weber carburetor

Edoardo Weber began his automotive career working for Fiat, first at their Turin plant (in 1914) and later at a dealership in Bologna. After WWI, with gasoline prices high, he reached a certain success in selling conversion kits for running trucks on kerosene instead. The company was established as Fabbrica Italiana Carburatori Weber in 1923 when Weber produced carburetors as part of a conversion kit for Fiats. Weber pioneered the use of two-stage twin-barrel carburetors, with two venturis of different sizes (the smaller one for low-speed/rpm running and the larger one optimised for high-speed/rpm use).

In the 1930s, Weber began producing twin-barrel carburetors for motor racing, where two barrels of the same size were used. These were arranged so that each cylinder of the engine had its own carburetor barrel. These carburetors found use in Maserati and Alfa Romeo racing cars. Twin updraft Weber carburetors fed superchargers on the 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C competition vehicles.

Fiat bought the company in 1952 following Weber's disappearance and probable death in 1945. In time, Weber carburetors were fitted to standard production cars and factory racing applications from automotive marques such as Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, BMW, Chrysler, Ferrari, Fiat, Ford, IKA, Lamborghini, Lancia, Lotus, Maserati, Morgan, Porsche, Renault, Triumph and Volkswagen.

In 1986, Fiat also took control of Weber competitor Solex, and merged the two into a single company (Raggruppamento Controllo Motore, or the "Engine Management Group"). This was then reorganized as Magneti Marelli Powertrain S.p.A. in 1986. Genuine Weber carburetors were produced in Bologna, Italy, up until 1992, when production was transferred to Madrid, Spain, where they continue to be made today. Weber carburetors are made in a facility owned by LCN Automotive based in Spain. There are only two direct distributors of Spanish Weber carburetors: Webcon based in the UK, and WorldPac (known as RedlineWeber) in the US. Webcon operates a global distribution chain via a long established network of dealers and specialists, many of whom are located in the EU.