Luca Mazzanti’s passion for cars did not really have a “beginning” as such; it was already a part of him the day he was born in Tuscany on the 1st of February 1974. There he spent his early years living in the countryside, surrounded by olive trees, between Pistoia and Vinci.
During his early school years Luca began his first attempts at modifying the toy cars to play with friends. “Disassembling” and “modifying” were the key words of that game - fantasy and reality were still travelling side by side.
Luca’s father moves the family workshop and his activity to Pontedera near Pisa, but still in Tuscany.
Luca’s passion for cars has now consolidated and the advent of “Group B”, encouraging both adults and children of that time to dream about those mechanical masterpieces, strengthened Luca’s own imagination. The rally stages on gravel were spectacular for Luca who didn’t miss a single stage of the “San Remo” world rally championship nor the gravel stages in Tuscany, his home.
Luca moves with his family to Pontedera and during summer holidays visits his father’s body shop, performing small jobs, very much the favourite location to spend his free time in.
Working in a body shop is not what Luca’s father has in mind for him and so began the classic father-son conflict between a father wanting different opportunities for his son and a young guy who saw working in a body shop as essential to gaining the skills and the experience necessary for the bigger project he was already dreaming about.
By 1991 it is clear to all that Luca Mazzanti is a very committed person who has always been interested in engines and competitions.
At the end of 1992, Luca returns to work mainly in his father’s body shop, this time diversifying his activity; in fact, he starts to specialize in racing cars, especially rally cars.
In 1993 Luca participates in Italy’s community service program and during this period away from the body shop he can find just enough spare time to finish the restoration of his Moretti 850.
The two years following his community service finds Luca back in the family body shop.
However, at the end of 1996, just when Luca is old enough and ready to take on the running of the shop, his father sells the business. This is a serious blow for Luca who sees the place that had been so central to his very existence disappear.
It’s 1998 and Luca is determined to start his own business so he can give full range of expression to his philosophy. But just when he has found a solid basis from which to start, Faralli’s restoration company approaches him once more to re-join their company and after some soul-searching he takes up the offer.
Luca has always had competition in his mind; indeed, he participated in many hill-climb races with several excellent results including two first places in the Saline-Volterra 2000 and in the Consuma Cup 2004.
His greatest satisfaction has always been that the cars he was racing were restored, realized and made competitive through his own efforts.
The idea of founding a new car manufacturer at the same time as designing a car has now matured in Luca Mazzanti’s mind.
The Antas is ready and is invited to participate at the 80th anniversary of the Rome Grand Prix where it receives an award for fabulous design from the ACI Rome.
People were becoming familiar with the brand and a second model takes shape – the Vulca. Meanwhile the successful Antas project is consolidated, increasing brand awareness almost exponentially.
In March, the second project of the company, the Vulca, is presented but this coincides with the deepening of the global financial crisis which hugely damages the luxury products industry including demand for supercars.
To deal with this situation, this project is progressed further in-house while waiting for positive economic signals before officially launching the car.
