Benelli's production activity continued with the presentation, in 1951, of the Leoncino, to declare a resounding sales success, which was accompanied by the conquest in 1953 and for the first time of the Motogiro d'Italia with the Bologna racer, Leopoldo Tartarini. In 1961 the Pesaro manufacturer celebrated its first fiftieth anniversary and the following year, to better deal with the crisis that had occurred in the motorcycle industry, it merged the two related brands, Benelli and Motobi. Those were the heroic years due to the numerous victories with Silvio Grassetti and, later, with Tarquinio Provini and Renzo Pasolini, always with the four-cylinder 250, until Australian rider Kelvin “Kel” won his second world title in 1969. Carruthers. A wide range of models characterized, in the sixties, the production of Benelli-Motobi: from mopeds to the Tornado, a 650 cc twin-cylinder maxi motorcycle, the last machine created and produced by the Benelli brothers. In 1972, in fact, the Pesaro firm was bought by the Argentine businessman Alejandro de Tomaso. The new owner expanded the model range by introducing a series of multi-cylinder motorcycles of different displacements, highlighting a prestigious 750cc six-cylinder engine (the first production six-cylinder motorcycle available on the market), as well as the construction of a new and modern facility. Japanese competition became increasingly fierce and technically advanced. The descent was slow but inexorable. In 1988, Benelli suffered death throes. To save the Pesaro house from an uncertain future, an industrialist from the city, Giancarlo Selci, owner of the Biesse Group, bought it on October 23, 1989. It started from scratch targeting the moped sector with the Cosi models, Devil and Scootie. For Benelli it seemed to be the arrival of calm, but after the first moments of euphoria the future became uncertain again.