It’s getting harder and harder to find cars we’ve not had on CC yet, but I think I got one here. In the world of ‘50s Italian cars, there are a few great marques – your Lancias, Fiats, Alfa Romeos, Ferraris and Maseratis, basically, maybe with OSCA and Abarth added on top, if we’re feeling generous – and there are the etceterini, i.e., the “etcetera” category. Within this grab-bag of (typically Fiat-based) micro-racers, enthusiast projects and low-production derivatives, the most exclusive has to be Bandini.
The Bandini saga is one of pure, unadulterated passion. Yes, that’s the trope everybody uses for Ferrari or Maserati, and it’s true for them in some way, but those marques actually sold cars to live. Ilaria Bandini lived to make them (and often race them himself), but he was so hopeless at selling them that only 75 cars bearing his name were made between 1946 and 1992. That’s a total production of 75 units over 45 years, not 75 models.
Some were part of a small batch of near-identical cars, others were complete one-offs. The very first Bandini (top left) used a Fiat 1100 frame and modified engine, but the suspension was completely different under a rather stylish Motto body. Bandini made their mark with 1100cc racers (top right), grabbing the attention of a few American cognoscenti. Then came the 750cc cars, which includes our Saponetta, as well as the gorgeous 1955 Zagato coupé seen on bottom left. Very few cars were dressed for civilian use, like the one-off 1000 GT coupé at bottom right, made in 1963 by Carrozzeria Corna.
By 1950, Bandini was in talks with influential US importers who recommended he switch from a Fiat-based engine to something more US-made. This turned out to be the 724cc Crosley 4-cyl. engine, which Bandini heavily modified. By upping its displacement to 747cc, crowning it with a specially-made alloy DOHC head and feeding it via a pair of Weber carbs, Bandini managed to wring 68hp out of the little Crosley four.
The racer that really put Bandini on the map was the Siluro (above), which was campaigned in Europe and the US pretty extensively from 1953 onward and won its fair share of events. Siluro 750s won the SCCA class championship in 1955 and 1957 and kept winning individual races well into the ‘60s, some of them with MG, Alfa or Offenhauser engines.
Our feature car, the 750 Sport Internazionale, was an evolution of the Siluro’s chassis mated to a more modern body. It was aimed at European hillclimbs and road races – especially the Mille Miglia, as well as American events.
A batch of nine cars were made in 1957-58, all allegedly bodied by Bandini themselves. Some US-bound cars were later fitted with Bandini-made 850cc and 1000cc engines, to keep up with class changes; some even raced with Saab or Ford-UK engines.
The thing about this little bar of soap (that’s what the word “Saponetta” means in Italian) is that, compared to the beastly Siluro, it was drop-dead gorgeous. Minuscule, but perfectly formed in virtually every way.
The front end looks like a baby Maserati. Hard to believe Bandini’s workshop, which was almost literally a backyard shed in Forlì, could have manufactured this. But then, there were plenty of extremely capable and discreet second-tier coachbuilders nearby in Modena or Bologna.
The back end is thankfully pure – some Saponettas got a sort of Kamm-like tail, which may be great for aerodynamics, but looks a lot less appealing than this one. The indicators were obviously added on to make the car street-legal in present-day Japan.
According to what I’ve been able to ascertain from Japanese websites that have featured this car, it has the Bandini-Crosley 750 engine, which by the late ‘50s was rated at 71hp, according to some sources. That gave our little bar of soap the ability to reach speeds in excess of 175kph – a top performer in its class. And I’m guessing a pretty loud one, too.
These cars almost raced the 1957 Mille Miglia. That is, this specific OSCA (which we’ve seen on CC before) did race that event, and one of the Bandini’s sister cars also participated. Only in Tokyo…
Of the 75-odd Bandinis that were made, about 45 are still extant and most are to be found in the United States. However, all nine Saponettas have apparently survived; four of them have migrated to Japan. Absolutely predestined to be posted on CC – says so right there in the script.
Ilario Bandini never really stopped racing his little beauties, though car production did slow to a crawl. His day job since the early ‘50s was selling and servicing Lancias and Alfa Romeos in his home town in Emilia-Romagna, but his passion for the track did not wane. When Bandini died aged 81 in 1992, he was putting the finishing touches on a new berlinetta featuring a turbocharged 1000cc engine.
Cars like the Saponetta represent a long-gone age when a largely self-taught car enthusiast could create a small run of sports cars that he would use himself to compete in races at the week-end – and potentially sell a car or two to one of his rivals or friends if the results were good. Bandini did not made cars to make money, he made money to make cars. Nice to see someone with their priorities right.
Loved watching (and listening to) the Bandinis at SCCA races in the 50s and 60s!
Gorgeous. Cool that a Crosley engine got some real race time in purist events. Always have loved these little race bred cars, have a thing for Ginettas also.
Lovely, I seem to recall seeing at least one, probably several, at the Monterey Historics over the years but wasn’t aware of the backstory, thank you.
If it were mine and this was here, I would not be parking so close behind that Minivan. I can just imagine a family of seven, 32oz Slurpees in hand, climbing in and realizing they need to back up a bit to pull out and….
Top of the fender doesn’t even come up to your knees. I like low-slung cars but it would be tough to climb into this one at 81 years old. Even tougher to climb out after a race. Imagine bending over to synchronize the carburettors.
Any Bandini found curbside is cause for celebration. I believe this is your second Bandini found curbside on Ginko Avenue at Jingu Gaien park. Over ten plus years of reading CC on a daily basis I have bookmarked less than a dozen articles. Both of your Bandini articles are in my CC bookmark favorites. Such a rare hand built and overwhelmingly beautiful work of art must never be forgotten.
This is the car you pull up next to Jay Leno driving his McLaren F1 at a traffic light. The light turns green and you hammer the gas to get ahead of him. At the next light he pulls up next to you and you notice he is looking at you with his eyes bulging and demands in a friendly way that you pull over at the next appropriate area to talk about your Bandini.
Splendid car. As to building the bodies, bending aluminum alloy was a great Italian tradition; the right guys could make anything you could dream up. And it wasn’t really all that expensive back then. That’s why Italy ruled with their carrozziera, even down to backyard garages.
How exquisite. And I must say, Prof T, you’ve out-done yourself with the photos here. The story, too: I’d heard of Bandini, the racer, but never knew there were cars. What a thing to find at a curbside.
The styling dispels Bill Mitchell’s adage about styling small cars, as this is gorgeous. The miniature nature of things here is not obvious, until one spies the Triumph TR-2 in pic one – looks positively profligate. And once you notice the comparative size of the number plates, they cannot be unseen. They look like billboards.
I think if I owned it, for safety’s sake, I’d tuck it under my arm and carry it home after a day out.