Bandini Article in Autoweek

Nick Kurczewski has written about the history of Bandini production and described Marc Richelsoph's featured 1957 Bandini Sport International “Saponetta”. The car now sports a 750-cc dohc four-cylinder Crosley engine with Bandini aluminum heads and red cam covers.

Excerpts include ...

“Interest in America surged when Bandini Siluros—with their screaming 750-cc engines and wildly flared front fenders—won SCCA class championships in 1955 and 1957.”

“The car’s doors barely reach knee-level, the tops of the rear fenders are only 27 inches from the ground. Once in, nothing is far from reach—including the street below! Nonetheless, the vintage wood-rimmed steering wheel, exposed chassis tubes and painted-metal dash look and feel sublime. Under the hood is a 750-cc (45.8-cubic inch) dohc four-cylinder Crosley engine. Red cam covers, Bandini aluminum heads and lots of polished alloy give the American engine a mini-Ferrari look. Output is only 68 hp, but with a rev limit of 8500 rpm and the Saponetta’s scant 900-pound curb weight, performance is pretty spicy.”

“A four-speed transmission (from a Fiat Topolino) sends horsepower to the rear wheels. Mounted on a sparkling set of 15-inch Borrani wire wheels, the tires themselves are only 2.75 inches wide. The sum of all these parts equals a rare race car that its owner loves to use. 'You point it and it just goes,' Richelsoph says. 'It’s simply an amazing little car to drive.'”

[ 1957 Bandini Sport International, Autoweek article ]