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Ilario Bandini was born in Forli Italy a farmer’s son. He was trained as a mechanic and in 1936 traveled to Africa where he made a small fortune. He returned to Forli in 1938 and opened his own shop and then a Lancia dealership. His first racing car, produced in 1946, featured a fiat chassis (which was cut in half in order to avoid it being appropriated during WWII), a tuned Fiat 1100cc engine, and a hand hammered aluminum body by Rocco Motto. From then on he concentrated on producing purpose built racing cars to compete in races such as the Mille Miglia in Italy and the SCCA series in America. His biggest success in America came in 1955 (Gandolph Vilardi) and 1957 (Melvin Sachs) when a Bandini Siluro won the SCCA National Class H Modified championship. Ilario Bandini moved on to the Saponetta "envelope body" racer starting in 1957, these raced with 750cc, 850cc, and 1000cc engines. In 1959 he produced one of the most successful and beautiful Formula Juniors. Bandinis won SCCA Class HMod races well in to the mid 1960’s, Alex Vazeos 1955 750cc Twin Cam Siluro was undefeated and won the SCCA Southwest Regional Championship from 1961-1963 and the Mark Brinker Saponetta took 3rd in the National Hmod class in 1961. Bandini continued to make one off racing cars well into the 1980’s and the great "Drake of Forli" passed away in 1992. 75 Bandini cars were produced and 46 are known to exist in the world today. Ilario Bandini's Nephew, Dr. Dino Bandini, has honored his Uncles memory by creating the Ilario Bandini Museum in Forli, Italy.
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2002 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance
2010 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance
2002 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance
2000 Concorso Italiano
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1955 Bandini Siluro 750cc DOHC # 358 Ex T.B. Davis, Hugh Grammer, Ken Jones, Dave Miles, Jack Mays and Jack Reuter; Alex Vazeos collection.
1952 Vero Beach Chuck Hassan
1952 Sebring Chuck Hassan
1952 Grand Island Chuck Hassan
1953 James Riley
1954 Atterbury AFB Sandy MacArthur
1955 Lawrenceville Sandy MacArthur
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