As Orson said in the movie the "The Third Man" : You know what the fellow said—in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace—and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.

The same can be said of the Italian car industry after World War 2 in terms of the creativity which produced Ferrari, Alfa, Siata, Nardi, Moretti, Abarth and today's COD...Bandini.

Cliff Reuter has done a great job chronicling all these lesser appreciated Italian makes including the Bandini whose names have faded somewhat from the view.

Ilario Bandini first cars were based on the Fiat 1100 but he raised to fame when he won the SCCA championship in 1955 and 1957.

These cars are small..very small but are true giant killers given their race history. In their 1957 SCCA  winning season, 5 of the top cars were Bandinis.

The lines on the car is very purposeful yet different from most of the cars of the time.

Here is the small V4 engine in its glory.

Despite their influences and successes only 40 plus Bandinis are known to still exist.