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Bandini Siluro Chassis # 358 – Car Profile

By Cliff Reuter

Bandini Siluro In 1946 Ilario Bandini began producing racing cars in Forli, Italy that featured tubular frames made from airplane wing struts, hand hammered aluminum bodies, and Fiat running gear.

Bandini’s biggest success in America came in 1955 and 1957 when the Bandini Siluro (torpedo) won the SCCA National Class H Modified championship.

Bandinis continued to win SCCA Class H-Mod races well in to the mid 1960’s and our feature car, Jack Reuter’s 1955 750cc Twin Cam Siluro #358, was undefeated while winning the SCCA Southwest Regional Championship from 1961-1963.

Chassis # 358 was imported by T.B. Davis of Dallas Texas and raced by Hugh Grammer. Its 750cc engine is Crosley based and has a Bandini twin cam aluminum head which produces 71 BHP at 9,000 RPM. The weight of the car is 750 pounds and it was clocked at 115 MPH at the 1963 Green Valley Texas race.

Long time car collector Jack Reuter purchased it over thirty years ago after searching for Bandinis for many years. Bandini #358 is a true survivor as it retains 100% of its original metal and shows no signs of ever being damaged. It was shown at the 2002 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance where it was awarded a prize.

Bandini Siluro – Additional Photos:

To learn more about Bandini and Etceterinis, visit www.etceterini.com.

[Source: Cliff Reuter]

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6 Comments

  1. Cliff…enjoyed your article and that Bandini! What a fantastic, sexy looking sports car. Hope to see it in person one day.

    Also…for those that don’t know, Cliff maintains an extraordinary resource for those researching the past of SCCA cars and drivers. He has collected and scanned numerous SCCA race programs from the 1950’s and 1960’s. I regularly use his site as a reference to check on and update my own research. Check out his website. THANKS!

    Greg Wing

    1. Hi…I realize this page is a decade old but thought I’d take a shot that a note might forward through to you. My name is Jim Murphy and I just (12/2018) acquired a 50’s special project built on a Fiat Topolino chassis. I bought it out of Colorado and the seller has had it for 6 years and bought it from the estate of a collector who brought it to Colorado six years before that. Neither had done any work or research on it and nothing is known of its history. I have become familiar with Cliff’s site but wanted to ask your advice as to how to proceed. I’m pretty sure it was meant to be an H Modified (comes with Crosley block). And I’m suspicious that it was finished and driveable at some point. I’m just starting to plan it’s completion and would love to learn how best to discover it’s original construct. email:[email protected].

  2. Unfortunately, even the unknown marque “etceterinis”; even the pushrod 750cc cars with all of 40 horsepower, go for at least $200K. A Bandini in this condition is probably a $400K car today…

  4. Yesterday, i bought Cliff’s Bandini. It is heading back to Europe after more than 50 years. A very exciting day for me, such cars don’t come around twice in a lifetime!