Could a new Bandini Automobili brand launch be in the works? A U.S. trademark filing this week may offer some clues

When you glance at the Bandini Automobili logo, you might first think you’re looking at the Ferrari logo. But then you realize you’re looking at a rearing chicken, not a rearing lion. Nevertheless, the two brands share a common origin. And if a U.S. trademark filing this week is an indication of something to come, that rooster may, in some form, be re-joining the pantheon of Italian automotive brands.

Founded in 1946 in Forli, Italy, by motorsports driver Illario Bandini (1911-1992), Bandini Automobili was active as an automotive manufacturer from 1946 to 1992. According to Wheels of Italy, Bandini built his first vehicle using a modified Fiat 1100 engine and a hand-fabricated aluminum body.

The Bandini marque went on to formidable motorsports achievements, winning SCCA HM class championships in 1955 and 1957 in 750 cc Bandini Siluro race cars driven, respectively, by Dolph Vilardi and Melvin Sacks. Illario Bandini himself also had an admirable motorsports record, with 19 first-place finishes plus 18 additional podium placements in the Italian Mille Miglia from 1947-1965.  

In 1992, Automobili Bandini produced its last vehicle: the Bandini 1000 Turbo Berlinetta, a hand-built road car sporting a 929-cc, 16-valve, turbocharged engine that redlined at 10,000 rpm.

Bandini passed away that same year and, since then, Bandini Automobili has been defunct as a manufacturer. All told, the automaker’s oeuvre consisted of 75 one-off vehicles, with 47 extant today

Meanwhile, the brand and heritage of Bandini Automobili have remained under the dutiful stewardship of Dino Bandini, Illario’s nephew. A U.S.-trained dentist, Dr. Bandini today curates a nine-vehicle Bandini Automobile Collection on display at his uncle Illario’s workshop—now evolved, according to Cortile, into the Illario Bandini Museum, in Forli, Italy. 

But are there future plans for the brand, beyond the museum and sales of memorabilia that help support it?

An October 8 filing on behalf of Dr. Bandini for a U.S. trademark on the rearing chicken logo seems to hint at some intriguing possibilities, especially given the content of the trademark record’s products and services field.

Among the referenced product categories are:

Parts and fittings for land vehicles; Wheels and tyres, and continuous tracks for vehicles; Vehicles; Motor racing cars; Sports cars; Engines for racing cars; Racing seats for automobiles; Steering wheels for vehicles; Bumpers for automobiles; Spray prevention flaps for vehicles; Automobile bodies; Automobile tyres; Automobile wheels; Automobiles and structural parts therefor; Sports cars sold in kit form.

Categories of services referenced in the filing include:

Organisation of vehicle racing events; Organisation of automobile races; Provision of information relating to motor racing; Training of car drivers; Training for automobile competitions; Entertainment in the nature of automobile races; Organisation of automobile rallies, tours and racing events; Arranging competitions and tournaments relating to car racing

An Italian-domained Bandini-Automobili “official website” is also live. Currently, it includes only a contact page and a homepage—currently containing a photographic background showing detail of what is apparently a Bandini vehicle, along with a superimposed “Coming Soon” message. The domain was created in 2015, according to the results of an international Whois search on Safenames.net.

Dr. Bandini told AutoNewsblaster, in an email, that he is currently unable to share specifics of any future plans for the Bandini Automobili brand. He added, however, that news may be forthcoming in the next few months. So stay tuned for updates here at AutoNewsblaster as they become available.

Granted, the trademark filing could be for sole the purpose of protecting the brand from usurpation by others who might want to exploit its equity to support sales automotive-related products and services, although a brand must be in some form of active use to be viable for a U.S. trademark.

But the last vehicle Bandini built—the 1000 Turbo Berlinetta—was a hot-looking road car. And the possibility that something new from Bandini could emerge, even if it’s no more than a kit car, is intriguing for sure.