The Bianco S is the best-known of the quite a few low-volume manufacturing automobiles constructed Ottorino “Toni” Bianco within the Nineteen Seventies.
For a few years it wasn’t attainable or economically possible to import automobiles into Brazil because of legal guidelines designed to bolster the expansion of an area automotive business. This resulted in lots of small automakers popping as much as construct uncommon sports activities automobiles for the native market.
Quick Info – The Bianco S
- The Bianco S was first proven to the world on the Sao Paulo Worldwide Motor Present in 1976. It’s a low-slung sports activities automobile primarily based on the VW Beetle chassis, with a fiberglass physique, and a few extra metal reinforcement on the sides and entrance for security.
- The VW Beetle had develop into ubiquitous in Brazil due to the truth that Volkswagen had established a manufacturing unit within the nation in 1953 to construct the Beetle for the native South American market.
- Attributable to strict Brazilian import restrictions the native sports activities automobile scene was basically starved of automobiles, this led to the formation of some small native producers who typically used VW Beetle working gear to maintain prices down.
- The Bianco S was bought from 1976 till 1979 when the corporate shut down, at one level virtually two dozen every week had been being constructed, with 320 in the end manufactured.
Ottorino “Toni” Bianco
Bianco had left his native Venice to maneuver to Brazil within the years after WWII searching for alternative within the fast-growing South American nation. It will develop into his house for the remainder of his life, and he would have a big impression on the nation’s formative racing and sports activities automobile scenes.
Above Video: This Brazilian quick movie reveals Toni Bianco in his workshop, speaking about his outstanding and prolonged historical past constructing sports activities and racing automobiles in Brazil. The movie is in Portuguese nevertheless you’ll be able to activate closed captions (CC) and auto translate to comply with together with what he’s saying.
The primary Components 3 automobile ever made in Brazil was stated to have been designed and constructed by Toni Bianco, he had earlier designed quite a few different open and closed-wheel racing automobiles within the nation.
When he had first immigrated to Brazil as a younger man he labored in banks and as a laborer constructing picket homes, till he was fatefully employed by a mechanical workshop within the conventional Italian neighborhood of Bela Vista in São Paulo.
This involvement with repairing and rebuilding automobiles would remodel Bianco’s life, and although he didn’t realize it on the time he would nonetheless be constructing automobiles 60 years later.
Within the Nineteen Seventies he based his personal namesake sports activities automobile marque, Bianco, to provide a small variety of automobiles on the Beetle platform. The three main fashions had been the Bianco S, the Bianco 2 Collection, and the Bianco Tarpan – of those the Bianco S was produced within the highest numbers.
With solely 65 bhp, the 1600cc VW Beetle flat-four isn’t a powerhouse of an engine, nevertheless it didn’t cease the Brazilians having enjoyable of their sports activities automobiles.
Bianco closed down in 1979 however the firm’s founder by no means uninterested in constructing uncommon automobiles, as late as 2018 he was nonetheless at it, constructing his personal mid-engined sports activities automobile in his storage on the age of 86.
The Bianco S
The Bianco S is a two-door, rear-engined sports activities automobile primarily based on the 1600cc Beetle chassis. It retains the suspension, brakes, engine, steering, and transmission from the VW, coupling it with a brand new fiberglass physique with some extra metal reinforcement on the sides and entrance for security.
If these uncommon quad headlights look acquainted to you it might be as a result of they had been sourced from the Volkswagen Variant, and so they’re the identical headlights utilized by the Volkswagen SP2 – one other locally-built Brazilian sports activities automobile.
The inside of the Bianco S is well-appointed by the requirements of the day, it has carpeting, laminated security glass, black vinyl upholstery, and a customized dashboard.
The match and end of the Bianco S is sweet, definitely by the requirements of a VW-based sports activities automobile within the Nineteen Seventies. It has twin bucket seats, a carpeted inside with vinyl upholstery, a laminated windscreen, a wood-rimmed steering wheel, and a customized dashboard and fabric.
With its 65 bhp Beetle engine fitted with twin carburetors and it’s 4-speed handbook transmission, the Bianco S is claimed to be able to 0 – 62 mph in 17.7 seconds and a high pace of 91 mph (146 km/h).
These aren’t notably spectacular efficiency figures, nevertheless native Brazilian tuning garages have considerably improved the efficiency of those automobiles over time.
On the peak of manufacturing it’s stated that 20+ had been being constructed every week, a big quantity for such a small producer. By the top of manufacturing 320 had been made, it’s not identified precisely what number of have survived however they’re now a preferred and collectible automobile in Brazil, elsewhere on the planet they continue to be largely unknown.
It’s not identified what number of of those have survived, this automobile is one in every of simply three identified to reside in France.
The 1978 Bianco S Proven Right here
The automobile you see here’s a Bianco S from 1978, the penultimate 12 months of producing. It initially belonged to a collector in São Paulo who fortuitously met Toni Bianco at a rally, Bianco was variety sufficient to signal the automobile and it retains this signature immediately.
The automobile is completed in white and it has a black vinyl inside, this automobile is fitted with the 1600cc flat-four as you’ll anticipate, with the matching four-speed transmission.
It’s now believed to be simply one in every of three examples in France, and it’s because of roll throughout the public sale block with Artcurial on the Le Mans Traditional sale on the 2nd of July. The value information is $36,900 – $47,500 USD and you’ll be able to go to the itemizing right here.
The styling of the Bianco S proved standard in Brazil, it’s been stated that at one level on the peak of the corporate’s recognition they had been making 20 or extra of those every week.
Photographs courtesy of Artcurial — ©Daniel Denis
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