Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano

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Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano, snc

logo
legal form Società in nome collettivo
founding 1962
resolution 1966
Reason for dissolution Termination of the articles of association by a partner
Seat Turin , Italy
management Pietro Sibona, Elio Basano and Emilio Basano
Number of employees 20 (1963)
Branch Body construction, automobile design, automobile manufacture, metal and plastic processing

The Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano, snc , shortly Sibona-Basano , is a former Italian companies for car body and car design .

The seat of the company was in Turin , the main people were Pietro Sibona and the brothers Elio and Emilio Basano. The company, which worked mainly in the artisanal style, rose to become an automobile manufacturer in 1963 when it produced and sold the Decathlon open beach car , which it had designed itself, individually.

An Abarth Simca 1300 GT (Series 2 / Longnose) with a light metal body by Sibona-Basano from 1965/66

The company only existed from 1962 to 1966 and was characterized by an unusually wide range of models, from the design and concept study of a city ​​car to high-performance sports cars . Some superstructures showed unusually designed details and were already made of plastic ; The Turin-based company was a pioneer in plastics processing - at least in the Italian automotive industry . Another feature was the collaboration with various well-known designers from different countries.

Automobiles with bodies by Sibona-Basano often attracted extraordinary attention in newspapers and specialist magazines as well as at contemporary automobile exhibitions , especially in Italy, the Federal Republic of Germany , France and the United States of America . Automobiles dressed by Sibona-Basano have repeatedly achieved sales prices in the six-digit dollar and euro range since 2010 .

A Fiat Abarth 1000 Bialbero (Longnose) with a light alloy body by Sibona-Basano from 1963 to 1966 and slightly smaller than the Abarth Simca .

overview

Sibona-Basano is one of the lesser-known Italian companies for body construction and automotive design and was comparatively short-lived with a lifespan of less than five years. It was founded at a time when many large-scale manufacturers of automobiles were converting their production and several long-established coachbuilders gave up their operations. The change from chassis with separately mounted bodies to self-supporting structures made the design and construction of independent body variants and small series production in general more difficult .

A special feature of Sibona-Basano was the unusually wide range of vehicle bodies. In less than five years, the company produced no fewer than 17 different bodies, including the two versions of the Decathlon beach wagon . It used an unusually large variety of original vehicles with floor assemblies from Abarth , AC Cars , Bizzarrini , Fiat , Ghia , Glas , NSU , Simca and Studebaker .

From 1965 to 1967 , Abarth won the Sports Car World Championship in Division I (up to 1300 cm³ displacement) three times in a row with racing sports cars bodyed by Sibona-Basano . In addition, there was class victory at the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1967 .

Designers repeatedly praised the collaboration with Pietro Sibona and the Basano brothers. The American designer Brooks Stevens , who was under very strong cost pressure at Studebaker in the early 1960s , described the collaboration with Sibona-Basano as follows:

“Fortunately, I discovered the small body shop in Turin called Sibona-Basano. I went in and there was laundry on the line and chickens running around. I got the two little guys out and filled them with Camparis . We got them good prices - $ 16,500 per car - an incredibly low price. Even better, the finished vehicles were worthy of a Pininfarina . "

Stevens called them "jewel-like" and recalled that Sherwood H. Egbert (the general manager of Studebaker ) was very pleased with them. Brooks Stevens “wholeheartedly recommended” the Turin company when Virgil M. Exner sen. and jun. were looking for an inexpensive company to build the Mercer-Cobra . Virgil Exner jun. said of the cooperation with Sibona-Basano : "It was wonderful to work with you on it."

During the prehistory of the company, as well as in its beginnings and at the end, there were connections to the large Turin bodywork company Ghia under the leadership of Luigi Segre and OSI with Sergio Sartorelli .

Connections existed during the existence

  • to the Italian sports car manufacturer Abarth through its founder Carlo Abarth ,
  • to the American automobile manufacturer Studebaker via the designer Brooks Stevens,
  • to the American designer Virgil M. Exner sen. and Virgil M. Exner jun.,
  • via the Italian designer Pio Manzù to the Autonova team, which was created in the Federal Republic of Germany, led by the German motor journalist Fritz B. Busch and
  • to the Italian sports car manufacturer Bizzarrini via the design house Stile Italia .

Among the Italian car company that was Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano one of the first, in addition to the then typical materials from light metal or steel sheet already fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) used to prepare large body parts with low weight. The driving force here was that of the Basano brothers, who was responsible for the design. One of the first projects with this material concerned the upper deck structure of a double-decker bus with a Berliet chassis. In 1963 Sibona-Basano produced cabins for funiculars in series from the same material . Besides vehicle parts made Sibona-Basano and large roof - elements of GRP ago, especially two hundred pieces, which temporarily part of the marketplace at the Porta Palazzo was covered in Turin. Each element measured 350 × 350 × 60 centimeters and formed a pyramid roof . Eighty elements were transparent, the rest were colored through. The area that could be covered with it was almost half a football pitch.

History and foundation of the company

The vast majority of the sources treat the history of the Turin-based company Sibona-Basano only in passing. At the center of these sources are mostly other body construction companies such as OSI or Ghia , individual designers such as Brooks Stevens or Virgil Exner sen. or certain automobile models from Abarth , Studebaker or the Mercer-Cobra . For the first time in 2015, an automobile historian, the Italian Elvio Deganello, placed the Sibona-Basano company at the center of a publication. However, his results deviate considerably from the previous state of knowledge in several points, such as the position of Elio Basano in the company, the first name of his brother and the history of the company.

The state of knowledge according to the vast majority of sources

As early as 1960, the two young brothers Elio and Emilio Basano had set up a small workshop in Turin to build prototype vehicles. It was close to the Carrozzeria Ghia and the still young company OSI , which were closely linked economically and enjoyed a good reputation in the fields of body design, body construction and the production of individual and small-series automobiles. The Basano brothers worked together as self-employed, independent entrepreneurs in a craft style on various Ghia and OSI projects.

At that time Pietro Sibona was working as a master for metalworking and processing at Ghia . In 1962 he left the company and became the main partner of the Basano brothers. Together they founded the company Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano, snc in Turin with business premises in Via Eritrea, 23 . As a legal form they used the Società in nome collettivo , which in Germany corresponds to the open trading company (oHG), in Austria the open company (OG) and in Switzerland the general partnership , each with the personal liability of all partners .

More recent, differing research results

A Renault Floride : Sibona and Basano were working as independent subcontractors on a prototype of this model for Pietro Frua around 1958.
A Simca 1000 : work on prototypes of this model led to a temporary move from Sibona and Basano from Turin to Paris around 1959.

In a publication from 2015, the textbook author Deganello does not refer to Elio Basano as a co-founder and owner, but “only” as the employed office manager of Sibona-Basano, in contrast to the vast majority of the descriptions . Even before that, two internet sources besides Sibona had indicated only one - unspecified - man named Basano or only Emilio Basano as co-founder and owner of the company.

In addition, in his publication from 2015 Deganello mentions the name Walter Basano instead of Emilio Basano for the first time, and the date of birth September 8, 1933 in Turin. According to this, Walter and Elio Basano are the nephews of the vehicle designer and body builder Alfredo Vignale . At Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano , Walter Basano dealt with the technical and creative tasks in a leading position.

Walter Basano learned how to shape sheet metal from the vehicle designer and body builder Battista "Pinin" Farina and then learned how to draw and design automobile bodies. In 1956 he got there despite its reputation after several years of service, the termination when his joining a prestigious than extreme left union became known. He then moved to Carrozzeria Boano , where he first met the then 31-year-old Pietro Sibona. When Sibona later resigned due to differences of opinion with the owner's son, Basano followed him out of solidarity.

After Deganello, Sibona and Basano began their first independent collaboration not until the early 1960s, but around 1958. In a garage on Corso Francia in Turin, around 1958/59 they worked for Pietro Frua on a prototype body for the Renault Floride . This was followed by the move to a larger workshop in Via Eritrea, 21–23, and around 1959/60 work on a forerunner of the Simca 1000 ; Fiat had started the design as project 122 , but then handed it over to the French company, which at the time was still majority owned by Fiat, at the request of chief engineer Dante Giacosa .

At the request of Simca -Führungskraft Luchino Revelli de Beaumont , an Italian, the staff of the Turin workshop in the changed Centro Stile Simca to Paris to continue there on the prototype of the Simca 1000 to work. In Paris, however, there were tensions with the mostly French permanent staff, so that the Italians returned to Turin in 1960 on Via Eritrea . In 1960/61, preparatory models for the Selene II styling study were produced there on behalf of Carrozzeria Ghia and several special coupé bodies based on the Alfa Romeo 2000 for Carrozzeria Vignale . In addition, the small workshop in Deganello came into contact with the sports car manufacturer Abarth for the first time at this point and took over the construction of bodies for the 1000 Bialbero and Monomille models in an edition of two to three copies per week as a subcontractor . In addition, the body of the Chevrolet Corvette Kelly-Vignale was created in the workshop on behalf of Carrozzeria Vignale , which was designed by the American designer Gordon Kelly , an employee of the Brooks Stevens design house.

chronology

1962 - The beginning of the Società

One of the first jobs with the establishment as unincorporated issued society in 1962, came from Ghia and related to the implementation of a highly unusual design of the designer Virgil Exner M. jun. The three-wheel experimental vehicle with a single front wheel was similar to the later vehicles for land speed records ; its rocket-like fuselage was connected to the rear wheels by short “ wings ”, the panels of which are reminiscent of the vertical stabilizers of aircraft . The design is sometimes described as "wild".

Luigi "Gigi" Segre, the Ghia boss at the time, initially saw this as a suitable successor to the design study Ghia Selene II , which was designed from 1960, built with the help of Sibona and Basano and presented in 1962 , which had caused a sensation with its futuristic design. However, Ghia gave up the project early when the Italian press described the concept as too radical.

The designation Ghia Selene III is occasionally used for this styling study .

1963 - Contract manufacturing and self-designed vehicles

The Studebaker Wagonaire , the starting model for the Studebaker Lark Skyview study designed by Stevens in 1963 and built by Sibona-Basano ; Both have the characteristic "sliding roof" designed by Stevens earlier over the loading area for particularly high loads.
The Studebaker Scepter , the study built by Sibona-Basano in 1963/64 , which the designer Brooks Stevens had designed for the 1966 model year.
The equally independent and idiosyncratic front of the Studebaker Scepter built at Sibona-Basano .
At the end of 1963, Ferruccio Lamborghini and Sibona-Basano negotiated a small series production of the Lamborghini 350 GTV , before the former decided on a revision of the model and the coachbuilder Touring .

Sibona-Basano was also working on building up its own customer base. From 1963 onwards, the company continuously produced bodies for the Turin sports car manufacturer Abarth & C. in small series.

From 1963 onwards, Sibona-Basano manufactured the light metal bodies for the road and racing versions of the expensive, exclusive Fiat Abarth Monomille GT , which debuted in this form at the 1963 Geneva International Motor Show . Around the same time, the further developed bodies of the Fiat Abarth 1000 Bialbero racing coupé, which was based on this, were added. The original shape came from Zagato , where the bodies of the Abarth coupés were initially built. Mario Colucci , the Technical Director of Abarth , had revised the shape several times in the following years , including with the help of Sibona-Basano for the 1963 model year. With these models, Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano replaced the little-known Carrozzeria Beccaris as a permanent Abarth partner from. Because of the longer front and the more pointed rear, brand lovers sometimes use additional terms such as “Longnose” or “Duck Tail” / “Coda d'Anatra” for vehicles with Sibona-Basano bodies.

From 1963 onwards, Sibona-Basano was regularly represented as a design and body construction company at major international automobile exhibitions, partly with vehicles based on its own designs, and partly with vehicles from well-known designers. At that time the company had 20 employees, including body builders , model builders , sheet metal formers, restorers , vehicle preparation staff , electroplating technicians and administrative staff.

The company made its debut in 1963 with its own stand in its hometown at the 45th Salone Internazionale dell'Auto di Torino . The models Simca Cerbiatto and Simca Mistral 1500 were shown . The former was a two-seater Spider which , in addition to a thin fabric top, could also be equipped with a removable, color-contrasting hard top ; it was based on the shortened rear engine floor assembly of the Simca 1000 . The latter was a 2 + 2-seater convertible with components of the middle class model modeling Simca 1300/1500 with front engine .

The criticism of the vehicles designed by Sibona-Basano turned out to be ambivalent: Although the "beautiful basic shape" of the former was praised, some details were rated as "gags". The latter was also certified to be "generally attractive", but "its lines" were "unfortunately spoiled by an unnecessarily overloaded front."

It is unclear whether both models were built in collaboration with Abarth or solely on their own account. It is also unclear whether Sibona-Basano built other individual pieces of both models in addition to the exhibition vehicles, possibly how many. According to one source, only one copy of the Cerbiatto was made . According to another source, Georges Hérel, the president of the company Simca , which has since become part of Chrysler, examined the two open vehicles at the Turin exhibition stand; but ultimately it did not come to take over the models, partly because Herel the Abarth - Exhaust disturbed and the two companies have now ended their cooperation.

The Lamborghini 350 GTV was also presented at the Turin exhibition. This was followed by negotiations between Ferruccio Lamborghini and Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano to manufacture the bodies for a small series of the sports car there. However, there was no production, as Lamborghini decided to revise the model and subsequently series production by Carrozzeria Touring .

Instead, Sibona-Basano worked intensively with the American designer Brooks Stevens and the American automobile manufacturer Studebaker in 1963 and 1964 . For the financially troubled US company, Stevens had designed several passenger cars as an outlook on the model years 1964 to 1966. With the comparatively low budget of 50,000  US dollars , Sibona-Basano produced three prototypes on behalf of Stevens. Created in detail

  • the four-door Studebaker Lark Skyview station wagon , in which the rear part of the sheet metal roof could be pushed forward to transport bulky objects such as a sunroof ,
  • the four-door hardtop sedan Studebaker Lark Cruiser with so-called " suicide doors " at the rear, whereby all doors could be exchanged crosswise according to the principle of the same parts , and
  • the five-seater hardtop Coupé Studebaker Scepter with two doors and groundbreaking modern design features.

Stevens had turned to Sibona-Basano on a recommendation from his colleague Gordon Kelly after he had examined the Chevrolet Corvette Kelly-Vignale body there.

From 1963 onwards, Sibona-Basano also manufactured the open, four-seater Fiat 500 Decathlon beach car individually . Specificity of the self-designed model was the partial idiosyncratic shaped body made of glass fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) based on the Fiat 500 D . His “idiosyncratic body style” was sometimes criticized in the press. Sibona-Basano thus competed against comparable models such as the Ghia Jolly and the Savio models Jungla , Albarella and Spiaggina . It is not known how many Decathlon vehicles were built in the period that followed.

In addition, Sibona-Basano created the Tsé-Tsé prototype of an extremely compact two-seater city car in 1963/64 . Features were again the rear engine of the Fiat 500 D and a body made of GRP. A special feature of the company's own design was the entry hood that could be opened to the front and hung on both sides.

1964 - Increased international cooperation

A Mercer Type 35 Raceabout , here in 1913, conceptually and stylistically the model for the father and son Exner designed and 1964 by Sibona-Basano built Mercer Cobra .
From mid-1964 onwards, Sibona-Basano manufactured lightweight roofs made of GRP with aerodynamically favorable tear-off edges for the Fiat Abarth 595 and 695 models .

In 1964, on the recommendation of Stevens, the American designer Virgil Exner senior collaborated. and jun. with Sibona-Basano . They designed the Mercer-Cobra , an extravagant open sports car in neoclassical style. The two-seat, two-door model was a tribute to the former US automobile brand Mercer , which had been abandoned in its original form in 1925. Conceptually and in numerous details, it was intended to be reminiscent of the Mercer Type 35 Raceabout from 1911, in particular with numerous decorative elements in different copper and brass tones . The project was part of a first series of so-called "Revival Cars" with which Exner sen. and jun. wanted to pay tribute to lost automobile brands, in addition to Mercer also Duesenberg , Packard and Stutz .

Father and son Exner found a sponsor to realize the Mercer-Cobra as a drivable one-off piece in the American company Copper Development Association, Inc. from New York , which wanted to use the vehicle with the eye-catching decorative elements as an advertising and image carrier To offer alternatives to the increasingly widespread chrome trim .

The Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano put the Exner drawings as desired at a significantly prolonged AC Cobra -Fahrgestell with the associated Ford - V - 8 - Motor order. Father and son Exner consciously opted for the cheaper offer from Sibona-Basano and against the more expensive offer from Carrozzeria Ghia , with whom they had already worked repeatedly in the past. According to another source, father and son Exner decided against the Ghia company because it ran into financial difficulties after Luigi Segre's death and was confronted with consultants such as Exner jun. temporarily stopped paying due fees.

The finished vehicle debuted in October 1964 the state of the French Ford - branch at Motor Show in Paris . In November Sibona-Basano exhibited it with two other creations at its own stand at the Turin Motor Show. Regularly for almost ten years which served Mercer Cobra the Copper Development Association exciting show car worldwide attention on many major automobile exhibitions.

The two other exhibits on the stand of the Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano in Turin in 1964 were the Fiat 500 Decathlon beach car , which was already manufactured individually, and the Tsé-Tsé prototype city car .

As early as mid-1964, Sibona-Basano was producing lightweight roofs made of GRP for the Fiat Abarth 595 and 695 models . they were installed instead of the fabric sliding roofs at an additional cost. In addition to a weight advantage, they improved the aerodynamics through tear-off edges at the rear.

In 1964, Sibona-Basano began a brief, intensive collaboration with the Italian product designer Pio Manzù and the Autonova team established in the Federal Republic of Germany . In addition to Manzù, the German product designer Michael Conrad , like Manzù, a graduate of the prestigious Ulm School of Design , as well as the automotive critical motor journalist Fritz B. Busch were behind the project .

First started Sibona-Basano 1964 with the work on the prototype NSU Auto Nova GT , a modernly designed Hatchback - Coupe with several innovations. It was based on the rear-engine floor pan of the NSU Prinz 1000 TT , which was still in development, with the 1.1-liter in- line engine of the new NSU Type 110 with four cylinders and 55  HP / 40  kW . NSU provided the essential mechanical components and also assumed the costs of manufacturing the body. The Autonova team received further support from the automotive suppliers Recaro , VDO , Veith-Pirelli and Boge .

1965 - Closer contacts to Germany and construction of an early minivan

The Autonova Fam MPV from 1965, one of the first minivans designed by the German team Autonova , built at Sibona-Basano .
An Abarth Simca 2000 GT , here the “Shortnose” version by Beccaris (1964); In the side profile, the longer “duck tail” can be seen well, as shown in the vehicles clad at Sibona-Basano .
The longer rear with a spoiler lip corresponded to the latest aerodynamic findings; the greater contact pressure at higher speeds allowed faster cornering.

Then in 1965, work began on the second Autonova model, the seminal MPV Autonova Fam , one of the first minivans . A variable interior design and a horizontally split tailgate were characteristic . Unusual details were a semi-automatic gearbox with electro-hydraulic switching device, a load-independent level control and an extremely progressive steering that reduced the steering movement from lock to lock to just 280 °. Other special features were the trapezoid two-spoke steering wheel , which also carried all switches including hand throttle , and the clear dashboard with just a single instrument cluster .

The front-engine and rear-wheel drive design was still conventional . The 1.3-liter in-line four-cylinder engine with an output of 60 hp / 44 kW came from the Glas 1304, which was under development . The tire manufacturer Veith-Pirelli took over the costs of building the body .

The two Autonova vehicles built by Sibona-Basano celebrated their widely acclaimed premiere at the 1965 International Motor Show in Frankfurt am Main ; the GT was presented at the NSU stand , the Fam at Veith-Pirelli . Despite many positive reviews, one of the models ultimately did not go into series production: NSU set its priorities on the Ro 80 sedan with a rotary engine and Hans Glas GmbH ran into financial difficulties, which shortly afterwards led to the takeover by BMW .

At its own stand in Frankfurt , Sibona-Basano presented the three models that had already been shown in Turin the year before.

After Fiat replaced the 500 D with the revised 500 F model in 1965, Sibona-Basano took this as an opportunity to give the Decathlon beach car a look. In addition to the modernized technology, it received a modified trunk lid at the front, a more rounded windshield with an adapted frame and smooth flanks; the rear wheel cutouts were now also round and exhibited, the rear smoother and provided with the original taillights of the original model .

At the same time, the collaboration between Sibona-Basano and Abarth underwent various changes:

  • In the course of the year, the body production for the Fiat Abarth Monomille GT ended when it was discontinued . How many vehicles of this model were built with a body by Sibona-Basano is unclear. Estimates assume only two-digit production figures, which explains the low number of vehicles of this model available today.
  • A new addition was the production of light metal bodies for the Abarth Simca 2000 GT Series II (Longnose) racing car , which was also available with smaller four-cylinder engines with a capacity of 1,300 and 1,600 cubic centimeters if required .
  • From May 1965 Sibona-Basano also manufactured the plastic bodies of the new Abarth 1300OT Coupé racing car from GRP material, mostly in the Periscopio Coupé version with a characteristic, periscope-like fresh air supply; Larger four-cylinder 1.6-liter and 2.0-liter engines than the 1600OT and 2000OT were also available if required .

1966 - last body shop orders

A Bizzarrini 5300 Spyder SI ; Sibona-Basano developed this open version in 1966 as a partner of the design house Stile Italia and built the first two of only three copies.

In March 1966, the production of plastic bodies for the Abarth 1300OT already ended, although the completion and sale of the vehicles by Abarth continued until at least 1967. From today's perspective, it seems questionable whether the 50 copies required for homologation purposes were actually all completed in the following months.

In the further course of the year, with the discontinuation of the relevant models by Abarth , the production of the light metal bodies for the Fiat Abarth 1000 Bialbero and the Abarth Simca 1300 GT / 2000 GT Series II ended at Sibona-Basano . How many vehicles of these two models were built with a body by Sibona-Basano is also unclear. Estimates here also assume only double-digit production figures.

This ended the successful collaboration between Abarth and Sibona-Basano , which was crowned at the end of 1965 by winning the Sports Car World Championship in Division I (up to 1300 cm³ displacement); the success was repeated at the end of 1966 and 1967 without it being able to pay off for Sibona-Basano .

For this, the Turin-based company came into contact with the Italian sports car manufacturer Bizzarrini in 1966 . Giotto Bizzarrini originally planned to produce one hundred open Spyder in addition to the GT 5300 sports coupé . A first Spyder prototype with a removable targa bar was too twisty, so the concept for the "series vehicles" was revised. Bizzarrini had placed the order for the development and construction of the Spyder with Stile Italia , which however had essential development and metal work carried out by its cooperation partner, Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano . According to some sources, the completion of the cars was done by the Turin-based specialist Carbondio .

The work was ultimately very complex and Bizzarrini lacked the necessary capital for series production of the open variant. In fact, only three copies of the 5300 Spyder SI were made , two of them with bodies from Sibona-Basano :

  • the first series Spyder with the chassis number BA4 108 in red, which also received a specially modified interior and was delivered to the USA in 1967, and
  • The original Spyder prototype in silver, converted into the 5300 Spyder SI , which was subsequently given the chassis number IA3 0245 and which remained the property of the sports car manufacturer Bizzarrini until the end of 1969 .

The end of the company

The company Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano, snc presented its activities towards the end 1966th Pietro Sibona ended the entrepreneurial collaboration with the Basano brothers and accepted OSI's offer to become head of the prototype workshop there. He held this position until November 1967, when OSI gave up its own Centro Stile e Esperienze and Fiat took over many employees in its own design center. Sergio Sartorelli, the last head of design at OSI , described Pietro Sibona in retrospect as the “perfect manager of the prototype workshop”.

According to a source, Sibona-Basano ran into financial difficulties in 1966 after the Abarth contracts ran out and no sufficiently lucrative follow-up contracts could be obtained. Even the own designs did not lead to sufficient income. From the Basano brothers, the person responsible for the design moved to Carrozzeria Vignale as head of department . No further information is available on his further career or that of Elio Basano.

Around 30 of the light metal bodies that Sibona-Basano originally produced for Abarth were in the Fiat plant in Turin in 1968 . It is unclear whether they got there through Carlo Abarth or Pietro Sibona and OSI . Representatives of the British Abarth importer Radbourne Racing discovered them there, bought them up and used them from 1968 as the basis for their own Radbourne Abarth and Radbourne 1300 GT sports car, which were built in twelve copies .

The company logo

The company signature of the Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano

The company signet of Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano shows a broad coat of arms and looks elegant and noble with the restriction to the colors white, black and gold. In the upper area there is the slightly curved lettering "SIBONA-BASANO" in gold-colored letters on a black background. In the center below, in a smaller and shorter field, there is the lettering "TORINO" in gold-colored letters on a white background. The remaining area is divided lengthways: on the left there is a large black "S" on a white background, on the right a large white "B" on a black background. Each field has a thin gold-colored border and the logo as a whole has a wide gold-colored frame.

This signet can be found on most of the bodies built by Sibona-Basano , but not on all; In particular, there is a lack of many Abarth vehicles.

Auction results

An Abarth Simca 2000 GT (Shortnose) , the forerunner of the Sibona-Basano- built “Longnose” variant, fetched £ 219,900 at auction in 2014.

At an auction in Monterey , California , the scoring of Sibona-Basano karossierte Mercer Cobra -Einzelstück 2011 a sales price of $ 660,000.

In September 2014, a 1967 Abarth 1300OT Periscopio Coupe with a body made by Abarth / Sibona-Basano was auctioned in Goodwood , UK for £ 214,300.

No current quotations are available for the Abarth Simca 2000 GT Series II (Longnose) with a body from Sibona-Basano , but the "Shortnose" models with a body from Beccaris provided clues : In September 2014, such a model, again at the auction in Goodwood, a retail price of £ 219,900.

In February 2015 a Fiat Abarth 1000 Bialbero Long-Nose "World Champion" Competition Coupe from 1964 with a body by Sibona-Basano was auctioned in Paris for € 161,000.

Miniature models

Several of the vehicles bodied by Sibona-Basano are or were available on a reduced scale as collector's models. In Renwal the complete published as part of "Revival-Car" series, a model kit of Mercer Cobra from plastic in 1: 25 before construction of the original vehicle. In 2011, the model construction specialist Spark produced a model car series limited to one hundred sets with all three Bizzarrini 5300 Spyder SIs in a 1:43 scale. Also of Spark originate different, originally by Sibona-Basano karossierte Abarth models in scale 1: 43, including the Fiat Abarth 1000 Bialbero 1963, the Abarth Simca 1300 GT from 1965 and the Abarth 1300OT of the 1966th

Overview of the automobiles and bodies built by Sibona-Basano

  • 1962: Design study based on a draft by Virgil Exner jun. for the coachbuilder Ghia , rocket-like experimental vehicle with a single front wheel in the style of the later vehicles for land speed records;
  • from 1963: Fiat Abarth Monomille GT (street and racing versions , until 1965) and Fiat Abarth 1000 Bialbero (racing coupé , until 1966); Construction of the light metal bodies on behalf of Carlo Abarth based on designs by Mario Colucci;
  • 1963: Simca Cerbiatto , a two-seater Spider, optionally with a hardtop, based on a shortened floor pan of the Simca 1000 based on an own design;
  • 1963: Simca Mistral 1500 , a 2 + 2-seater convertible with components from the Simca 1300/1500 based on a proprietary design;
  • 1963/64: three prototypes for Studebaker based on designs by Brooks Stevens as a preview of the model years 1964 to 1966: Studebaker Lark Skyview , a four-door station wagon; Studebaker Lark Cruiser , a four-door sedan; Studebaker Scepter , a five-seat hardtop coupe;
  • from 1963: Fiat 500 Decathlon , one-off production of an open, four-seater beach wagon with plastic body based on the Fiat 500 D according to an own design;
  • 1963/64: Tsé-Tsé , prototype of a two-seater city car with a rear-mounted engine from the Fiat 500 D , plastic body and an entrance hood that can be opened to the front based on an own design;
  • 1964: Mercer-Cobra based on a design by Virgil M. Exner sen. und jun., drivable single piece of an open, two-seater sports car in neoclassical style as homage to the Mercer Type 35 Raceabout from 1911 based on an extended AC-Cobra chassis on behalf of the US-American Copper Development Association, Inc. with numerous decorative elements in different Copper and brass tones;
  • 1964/65: NSU Autonova GT , a 2 + 2-seater coupé on the floor pan of an NSU 1000 TT with the engine of an NSU Type 110 based on a design by the Autonova team (Pio Manzù, Michael Conrad, Fritz B. Busch);
  • 1965: Autonova Fam , a five-seat MPV with four doors and a tailgate with components from Glas 1304 and a semi-automatic transmission, also based on a design by the Autonova team (Pio Manzù, Michael Conrad, Fritz B. Busch);
  • from 1965: Fiat 500 Decathlon , individual production of the revised beach wagon (until 1966), now based on the modernized Fiat 500 F ;
  • from 1965: body shop for several Abarth racing cars, namely the light metal bodies of the Abarth Simca 1300 GT / 2000 GT Series II (Longnose) (until 1966) and the plastic bodies of the Abarth 1300OT Periscopio Coupé (until 1966, allegedly 50 copies);
  • 1966: Bizzarrini 5300 Spyder SI , development and construction of the light metal bodies for two of the total of three open two-seater sports cars on behalf of Giotto Bizzarrini and Stile Italia .

literature

  • Elvio Deganello, in: Auto Italia (magazine), issue 227 (January 2015), “Italian Coachbuilders - Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano ”, p. 50 to 54, background report on the company with various pictures (English), available on the porschecarshistory web portal . com .
  • Roger Gloor: All cars from the 1960s . 1st edition. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-613-02649-0 , p. 396 .

Web links

Commons : Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Detailed information on the company Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano with pictures on the web portal osi20mts.com , accessed on January 16, 2016 (English).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Overview of the vehicles bodyworked by the Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano with pictures on the oldtimer.400.pl web portal , accessed on January 16, 2016 (English / Polish).
  3. ↑ a b c d e The Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano with pictures of two different versions of the Decathlon beach wagon on the fiat500.ch web portal , accessed on January 16, 2016.
  4. ↑ a b The Abarth 1300OT with body by Sibona-Basano on the web portal supercars.net , accessed on January 16, 2016 (English).
  5. ↑ Overview of the brand world championship titles of the sports car world championship on the web portal wspr-racing.com ( memento from June 6, 2011 in the web archive archive.today ), accessed on March 4, 2016 (English).
  6. ↑ a b Quotations and reviews reproduced using the web portal osi20mts.com , accessed on January 16, 2016 (English).
  7. ↑ Overview of people related to the companies OSI and Ghia on the web portal osicar.de ( Memento of the original from January 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed January 16, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.osicar.de
  8. ↑ a b c d e Elvio Deganello, in: Auto Italia (magazine), issue 227 (January 2015), "Italian Coachbuilders - Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano ", pp. 50 to 54 (53), background report on Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano ( English), available on the porschecarshistory.com web portal .
  9. ↑ Alessandra Rinaldi, Evoluzione delle materie plastiche nel design per l'edilizia: 1945–1990 , FrancoAngeli srl, Milan, Italy 2014, ISBN 978-88-917075-9-8 , p. 77 (Italian).
  10. ↑ a b c Overview of various beach wagons including the Sibona-Basano Decathlon on the web portal mariothemultipla.wordpress.com , accessed on January 16, 2016 (English).
  11. ↑ a b c d e Report on the Mercer-Cobra built by Sibona-Basano on the web portal gatsbyonline.com , accessed on January 16, 2016 (French / English).
  12. ↑ a b c N. N., in: Simca Revue (magazine), club magazine of the Simca-Heckmotor-IG. Edition 01/2015, “Individual pieces - prototypes, prototypes, special bodies based on Simca ”, pp. 21 to 24 (22/23), available on the simcabelgium.be web portal .
  13. ↑ a b c d Elvio Deganello, in: Auto Italia (magazine), issue 227 (January 2015), "Italian Coachbuilders - Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano ", pp. 50 to 54 (50), background report on Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano (English ), available on the porschecarshistory.com web portal .
  14. ↑ The Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano on the web portal Wheels of Italy ( Memento of the original from January 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on January 16, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / woiweb.com
  15. ↑ a b Elvio Deganello, in: Auto Italia (magazine), issue 227 (January 2015), "Italian Coachbuilders - Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano ", pp. 50 to 54 (51), background report on Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano (English), available on the porschecarshistory.com web portal .
  16. ↑ forum relating to various in Sibona-Basano vehicles built on the web portal coachbuild.com (English) , accessed on February 9, 2016th
  17. ↑ List of three-wheeled motor vehicles on the web portal quillerprint.co.uk (English) , accessed on February 9, 2016.
  18. ↑ a b c Comprehensive presentation of the Fiat Abarth Monomille with pictures on the web portal abarth-germany.de , accessed on January 16, 2016.
  19. ↑ Background information and pictures of the Fiat Abarth Monomille GT dressed by Sibona-Basano on the finecars.cc web portal , accessed on January 16, 2016 (English).
  20. ↑ Background and pictures of the Fiat Abarth 1000 Bialbero dressed by Sibona-Basano on the web portal bernimotori.com , accessed on January 16, 2016 (English / Italian).
  21. ↑ a b c Backgrounds and pictures of the Fiat Abarth 1000 Bialbero dressed by Sibona-Basano on the web portal fantasyjunction.com , accessed on January 16, 2016 (English).
  22. ↑ Background and pictures of the Fiat Abarth 1000 Bialbero dressed by Sibona-Basano on the web portal cochesmiticos.com , accessed on January 16, 2016 (Spanish).
  23. ↑ Elvio Deganello, in: Auto Italia (magazine), issue 227 (January 2015), "Italian Coachbuilders - Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano ", pp. 50 to 54 (52), background report on Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano (English), available at the web portal porschecarshistory.com .
  24. ↑ a b c d Roger Gloor: All cars of the 60s. 1st edition. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-613-02649-0 , p. 396.
  25. ^ NN, in: Automobile Year (magazine), Edita, 1963, p. 106 (English): "Generally attractive the new model's lines were unfortunately marred by a fussy front-end."
  26. ↑ The Simca Cerbiatto built by Sibona-Basano on the web portal autolexikon-thyssen.de , accessed on January 20, 2016.
  27. ^ Asa E. Hall, Richard M. Langworth: The Studebaker Century: A National Heritage . Dragonwyck Publishing Inc., Contoocook, New Hampshire, United States 1983, ISBN 978-0-9606148-1-3 , p. 387 (English).
  28. ↑ Comprehensive report on the Studebaker prototypes built at Sibona-Basano on the web portal howstuffworks.com , accessed on January 16, 2016 (English).
  29. ↑ Daniel Strohl, in: Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car (magazine), "Coachbuilt Cars - The Scepter , the Cruiser , and Brooks Stevens's radical plan to save Studebaker ", March 16, 2016, comprehensive report on Brooks Stevens' last vehicle designs for Studebaker including the prototypes built at Sibona-Basano , online version , accessed on March 21, 2016 (English)
  30. ↑ a b c Report on the Mercer-Cobra built by Sibona-Basano on the web portal howstuffworks.com , accessed on January 16, 2016 (English).
  31. ↑ a b c Report on the Mercer-Cobra built by Sibona-Basano on the coachbuild.com web portal , accessed on January 16, 2016 (English).
  32. ↑ Peter Grist: Virgil Exner: Visioneer: The official biography of Virgil M. Exner, designer extraordinaire . 2nd Edition. Veloce Publishing Limited, Dorchester, Dorset, United Kingdom 2014, ISBN 978-1-84584-863-7 , p. 140 (English).
  33. ^ N. N., in: Der Spiegel (magazine), " Team Autonova - Schielen nach Schönem", September 22, 1965, background report on the Autonova team and the two Autonova prototypes built by Sibona-Basano , online version on the Spiegel web portal . de , accessed on January 16, 2016.
  34. ↑ The NSU Autonova GT built by Sibona-Basano with numerous images on the carstyling.ru web portal , accessed on January 16, 2016 (English).
  35. ↑ The NSU Autonova GT built by Sibona-Basano on the web portal Gege-nsu.de , accessed on January 16, 2016.
  36. ↑ a b The Autonova Fam built by Sibona-Basano with numerous images on the web portal carstyling.ru , accessed on January 16, 2016 (English).
  37. ↑ a b c The Autonova Fam built by Sibona-Basano on the web portal glasclub.org , accessed on January 16, 2016.
  38. ↑ illumination of Sibona-Basano tsetse at the IAA in Frankfurt 1965 (with folded forward entry hood; on the left side in the gate: the Sibona-Basano Decathlon ; provided at the right edge of the image in the gate Mercer Cobra ) on the web portal zwischengas.com retrieved on January 16, 2016.
  39. ↑ a b The by Sibona-Basano karossierte Abarth Simca 2000 GT Series 2 (Longnose) on the web portal oldtimer.400.pl , accessed on 16 January 2016 (English / Polish).
  40. ↑ a b c Auction catalog of the Bonhams auction house for the Abarth 1300OT Periscopio Coupé with body by Abarth / Sibona-Basano from the former Maranello Rosso Collection automobile collection , auctioned on September 13, 2014 in Goodwood, Chichester, Great Britain on the occasion of the Goodwood Revival , accessed on 16. January 2016 (English).
  41. ^ A b Daniel Strohl, in: Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car (magazine), "Coachbuilt Cars - All three Bizzarrini Spyders , including the prototype, to renunite this summer", June 8, 2015, comprehensive report on the three Bizzarrini 5300 Spyder SI , Online version , accessed on January 16, 2016.
  42. ↑ The history of the Bizzarrini company on the website of long-term employee / partner Salvatore Diomante, diomante.com , accessed on January 16, 2016 (English).
  43. ↑ Alessandro Sannia: Enciclopedia dei carrozzieri italiani , Società Editrice Il Cammello, 2017, ISBN 978-8896796412 , p. 161.
  44. ↑ Elvio Deganello, in: Auto Italia (magazine), issue 227 (January 2015), "Italian Coachbuilders - Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano ", pp. 50 to 54 (54), background report on Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano (English), available at the web portal porschecarshistory.com .
  45. ↑ Steve Hole, A – Z of Kit Cars, The definitive Encyclopaedia of the UK's Kit-Car Industry since 1949 , Haynes Publishing, Sparkford, United Kingdom 2012, ISBN 978-1-84425-677-8 , p. 204 (English) .
  46. ↑ Information on the Radbourne Abarth on the web portal abarth-germany.de , where "approx. 20 unused bodies ” , accessed on January 16, 2016.
  47. ↑ Image of the company logo, for example on the web portal osi20mts.com , accessed on January 16, 2016 (English).
  48. ↑ Auction catalog of the auction house RM Auctions / Sotheby’s for the Mercer-Cobra from the former Lion Family Collection automobile collection , auctioned on August 19 and 20, 2011 in Monterey, California, USA , accessed on January 16, 2016 (English).
  49. ^ Auction catalog of the Bonhams auction house for the Abarth Simca 2000 GT Corsa “Campionissimo Europa Montagna” from the former Maranello Rosso Collection automobile collection on September 13, 2014 in Goodwood, Chichester on the occasion of the Goodwood Revival , accessed on January 16, 2016 (English).
  50. ^ Auction catalog of the Bonhams auction house for the Fiat Abarth 1000 Bialbero Long-Nose “World Champion” Competition Coupe from the former Maranello Rosso Collection automobile collection on February 5, 2015 in Paris, France , accessed on March 4, 2016 (French / English).
  51. ↑ Overview of the kit vehicles from the manufacturer Renwal for the first and second "Revival Car" series on the web portal madle.org , accessed on January 16, 2016 (English).

Remarks

  1. ↑ Sometimes there are also different spellings of the company name, namely the spelling Bassano for the second family name , a separation of the family names by a space or their connection with the & sign, the + sign, the Italian conjunction "e" or the English variant " and “.
  2. ↑ Instead of Emilio Basano, a single source mentions the name Walter Basano with the date of birth September 8, 1933 in Turin: Elvio Deganello, in: Auto Italia (magazine), issue 227 (January 2015), "Italian Coachbuilders - Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano " , P. 50 to 54, background report on the company Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano (English), available on the web portal porschecarshistory.com . The information is worth mentioning insofar as Deganello (born 1946) is considered a leading automotive historian and is the author of various specialist books on several Abarth models and the Abarth automotive brand in general, the Fiat 500 , the automotive designer Pietro Frua and the car company Carrozzeria Scioneri .
  3. ↑ Sometimes also spelling variations of the model name as found tsetse (on the web portal zwischengas.com ) or Ze-Ze (on the web portal allcarindex.com ).