Edoardo Bianchi (bicycle company) began building a few simple automobiles in 1903. After a re-organization in 1905 they went into serious auto production, and produced bicycles, motorcycles, trucks, and automobiles under the same name until just before WW2.
After the war car production resumed, but on a small scale.
In 1957 the automobile company seperated from the bike company, forming "Autobianchi".
The company was integrated into FIAT in 1968.
ref.The New Encyclopedia of Motorcars 1885 to the Present G.N. Georgano, 1982
Aldo Ross
Middletown, Ohio
>
> spent the first two weeks of the new year in Barcelona;
>
> out driving one day and got behind a fifties or sixties era car-- an
> AutoBianchi, had never seen one before;
>
> a tiny car; guess motor was 500 cc or so but it was really blasting
> down the boulevard;
>
> to make those small motors get you anywhere safely you have to really
> work the gears and keep the rev's way up
>
> and the brakes don't work at all if you have a very heavy passenger
>
> Was wondering is there any connection between the bicycle and
> automobile Bianchi folks?
>
> Michael Murphy
> PO Box 6
> Paige, Texas 78659
> 512 825 2048