The family moved to Adelaide after World War I, and in 1924 he began a fitting and turning apprenticeship with Duncan & Fraser Ltd who specialised in modifying Model T Fords.
[2] The design of the ute was a result of a 1932 letter from an unnamed Victorian farmer's wife asking for "a vehicle to go to church in on a Sunday and which can carry our pigs to market on Mondays".
[3][4] During World War II, Bandt helped to design long-range fuel tanks for Spitfire and Thunderbolt fighter planes.
Bandt was killed on 18 March 1987, while coming home from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation television studios where he had been recording a documentary about the ute.
[5] In 2008, the Lewis Bandt Bridge, which crosses the Moorabool River as part of the Geelong Ring Road, was opened and named in his honour.