Let's see
what a Siata Roadster is, and why this example is expected to fetch between
£ 25,000 and £35,000 at auction. It was made by Siata, which
stands for Societa Italiana Auto Transformazioni Accessori, an Italian car
tuning shop founded in 1926 by an amateur racing driver called Giorgio
Ambrosini.
Ambrosini's company initially sold performance parts
for vehicles made by Fiat, but after World War II, it began building its own
sports cars, up until the mid 1970s, including the 208 Spider, with a design
typical to the Italian 'Barchettas' of the period.
Its beautiful shape caught the attention of
legendary actor Steve McQueen, who purchased one from an LA-based Siata
importer in the mid-1950s, and according to Bruce Sand, the next owner of the
car, McQueen had replaced the Siata badge with a Ferrari one, and constantly
referred to it as his 'Little Ferrari'.
Listed for their auction on July 29-30 at the
Silverstone track, in UK, by SilverstoneAuctions, the car pictured here
features an aluminum body, crafted to bear a visual similarity to the Siata
Roadsters of the early 1950s, with influences coming from the 208 CS Bertone
Spider Corsa and 300BC Sport Spider.
The Roadster was built using a chassis from a 1950
Fiat, along with its suspension, steering, and brakes, and a 1,100cc engine,
and features a performance manifold, twin-choke Weber carburetor and 4-speed
manual gearbox.
Despite the low quality images, we can see that it
appears to be in perfect condition and it's waiting for its future owner to
take them, and their passenger, on a summer tour, sprinkled with lots of
attention from curious bystanders.
