Before answering our question, though, let’s see what a Siata Roadster is, and why this example is expected to fetch between £25,000 and £35,000 ($31,862-44,607) 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.
PHOTO GALLERY
