“Ravishingly Beautiful” —The Story of a Little Company Called Siata

Long, long ago (50 years) in a city far, far away (Butte, Montana), I bought a racecar from Evel Knievel’s father. Bob Knievel was an amateur racer and car dealer. He dealt mostly in used cars, but he had one line of new cars, Siata. The only car Siata was building at the time was the “Spring.” At first, I thought it was a kit built on a Volkswagen chassis, but it was, in fact, based on a Fiat 850. It was no kit, but a factory built automobile which, I found out later, was very popular in Europe. I was young and there to buy a Lotus 11, and so I thought the car and the company that built it were not worthy of my attention. As I matured (which really means got old), I learned much more about that little Italian company and have come to develop a healthy respect for what Giorgio and Renato Ambrosini accomplished with Siata.

Societá Italiana Applicazione Transformazione Autobilistiche (SIATA)