SIATA: a beautiful Italian story 1926-1970

SIATA, or the Italian Society for Auto-Aviator Technical Applications, was a small Italian car manufacturer, founded in Turin by Giorgio Ambrosini in 1926.
Originally it produced parts for cars - in particular Fiat - elaborated on Fiat 522, 524, 514, 508 Balilla mechanics. During the Second World War, Siata - interpreting the needs of mass motorization - decided to design an auxiliary motor for bicycles.
From the ideas of the whimsical engineer Giuseppe Remondini, hte first motor construction of the immediate post-war period "Cucciolo” was born (1945). This project was so successful that Siata, not having the adequate structures to satisfy the request, had to turn to the Ducati motorcycle company which, at the end of 1946, acquired the exclusive "Cucciolo", making it a "must".
After the war, Siata (now Società Italiana Auto Trasformazioni Accessori) produced the Siata Amica cabriolet, with a feminine line, as the name, graceful and elegant, 2-seater, with 500 Fiat Topolino mechanics.
Then the Daina, a convertible model derived from the Fiat 1400, whose prototype was entrusted by the house to Siata and presented at the Paris Motor Show in 1952.
In the same year, Siata participates in the design of the Fiat 8V and builds the 208 Sport based on a design by the famous Turin designer Giovanni.

Michelotti for Bertone; car produced in only 56 specimens; lightweight sports car with aluminum spider body, an Italian jewel, worth two million dollars today, considered by Steve McQueen to be “a little Ferrari”.
The Siata 300 BC, a sporty derivative of the Amica with a Fiat engine, is a very popular barchetta in the United States, with a Crosley engine; he also participated in the Mille Miglia.
Mitzi, a small utility vehicle with a gentle name, was produced from 1953 to 1956, with the simplest, lightest and cheapest undercarriage, twin-cylinder rear engine with side valves of 434 cm3. cub.; however, remained at the prototype stage.

SIATA: a beautiful Italian story 1926-1970

In the second half of the 1950s, the company took the Fiat 600 and the Fiat 1100 as models. Siata Auto in 1959 renewed the company name and 49% of the capital was acquired by Abarth, which planned high-level road cars and racing cars with Fiat mechanics for the brand.
The agreement between the two companies will end in 1960.
At the 1959 Turin Motor Show the 750 both coupé and Spider were presented.
In the 1960s, Siata relaunched models designed by Giovanni Michelotti, the TS coupe' Tipo Sport or Testa Siata, which used Fiat 1300/1500 components, even with a 1600 engine.
In 1967, the Siata Spring Spider was the last masterpiece of the Turin company, which closed down in 1970.
This car is one of the first examples of "retro style", inspired by models from the 1930s and 1940s and the British style. Elegant and light, the open bodywork features a long bonnet/boot with a square profile, with a large false grille on a fake radiator.
Indeed, the engine is behind, rear-wheel drive.
In the 1970s, ORSA (Officine Realzioni Sarde Automobili dei Fratelli Focanti) opens in Sardinia, which takes over the Siata Spring project to relaunch it on the market with around a hundred Orsa 850 Spring units.
In turn, ISO, founded by Renzo Rivolta, acquired the assembly lines of Spring Siata, giving them new life for some time, with the name of Orsa 850 Spring Special.
Thus concludes a beautiful Italian - and Turinese - story of ideas, of work, of a tenacious will to assert itself in the vast, complex and difficult world of automotive design.