War, product failure, even political upheaval couldn’t destroy Siata, but success of the innocuous little Siata Spring did.
Both success and failure can be found wearing peculiar dress. However, none perhaps, is as strange as that of the Siata Spring. A caricature of an MG-TD, the Spring would need dimples to be any cuter. It wasn’t fast, but it came from a long-established maker of performance parts.
Siata was founded as the Societa Italiana Applicazione Transformazione Automobilistiche in Turin by Giorgio Ambrosini to make hop-up parts for production cars in 1926. Even then, Fiat was the giant of a tie and automaking, so naturally, Siata specialized in making Fiats go faster. It did especially well, because at the time, Fiat itself shied away from competition. Expanding its operations to include coachbuilding in 1936, Siata produce several models that were fast enough to set class records before World War II.
First published in AutoWeek July 31, 1995; republished by author John Matras
Despite Ambrosini’s work for the Allies’ Office of Strategic Services, Siata was bombed to rubble during the war. Starting with clip-on 48 cc motors for bicycles, the company had to struggle its way back to real carmaking again. Giorgio’s son Renato would drive a Siata to the Italian 750 cc class championship in 1948 and 1949, but an 1100 cc Fiat a racer proved unsuccessful.
A variety of cars followed this, the most memorable being the Siata 208S which used the Fiat two-liter V8. A failed micro-car called the Mitzi cost Siata some $650,000 in the mid-1950s, when that some was real money. More successful would be a Michelotti-styled variation on the Fiat TS 1300/1500 in the early ‘60s—a 1600 cc version became the best selling Siata ever, at 5500 units. Coupe versions of the rear-engined Fiat 850 and the Fiat 1100R sold well, too. Then came the abortive Student. This low-cost, fiberglass-bodied “young person’s car” would never reach production, but it did prepare Siata for the Spring, in part by steering the company back to sheetmetal.
Clearly, the Siata Spring was inspired by the MG-TD, as had been the Siata Rally of the early ‘50s. But while the car mimicked the MG’s front-engine/rear drive layout, the Spring was based on the Fiat 850 platform, and 850 was anything but a faithful copy of the British original. The stylist (who has remained anonymous) covered the rear-mounted in-line four with a large bustle, placing the driver more forward than in the MG. This necessarily shortened the hood, which covered only luggage, giving it a Jeep-like aspect.
Details include a rear-mounted spare, cut-down doors flaunting exposed hinges, and a convertible top which folded in the best Italian manner but was higher at the windshield header than it was above the driver’s head. On early models, the windshield could be folded flat, just like a TD’s.
The Borrani wire wheels were only 12-inches in diameter, and so perhaps the most disproportionate element of the caricature. These were covered by separate fenders, and freestanding headlamps flanked the grille. The grille? As in the Fiat 850, the radiator was alongside the rear-mounted longitudinal engine. So too, in the Siata. The grille was only a dummy, with black fiberglass behind it to simulate a radiator core.
The first Springs sent to America in 1968 had lights that didn’t conform to DOT standards, and, as with the Fiat 850s that predated federal emission laws, an 843 cc engine. As a running change – perhaps running from the EPA – an 817 cc engine was adopted for the US market, thus ducking the emission-controlled by moving under the 50 cubic-inch displacement threshold. The Spring also gained sealed beam headlamps and huge “legal” taillamps.
Despite the Spring’s limited horsepower, it takes a real man to drive one. Or at least someone secure in his manhood. Though cuter than pink petticoats, the car can be driven with abandon. That’s how Patrick Ireland drives his, revving the pushrod four to its 6000-RPM redline, holding the single throttle plate of the Weber carb as wide open as possible. The 145SR-12 radials may not inspire confidence on slippery pavement, but in the dry, Siata’s know-how with the basic Fiat platform belies the Spring’s 35/65 weight ratio.
Ireland, of Oakdale, Pa., restored his 1970 Siata, which was bought new by his father and then wrecked by his brother. The latter event thus assured the Spring would avoid the corrosion of winter, and erosion from neglect, as it set on blocks, garaged for almost 20 years.
His 1970 model is from the last year for the Spring. Ironically, this is because it sold too well. Italians were particularly taken by the Spring, and besides Italy and the United States, the car was also being sold in France and Germany. With press endorsements hardly ringing (Car and Driver call it “$1995 worth of campiness” and “a toy, an automotive aberration, a plaything,” while Road & Track recommended it for “a high school girl who can talk Daddy into getting you a wild little thing”), the car sold better than expected in the United States, though numbers aren’t readily available.
Alas, Siata had been prepared to sell about 1500 cars per year worldwide, and yet Renato accepted deposits for, and promised delivery of about 3600 Springs per month. Instead of five or six cars per day, Siata pushed for 13. Even then, customers had to wait a whole year for delivery. The company simply unraveled under such pressure, victims of too much good fortune. The jaunty Spring would thus close the doors of Siata forever.
Addendum: For many cars, it’s easy to determine a “value,” or at least range, until you get to those with a low production total, and even lower survival rate, and really no moral equivalents. That’s where the Siata Spring comes in. Springs, per classic.com, seldom come to major auctions, and when they do, they don’t sell. Most either sell or don’t sell in a price range of around $6,000, but it’s hard to tell what kind of condition these might be. However, their best on record was about $18,000, probably the best Siata Spring in existence when at least two bidders really wanted it. It’s still cheaper than any other Siata model, at least one of which has sold for almost two million dollars.
I’ve said, along with others, that the Siata Spring is a parody of the MG TD. Not familiar with the TD. Dennis Simanaitis, one of the first wave of modern automotive journalists (no doubt he’d enjoy that description), has written a great article in his website, siminaitissays.com, an excellent read for those unfamiliar with the MG TD along with those who know the TD inside out.
True confession: I never got to drive an MG TD, although a college classmate had one as a daily driver. That was 1966, when the car was only 15 or so years old. Yes, I’m that old. I have driven a Singer Roadster, as much like a Siata Spring as the MG TD. Check it out here.
