Siata Fiat 1400 Coupe

Voorhees' Siata in 1958 with the "Mediterranean Turquoise" paint. Color photo from Al Maggiacomo

By Peter Voorhees
Photos by the author and as noted

This is the abbreviated story of a Siata that I bought in 1985 at a flea market in Stowe, Vermont. Restoration process has been slow, however. I've been telling my friends “This is the Year!” for so many years it's really become a joke. But the journey has been so much fun I don’t mind at all. Every year I learn a little more and finish a little more, but there are still things to learn and do.

Al Maggiacomo, a serviceman stationed in Germany, brought my car to the U.S. in 1958. He loved Italian cars and while visiting Milano he visited a dealer who dealt in racing cars. Most were Alfas and too expensive, so he bought the Siata for $2500. It was Siata-badged and had a Fiat 1400-based engine, painted in a “Mediterranean Turquoise” with a red interior. He believed it had no racing history and may have been a show car. After driving it for some time he had his brother install a Triumph TR 3 engine in it. The brother who installed the engine was “Jocco” Maggiacomo. Jocco had a race shop in Poughkeepsie and was a character worthy of a book. Aside from having a long career in midgets and stock cars, a few of the other things he did were racing his Chevy-powered Ferrari at Lime Rock and a Ford Falcon at Sebring. At Sebring in 1964, Maggiacomo saved the life of Consalvo Sanesi, famed Alfa test driver, by pulling him out of his burning Alfa GTZ. He also built a Fiat-powered Formula Jr. with the plans to develop a Formula 1 car. Jocco was an interesting guy.

As found by Dave Debrul in a New Paltz N,Y. junkyard in the early 1980s--one of those evocative photos of the era, depicting that great age of barn finds. Photo Dave Dubrul.

After passing through a few other hands, the Siata wound up in a New Paltz, N.Y. junkyard, and eventually arrived in Vermont in the possession of Dave DuBrul, who also owned Bandinis and an OSCA. I bought it from Dave, who came to be a good friend and gave me most of the information on the car to this point. Subsequently I also talked to Al Maggiacomo and another later owner. Dave had at first thought it was a Ferrari and then a Fiat or Siata 8V. Then he concluded that it was a Siata 1400/1500. To that end he had acquired two Fiat-Siata engines, which I bought with the car. Siata had close associations with Fiat and they obtained engines on which they stamped their own serial numbers. They modified these to varying degrees before they left the factory. One engine was slightly modified and the other was race modified.

Dave Dubrul brings it to Vermont to join his growing collection of small Italian cars. Photo Dave DuBrul

John de Boer, compiler of The Italian Car Registry has been extraordinarily helpful and patient researching the car’s early history in Italy. He was able to trace the registration of the car from 3/31/54 (although a Certificato d’origine for the car dates to 2/27/51) to Ovidio Capelli, a Fiat agent in Milano with close connections to the factory. Capelli was another character worthy of a book. His racing career spanned the 1930s into the early 60s. The list of cars he owned, raced and/or commissioned goes on and on. To mention a few he commissioned and raced: the first Zagato-bodied Fiat 8V and Zagato Fiat 500. Also he had Touring build a series of lightweight Abarth modified Fiat 1400s.

Photos below were taken last summer by Voorhees. It is still unpainted, but has come a long way from the junkyard in New York.

By May of 1954 Roberto Montali of Ancona owned the car. Montali had some previous Mille Miglia experience and he entered this car in the 1954 Mille Miglia and again in the 1955 Mille Miglia, neither time finishing. He sold the car and after passing through at least one other owner it wound up at that dealer in Milano where Al Maggiacomo bought it.

It has been fun putting the story together although there are a few gaps that I would like to fill. For example how did the car come to be and what was Ovidio Capelli’s role? A document on the car refers to Gilberto Colombo of Gilco, the well-known frame fabricator. Did he just supply the frame? Even though the car was listed in the Mille Miglia as a Siata and appears to have a Siata badge there is no actual documentation of it being manufactured by Siata.

Peter has installed the Fiat 1500 engine, complete with dual Webers.

Siata built a variety of Fiat 1400 based cars referred to as Dainas. They used Fiat 1400 mechanicals and had a box section frame. Engines were numbered with an SL prefix which matched the chassis number. My car also uses Fiat 1400 mechanicals but it has a tubular frame utilizing round, square and oval tubing. At the front there is a Fiat cross member with suspension attached. At the back a Fiat rear-end is used but the suspension for some reason is changed from quarter elliptic plus coil springs to semi-elliptic springs only. The body is constructed entirely of aluminum. A number of people have said that the body must be Michelotti/Vignale but others have pointed to construction details that are not typical of Vignale. The dimensions are roughly 50 in. high, 64 in. wide and 153 in. long. The wheelbase is 95 ½ in. The wheels are steel centers with alloy rims. Interestingly, the frame construction and filled-in patches indicate that as originally designed the grill would have extended lower down and the side lights were between the grill and the headlights. I assume these changes were made to accommodate a front bumper. I don’t know if it ever was completed as originally designed but I moved the lights to where the holes used to be because I thought they looked better and I don’t intend to find bumpers for it. I am using one of Siata engines in the car. Where practical I am using parts from the race-prepared engine including the 1500 crankshaft. Rebuilding the engine was really reinventing the wheel. For example, rod and main bearings came from Austin Healy, Ford Tempo, Volvo, and Citroen plus additional machine work. I only had a parts catalog and a gasket set. Engine work credit must go to Dale at Motion Machine. I can't thank my friend Jack Brown enough for all his help with the car. Although really an old hot rodder at heart his patience wisdom and depth of knowledge of all things mechanical continues to amaze me.

If any readers can help Peter find out more about his car, he'd like to hear from you. His email address is voorhees@sover.net.

I have been fortunate to obtain some photographs of the car in the 1954(#346) and 1955(#545) Mille Miglia. They show the license plate on the front. Documents resulting from tracing the 20442AN (Ancona) plate show chassis (telaio) number 021341, which probably refers to an early (ca 1951) Fiat 1400 that the car or parts from it were based on. The registration number (numero d’ufficio) is M0139154M, which indicates a Milano registration in 1954 and is the only number that I have actually found stamped on the frame. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find the Milano license plate number, which could lead to more information.

If anyone out there has any thoughts, information or suggestions regarding the construction or history of this car, I would like to hear from them. I've been making real progress this past twelve months; starting the engine for the first time was a definite milestone. Maybe “this is the year!”