Siata was a small Italian car builder, which built high performance cars based on Fiat mechanicals. The Daina Gran Sport was derived from the Fiat 1400, of which about 50 were produced. Their cars proved very successful on the track, largely due to their light weight and a Siata Daina took first in class and 3rd overall at the 12 hours of Sebring in 1952. This car had the engine and gearbox replaced some point before 1960. It isn’t the first Siata Daina to receive a Studebaker engine, however, as an article in a 1953 issue of Hot Rod Magazine detailed a similar swap with the same engine, but retaining the original Fiat gearbox. This car spent a lot of time on the east coast in storage where at some point the car next to it caught fire and the heat damaged the windscreen, paint, and seat on the driver’s side. As a result, the previous owner, on buying the car, sent it to Vintage Underground to restore, with the express guideline of preserving as much of the original patina as possible. There was extensive rust in the floor of the car and the work to carry out the engine swap was not done incredibly well, so Vintage Underground stripped the body, fixed the rust and repainted the car in an original two tone lacquer paint. The engine was rebuilt but care was taken to preserve the original patina on it. Likewise, the seats, gauges, lights, and all the chrome was left as it was when the car was disassembled. A new top had to be made and the transmission tunnel had to be recovered, but most of the rest of the original is perserved. Linkages for the clutch were modified to improve operation and, after I bought the car, we made some changes to the throttle pedal and its linkage and the shift lever, as well as slightly moved the handbrake in order to make the car much more comfortable to drive. The torque from the V8 makes this car extremely fun to drive and it handles surprisingly well, given the increase in weight from the V8 and heavier gearbox, even on period correct bias ply tires. Since Siata later built very similar cars fitted with the Fiat Otto-Vu V8 engine, this car, to some extent fits right in.