Siva Automobili

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Siva Automobili Srl was an automobile manufacturer based in Lecce , southern Italy . The company existed for four years. It only produced one model: the Siva Sirio, a sporty coupé with a targa roof .

Company history

The name Siva is short for Società Italiana Vendita Automobili . The company was founded in 1966 by Achille and Sergio Candido. Achille Candido was the owner of a Ford dealership in Lecce, southern Italy. The trigger for the decision to develop a sports car itself was the Bizzarrini 1900 GT Europa , which was presented to the public in 1966. The Bizzarrini, which was largely based on Opel technology, caused quite a stir, and the Italian media soon speculated about large-scale series production. Conrero then tried to develop a similarly designed vehicle that was based on Ford components and should compete with the Bizzarrini. Siva started manufacturing its own sports car in 1968. At that time, Bizzarrini was already bankrupt, and production of the 1900 GT Europa ended after just 20 copies. Even the Siva Sirio could not prevail. In 1970 production was stopped. A little later, the Siva company was dissolved.

The Siva Sirio

The Siva Sirio was designed as a two-seater mid-engine sports car. Its name refers to the star Sirius .

The technology was developed by the Italian racing car designer Virgilio Conrero . The car had a tubular frame and a chassis with independent suspension on all wheels. A six-cylinder engine from the Ford 20M , which was installed in front of the rear axle, served as the drive . In the production version, the engine developed 90 hp; Siva also announced a tuned version with 130 hp. With this performance-enhanced engine, the Sirio should reach a top speed of 200 km / h.

The body is based on a design by Giovanni Michelotti . Michelotti's drawings provided for a compact two-door model with a tapering front, pop-up headlights, a straight belt line and a wide B-pillar with a noticeable kink. The roof of the car could be removed. In this form, the design anticipated some features of the Fiat X1 / 9 . However, Michelotti's proposal was not implemented. Candido had the design revised by the newly founded design studio Stile Italia , which had previously designed a Spyder version of the Bizzarrini GT 5300 . The revision resulted in a much more curved waistline. The pop-up headlights were replaced by glazed round headlights. The roll bar was also given a new shape. It was reminiscent of the Bizzarrini GT 5300 Spyder SI

The Siva Sirio was presented to the public at the Turin Motor Show in 1967; Here were three prototypes that the Turin-based specialist Carbondio had produced in collaboration with Stile Italia. The Italian press was positive about the car; a magazine called it "the 200 km / h fast bomb from the south" with regard to the manufacturer based in Apulia .

Achille Candido announced production of 300 vehicles in 1969 and 500 more in 1970. But this did not happen; some sources cite financial problems as the reason for failure. In the literature it is usually assumed that the Sirio was only produced in a small series. Exact production figures are not known.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Illustration of the Michelotti draft and the revised series version on the website www.conceptcars.it ( Memento of December 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on November 7, 2011).
  2. ↑ Alessandro Sannia: Enciclopedia dei carrozzieri italiani , Società Editrice Il Cammello, 2017, ISBN 978-8896796412 , p. 161.
  3. ^ Amtmann, Schrader: Italian sports car. P. 381.