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Itailan styling, american power is a great combination like in the 1968 -1970 Intermeccanica Italia sometimes called Italia Spyder.  It was built by Costruzione Automobili Intermeccanica in Turin (body) and some US based companies  (chassis and engine). It was initially only for the US market. The first 97 were named Intermeccanica Torino, but Ford had still rights on the name Torino so it had to be renamed to Intermeccanica Italia.(411 cars were built). Later it was also sold in Europe distributed by Erich Bitter, who created the Bitter CD in the late 70's.

 

The winners are

Ace-Garageguy

porschercr

Richard Bartrop

sjordan2

Bucky

Meriva

Matt Bacon

dw1603

 

Congratulations

 

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I regret having to let go of the one I had. But I didn't sell it. More of an "involuntary separation". The provenance of the car was sketchy, I acquired it as part of a complicated deal, and while I was trying to get its paperwork sorted out, it essentially disappeared. It wasn't a particularly nice example. Actually, it was a mess. It had apparently had a very hard life, was covered in lumpy bondo, had a paint job just one step up from a roller special, and had rust coming through the rockers and elsewhere. The top and interior were ragged, and it was generally nasty overall. But the little pre-emission Ford smallblock (I never did know whether it was a 289 or 302 or 351) ran fine and sounded sweet, and it handled nicely...though I seem to remember it only had brakes on 2 wheels when it came to me. I thought the car was beautiful, and had intended to keep it after a full restoration. It was the first of several interesting cars I picked up in deals with shady characters and tried to legitimize, that later "got away", including a rust-free 356 B sunroof coupe and a very early 911. Took me a while to learn not to trust anybody when there's money or vintage cars involved.

The company that built the Italia later went on to build the best Porsche Speedster replica in the business at the time. They're still in business in sunny SoCal, working on a small urban vehicle called SOLO, a name I'd used for my own design but failed to register.

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6 hours ago, DonW said:

Bill, do you recall what the ducts behind the front wheels fed into (I believe the other side was the same)?

I'd expect to have vents drawing hot air out at that point...

 

The Italia has no cowl vents for interior air intake, as are common on most other cars. The side vents provide that function.

italia1.thumb.jpg.3a7c4c4161d5cf29fa8b65e3c2a6b8b7.jpg

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On 8/17/2019 at 8:33 AM, Ace-Garageguy said:

I regret having to let go of the one I had. But I didn't sell it. More of an "involuntary separation". The provenance of the car was sketchy, I acquired it as part of a complicated deal, and while I was trying to get its paperwork sorted out, it essentially disappeared. It wasn't a particularly nice example. Actually, it was a mess. It had apparently had a very hard life, was covered in lumpy bondo, had a paint job just one step up from a roller special, and had rust coming through the rockers and elsewhere. The top and interior were ragged, and it was generally nasty overall. But the little pre-emission Ford smallblock (I never did know whether it was a 289 or 302 or 351) ran fine and sounded sweet, and it handled nicely...though I seem to remember it only had brakes on 2 wheels when it came to me. I thought the car was beautiful, and had intended to keep it after a full restoration. It was the first of several interesting cars I picked up in deals with shady characters and tried to legitimize, that later "got away", including a rust-free 356 B sunroof coupe and a very early 911. Took me a while to learn not to trust anybody when there's money or vintage cars involved.

The company that built the Italia later went on to build the best Porsche Speedster replica in the business at the time. They're still in business in sunny SoCal, working on a small urban vehicle called SOLO, a name I'd used for my own design but failed to register.

The One that got away is not always the best car at the time.

I wish I still had my old Opel Kadett. I could have turned it into a sweat street rally car.

What an easy car to work on. YES. A box, but surprisingly it got me through many Minnesota snow storms. LOL

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'The Italia has no cowl vents for interior air intake, as are common on most other cars. The side vents provide that function.'

Thanks for the info!

Funnily enough my old RM Riley had no cowl vents either, but it had neat little scoops on the scuttle sides just in front of the front doors you could open from inside the car to let fresh air in (to cool your legs, mainly). Didn't have much else in common with the Italia!

Cheers,

-Don.

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If you can find a copy (or get your library to get it in for you), "Intermeccanica: the story of the prancing bull" provides a well-written and pretty complete history of the marque and its various adventures and automobiles:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1787112535/

It's an "insider" story, so may not be fully balanced, but it covers the ground, and has some very good looking cars in it!

best,

M.

Edited by Matt Bacon
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