Only One in U.S.? 1967 Siata Formichetta
The Siata Formichetta was a small van built in Spain in the 1960s. Though total production reached about 7,000 units, few if any of these transports are known to have made it to the U.S. This one is an exception, likely brought home by a returning U.S. servicemember. It will need a complete restoration and many of the needed parts may be sourced from Fiat 600 sedans of the same era. Wolfeboro, New Hampshire is where this van calls home for now and it’s available here on craigslist for $3,500.
Manufactured by Siata Española S.A. near Barcelona, the Formichetta used the SEAT 600’s platform with the cargo box built specifically for its use. They featured four “suicide” doors for ease of access, along with a rear hatch and engine cover. We’re told these vans have developed a cult following on their home soil and the seller believes this could be the only example of the Formichetta in the U.S.
As the photos provided indicate, this Siata will need a complete restoration. It has fallen on tough times over the years. While mechanical bits sourced from Fiat could work, any sheet metal the vehicle needs may have to be fabricated unless you can locate and ship those pieces from Europe. The mileage on the vehicle is unknown as the odometer has likely turned over, suggesting the van saw a lot of use back in the day. The title is missing and only a bill of sale will be provided. If this point proves troublesome, perhaps just restore the vehicle as some sort of display art. What would you do with it?
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Comments
Turn the back with the weird porthole window into an aquarium and sell fish out of it
This is an unusual find and pretty awesome in the fact it’s not the typical Corvette, Tri Five or Mopar rusted to the ground posted over and over.
With that this poor Siata is sure to receive much hate. What is most interesting is the backstory as to HOW it got to the US.
It will certainly be a challenge but a proud moment for the builder if ever repaired to be driven on the road again.
Rare is in the eyes of the beholder.
To me its just an old abandon work van.
I suggest remove body and put a s10 front and flat bed on back.
Then get a S10 motor and drive train and a S10 frame snd scrap the rest 😂
Pathetic.
jwaltb, now be nice! You might hurt someones tender, little feelings.
Ohh please-why bother; junk is junk,!
You too.
Hopefully, it’s the only one in the world.
I think its very unique and be a hit at any car show restored the right person with the skill set to do its a winer
Someone actually brought this thing to the US? Good Lord, I think a junk yard might refuse it for free.
Neat! That would be a great challenge for a high school shop class.
That would be neat for a high school shop class . The students would Get a kick out of it i think. Really be a challenge for them.
I agree with you on that Sir,
I am a regular reader of Barn Finds, and this is my Siata Formichetta. In addition to CL, I also just it listed here on ebay with a $2500 start and no reserve: https://www.ebay.com/itm/255282297144?hash=item3b7002b938:g:1VcAAOSwcuRhu-og
When I first discovered this car, I immediately felt compelled to save it despite its rough condition. I knew that if I didn’t step in, this piece of history would be scrapped or turned into some sort of SBC / S10 Frankenstein – this would be a sin, in my opinion. This was built by hand the same as a Fiat Jolly, where they took a standard car and made it into something rather special. They took a new completed car, cut the rear of the body off, stretched the wheelbase, and added the coachbuilt rear van body with the extra two doors (old B&W photos in the ebay ad show this process).
The Formichetta was designed to fit the needs of a family man in Spain to haul the wife and kids, but also able to fold the rear seats to convert it into a work van. This type of vehicle was important at that time period in Spain as most families did not have the luxury of owning more than one car, so their sole car needed to be extremely useful and versatile. Most of these were worked to death and very few remain viable for restoration, and these have indeed become a cult car in Spain. I have seen photos of other examples in Spain that are FAR worse than this one being comprehensively restored. This one certainly needs a full restoration, but it is a decent candidate to start with. And, it’s also the only known example in the US, so there is not much chance for comparison shopping.
I collect European limited production coachbuilt cars, so this is right up my alley. I initially tried to get it transported here to California, but the quotes I got were in the $3k-$4k range which is about triple what I expected (any transporters coming this way with some empty space?). I also have multiple projects waiting for attention, so in reality this little van would just be sitting in my storage for a long time. I’m hoping to get it into the hands of another enthusiast that will return it to the road (either fully restored, or mechanically restored with the patina intact). In these days of $100k Fiat Jollys, this is by far the cheapest limited production coachbuilt car you will find.
If you have a truck I would recommend renting a Uhaul auto transport and just go get it. Unfortunately you will probably have to lie about what is going on the trailer because I don’t believe this is in their system.
Unfortunately, that would be a 6000+ mile round trip. I don’t think I can do that after recently returning from a 3500 mile road trip!
Mark is completely right in that these special bodies here in in Europe are most sought after and high prices are paid for quote worn vehicles.
Autobianchi as well produced a similar van on the basis of the Fiat 500 Giardiniera based Panoramica, the socalled Furgoncino. Rusty and defect examples fetch prices of 15 kUSD easily. This one is even rarer. I’d buy it instantly, but for me it’s more than a 6000 Mike one way trip to Germany. At the asked price it would be long sold over here.
Collecting rare coach built cars ? There will likely be an OTAS Grand Prix listed here on Barn Finds soon- in similar condition for under two grand. I own one, and am in contact with other owners as well. I have a lot of extra parts, and am hoping someone will bid on his, and buy my parts to complete it. I really love this 600 van. I owned a Hillman Husky wagon in the past, and made it so nice, an lady paid me top dollar because she fell in love with it. $Cute$ Regardless of the down-sighted comments- Beauty is to the beholder!
Good for you, Mark. I’m with you.
OK..I’ll avoid the hate but I feel compelled to point out something that should be obvious. Much of what drives this market is emotion. You had one like that or you WANTED one like that or your 1st ride, kiss, or whatever happened in one like that. Getting the exact copy or one of the more rare versions of said vehicle will convince people to do odd things with their time and money. It COULD be that you see something and think “now that is COOL!” as it is a particularly interesting version of vehicles you are interested in (Subaru 360 van, anyone?) However, in this case with such a rarity and ummm unusual bodylines(?) I would find it hard to believe there are many people would would go “I GOTTA have that!”. There is little “special” about it. Sure, a Panard isn’t any sexier but at least it has interesting features in drivetrain and body. Frankly it is a car that few people know about and fewer care about. If it had spent 40 years in a garage and needed tires and a battery along with a coat of wax? Someone would have it after saying “It’s so CUTE!!!!!”. For me? I wouldn’t have been worse off if I’d never heard of such a vehicle. Another case of rarity not equal to desirable.
Best of lu k to the seller AND the new owner!
Is a Panard a Panhard with missing parts?
A lot of opinion out there. Almost all negative and based on knowing nothing about this car. Mark Mitchell is very realistic and informative about his find. The Siata is an off-spring of the Italian Siata company whose 8V barchettas and coupés are $1 million cars in Monterrey week.
Siata signed a joint agreement project in Spain, sports cars had no market in the 50s in Spain, so the company ended up building these. A good one is €10000 tops in Spain, so restoring this has to be a labour of love.
“And what´s wrong with that? I´d like to know……” (Paul Mc Cartney.)
Get all mechanical parts from Spain cheap as chips. The fabrication will have to be done by hand, but probably better-equipped and skilled hands than built the original. Or “Let it be” (Macca again) and lay off uninformed mockery.
SIATA certainly built some incredible cars, but evidently there are many that are not aware of this marque. Some time ago I owned a SIATA Daina Gran Sport and also a Daina coupe by Stabilimenti Farina. Later I owned a Fiat 8V coupe (I found it in a junkyard in Atlanta!). I would have thought that anyone currently collecting cars of that caliber would jump at the chance to own this SIATA van to restore as a mascot to their much more valuable models (just as Maserati and Ferrari collectors scoop up the little ’50’s motorcycles with their same names).
If anyone would like to see one of these in fully restored condition in a Spanish collection, here it is: https://www.seatenrodaje.es/siata-formichetta/
Mark, thanks for all of the background on this. Many of us know nothing about them. Helps put it all in perspective.
Poo-pooers, at least it isn’t something like a ’76ish US “muscle car” rattle trap with a bunch of cheap broke plastic.
Congrats Mark. Hopefully you’ll find the right buyer.
Many, though happily not all, Barn Finders would salivate over a rotten Camaro or Firebird sitting in the dirt, but show them something small and “ furrin”, and it’s “ no way, get that crap outta here.” I’m glad that there are people here who appreciate the kind of vehicles that you might find in the Lane Motor Museum or VERY rarely on the road.
“Uh, hello, Rock Auto? Do you have a master cylinder for a 1967 Siata Formichetta? Yeah, a Siata Formichetta. Siata. SEE AH TAH. Formichetta. FORM. AH. CHEEDA. Like the cheese. Yes, I’ll hold.” (Click)
My suggestion would be to place an ad in Spain, for the simple logical reason that they are cult cars over there but not in North America. The Siata had another brother based on the Seat 600, called the Furgoneta SEAT Costa, that looked the same. On this ad’s vehicle, the front end seems to have been modified from its original FIAT-SEAT appearance…and that round window in the back has been added on. It is a project that requires a lot of money and I am not sure that outside of Spain–amongst people who look upon the Franco years of 1960-68 with nostalgia–that there will be much interest in this somewhat puny little utilitarian vehicle that was not meant to carry more than 300 kg.
“…few people know about and fewer care about…”
gee, 2 strikes against me. aahahaha
Keep it on da cars, not people U2 guys?
I like the Furgoncino wagon, van, low roof – this is the Furgonetta more truck like. The lill van was produced 1965/70, truck, the nxt 7 yrs. I ran a few (not these) autobanchis in the ’70s. Nutting wrong w/them, unless U think ‘fix it again tony’ is a true-ism. I’m not going to say anything abt usa-ers sense of car ownership (attention, maintenance & wish to ‘tinker’).
Please understand that I am not hating on this car err..truck…err…
SOMEBODY is gunna go “Gimme gimme!” about this. We, as a group, understand. It is like riding a motorcycle, you get and receive a “low wave” from other bikers. BMW? Harley? Sport bike? Vespa? Yep..we are all in this together. However, it can get to the point where a vehicle is so obscure (raise your hand if you’ve actually driven a Citroen Mahari!) that finding someone who has such an attachment to a particular model will spend the time and money to restore it with no regard to what others people believe.
I am rebuilding a 65 Land Rover diesel. I know that I could do what I’m planning to do with it with something like a beat up Bronco II. Am I spending more than it’s woorth? Sure, but they dohave a following, there are clubs and events and, more to the point, people know what it is and wave as you clatter by. I am all tooled up to work on them (Whitworth!) It is still posdible to purchase a parts vehicle. None of that applies to this poor little thing. So yeah, I exchanged waves with a guy on some lonely toad in Montana with me on my BMW and him, with out of state plates, was riding a 125cc Honda..We are “brothers” but man, there are some crazy people in the “family”. So, just because I wouldn’t doesn’t mean somebody else shouldn’t. That person will be rare….
I think Mark has done a good thing by saving this vehicle from a fate it hardly deserves. More than that, he has gone out of his way to make sure we know more about this particular vehicle and all of them in general. It still is going to be a challenge to find that very person who wants to spend the kind of time and money it is going to take to to bring this one back. I am not hating on the car or anyone who likes this (them) When it come to buying/restoring it, I’m just saying “Not me”.
It is 600 based- plenty of parts for that. I deal with Italian cars every day. The other day I found a rare script for an Auto Bianchini fiat fitting ONLY THOSE made for export to USA- fitting the rear air scoop. We rewind ignition coils, cast lenses, cast Die-Cast ZAMAC 3d items, mold rubber, cut and mold glass. The only thing we do not repair are marriages.
If you have the will, there are PLENTY of makers out there doing similar. If man made it, it can be re-done. I am helped incredibly by Google Images, YouTube, and the internet. Great challenges are the best part of restorations.
Think out of the box. ( not the one on the shelf) HA!
This SIATA is rare, but not as rare as this BMC bus I sold to Wayne Carini. (30 built, and approximately 10 remaining worldwide). I owned 2 of these crazy things.
Here is a photo showing some of the other stuff in my collection. 1919 Harley, Porsche 356A Convertible D, Fiat 850 Shellette by Michelotti, Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Series 1, Renault 4CV Jolly, Fiat 600 Jolly, Abarth 1000TC, Fiat Topolini Abarth, Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale, Fiat 1100 barchetta (alloy body) Morris Mini Cooper 1275S, Bultaco Mteralla, Ducati 250 MK3, Laverda 750SF, Moto Guzzi V7 Sport, Vincent Rapide 1000 (way in back).
Typical image of what I have in my collection at any given time: 1919 Harley, ’59 Porsche 356A Convertible D (owned since I was 16!), Fiat 850 Shellette by Michelotti, ’56 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Series 1, ’60 Renault 4CV Jolly, ’59 Fiat 600 Jolly, ’64 Abarth 1000TC, ’51 Fiat Topolino Abarth, ’60 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale, ‘Fiat 1100 barchetta (alloy body) ’65 Morris Mini Cooper 1275S, ’67 Bultaco 250 Metralla, ’67 Ducati 250 MK3, ’73 Laverda 750SF, ’73 Moto Guzzi V7 Sport, ’51 Vincent Rapide 1000 (way in back). The photo isn’t super current. Some of these have been sold, and some others added, but my storage space is always chock full!
Ebay auction for this SIATA ends tonight. Don’t forget to bid! https://www.ebay.com/itm/255282297144?hash=item3b7002b938:g:1VcAAOSwcuRhu-og