Fiatpwr
True Classic
As promised, I will start the long tale of OTAS 0015.
Stage 1:
A little back ground. Many details about how these cars came about were so poorly documented that I don't wish to get too detailed, I have been involved with this car for more than half my life and have heard many varying stories.
It was built by Francis Lombardi of Vercelli Italy. Carlo Francis was a WW1 flying ace. In 1938 he started building light aircraft. After WW2 Lombardi became an Carrozzeria, modifying Fiat 1400, 1800 and 2300 sedans. In 1967 the Lombardi Gran Prix was born. Thre Gran Prix was based on the Fiat 850 Sedan. Gianinni and Abarth made hot rod versions of the car. The Officina Transformazioni Automobilli Sportive was created to import this car to the U.S. The late John de Boar lists Otas # 104 in his Etceterini Register, likely 200-300 cars of all versions were made.
My Father has been a Fiat fan since the late '50's and in the late '80's decided to feed a mid life crisis with his dream car. It was either a Moretti Sportiva, or an OTAS. Enter Greg Schmidt. Greg was the undisputed expert in Fiat 600 and 850 based cars and owned and sold many Otas cars in the 70's and 80's. Communication ensued and Otas 0015 was shipped (sans motor) from San Diego California to Richmond Vermont in 1987.
These are the original Poloroids sent from Greg prior to the purchase.
In hind sight the spoilers would have been a nice rare item, but a bare original car was desired.
Arrival:
While some work was done throughout the '90's this project, was a daunting one.
More than a decade later the car entered the body shop.
Stage 1:
A little back ground. Many details about how these cars came about were so poorly documented that I don't wish to get too detailed, I have been involved with this car for more than half my life and have heard many varying stories.
It was built by Francis Lombardi of Vercelli Italy. Carlo Francis was a WW1 flying ace. In 1938 he started building light aircraft. After WW2 Lombardi became an Carrozzeria, modifying Fiat 1400, 1800 and 2300 sedans. In 1967 the Lombardi Gran Prix was born. Thre Gran Prix was based on the Fiat 850 Sedan. Gianinni and Abarth made hot rod versions of the car. The Officina Transformazioni Automobilli Sportive was created to import this car to the U.S. The late John de Boar lists Otas # 104 in his Etceterini Register, likely 200-300 cars of all versions were made.
My Father has been a Fiat fan since the late '50's and in the late '80's decided to feed a mid life crisis with his dream car. It was either a Moretti Sportiva, or an OTAS. Enter Greg Schmidt. Greg was the undisputed expert in Fiat 600 and 850 based cars and owned and sold many Otas cars in the 70's and 80's. Communication ensued and Otas 0015 was shipped (sans motor) from San Diego California to Richmond Vermont in 1987.
These are the original Poloroids sent from Greg prior to the purchase.
In hind sight the spoilers would have been a nice rare item, but a bare original car was desired.
Arrival:
While some work was done throughout the '90's this project, was a daunting one.
More than a decade later the car entered the body shop.
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