It's always fun to stop by Jim's shop to see what he is working on. Yesterday, I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and took a little drive to Jim's shop in my Z to catch up with Jim and see what cool cars he is working on, and I wasn't disappointed.

Jim is currently working on some cool 911's, a BMW's, a Jag XK120, a Mustang and a stunning ultra-rare Siata Spyder. I for one have never heard of this car. These were produced mainly for racing back in the 50's but the few that were also made for specific car collectors of the period. The rarest of these examples were equipped with a Fiat 8V (yes, a V8) engine and the bodies were all "built by hand" aluminum (hmm, way before Carrol Shelby got the idea).

Here are a couple of pictures, one showing Jim with his work in progress and another picture of a Siata which was recently sold for around $1.7 million .

Enjoy!

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John Kish
1971 240Z - original owner

Strangely, the SIATA was the forerunner of your happy little FIAT Abarth Double-Bubble.

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1970 240Z

Ahh yes, the Fiat Abarth double bubble! Very fond memories of that car.

For those unfamiliar with the story, it was "loaned" to me for the summer of my senior year in high school by one of my teachers who entrusted it to me to do some work on that car. The goofy kid in the car is me back in 1967 living life large...err... small

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John Kish
1971 240Z - original owner

Just to quell my confusion, how did you manage to get a "summer of your Senior year"? By "summer of my senior year" I was graduated and standing in line for the Marine Corps.
Did you go to summer school or something?

Frank

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1970 240Z

Ha! Ha! Only you...Frank... To clarify, I was given the Abarth to work on around the spring of 1967 during my senior year in H.S. and kept it during the summer after graduation. You can imagine how cool it felt to drive this thing to school during that short time . Happy Days Indeed!

Afterwards, I headed off to college in MA driving my Dad's hand me down 1963 Studebaker Lark, coolness completely gone

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John Kish
1971 240Z - original owner

Well, laugh if you will, but that old Stude probably still sits in someone's driveway, ready for the next million miles. Aside from the Jeep, we Americans have probably never created any car more indestructible than the Lark. I bought one in the 1980s and wish I had never let it go. I could still be driving it, gawked-at by kids who have no idea what "3-on-the-tree" even means.

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1970 240Z

Hey John,
Nice short and sweet video of your old flame:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKXqle08Aj0&t=17s

Colin
the older one

Ah! sweet memories rekindled. Thanks Colin

Found another video in which the car looks more like the one I drove back when, although mine was not the rare Cosrsa model. And that cool Abarth exhaust sound!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9oxpdX ... F0bw%3D%3D

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John Kish
1971 240Z - original owner