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Chassis:
The fifth of nine Siata 208 chassis bodied with a Coupe body by Balbo, chassis CS069 is believed to have been displayed at both the Geneva and Turin shows in 1953. It was soon after sold to aspiring Californian George Arents Jr. through Tony Pompeo, whose New York based dealership specialised in Italian sports cars. Arents began his racing career in the Siata in 1955 and would go to be one of the founders of the North American Racing Team (NART). In 1956 the delicate Fiat V8 was replaced by a Ferrari four cylinder engine and the car was raced in this guise with considerable success. Arents and a subsequent owner from North Carolina competed in around 50 races.
Following its contemporary racing career, the lovely Balbo Coupe suffered the fate of so many old cars; it was left to rot. Many years later, Italian sports car specialist John de Boer acquired the remains of the car, complete with the body that had been cut into four pieces. He tracked down the original gearbox and engine but never got around to restore the car. The current owner bought the car from De Boer in 2006 and entrusted the big restoration project to 'Strada e Corsa' in The Netherlands. Focusing on the car's mechanicals, they left the reconstruction to Italian specialists 'Quality Cars'. Preserving as many original parts as possible, the laborious work was finally completed early in 2011, which was just in time to show the car at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este in May of that year.
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208 CS Balbo Coupe
