Mazda Miata based Sammio Spyder

John Chesnut of Elizabethtown, NY, USA is building a Mazda Miata based Sammio Spyder. The Sammio Spyder is a fiberglass kit car developed by Gary Janes of The Sammio Motor Car Company in Holton Heath, Dorset in South West England. It is based on the Lancia D24 Sport Pinin Farina Spyder of the early-1950s. See this picture of a Lancia D24 featuring Juan Manuel Fangio behind the wheel at Sebring in 1954.



While the Sammio Spyder was originally intended to use a Triumph Herald or Vitesse donor car, John has chosen to use the robust, plentiful and inexpensive Mazda Miata as the basis for his Spyder recreation. Here is the donor car John is going to use. As you can see, it has been stripped down to the bare essentials.



Because the Mazda Miata is nearly 6 inches wider than the Triumph Herald, John had to have the body widened. This work was carried out in England by Gary Janes before the body was shipped to the USA.









Although this project is at the very beginning stages, John anticipates having the car completed by May 2012 to display at the Import & Kit Nationals in Carlisle, PA, the largest kit car show in the country. John has set a very ambitious schedule but he has previous experience building kit cars, having just completed a Shelby Cobra kit car. Hopefully the lessons learned building his Cobra will help him along with his new project.



John's Sammio Spyder will feature a tubular steel and sheet aluminum space frame chassis similar to the one that underpinned his Cobra replica and will utilize Chevrolet Corvette suspension components.





No word yet on what engine modifications may be in store but keep an eye on his build thread for more details. I have always loved 1950s Italian Barchettas and I hope that John can pull off this project. The key will be keeping the proportions correct and detailed finish quality. As always, I'll keep you posted.

I will leave you with a very beautiful example of a completed Sammio Spyder built by Trevor Bennett to give you an idea of what is possible with this kit.