Just Cool Cars: '53 custom-built Fiat is a rare treat

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — The world may seem filled with little Fiats nowadays, but some are more special than others.

This 1953 Fiat 1100 Allemano Cabriolet, designed by Giovanni Michelotti, is the perfect example. It couldn't be more rare. Only one other cabriolet and a sedan like it exist today, according to its history for the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance where we came across it.

The custom-built Fiat is distinctive because of its "shark nose" and split grille.

Appraiser Donald Osborne of Palm Springs, Calif., tracked it down in Italy. "It was hiding in plain sight," he says. It was later bought by a friend, and he was able to get it in the hands of its current owner, William Scheffler of Westport, Conn.

Osborne says the car had clearly "suffered over the years," making it the perfect candidate for a full restoration. It was a painstaking process, though, requiring a lot of detective work along the way to bring the model back to the shape it was in for the Turin Auto Show in Italy in the 1950s.

Scheffler says he was attracted to the car by its classic lines.

"Very discreet, very subtle but very pretty," he says.