1969 Intermeccanica Italia Spyder Is Our Bring a Trailer Auction Pick of the Day

• This Intermeccanica Italia Spyder is a genuine work of art from the 1960s, easier to afford than a Ferrari of the era and yet redolent of its own glorious history.

• Plus, just look at it.

• The car is up for auction on Bring a Trailer, and bidding is at $100,000 with six days to go. The auction ends on Monday, February 28.

This is no Faux-rari. The Intermeccanica Italia Spyder is original 1960s artwork that rarely comes up for sale and yet is many lifetimes more attainable than the museum pieces from Maranello, Italy. Put your fingerprints over this fast and confusing convertible if you can check your ego and memorize a script. Every stop in this red sports car will provoke a lengthy conversation, so the next owner who buys this 1969 model on Bring a Trailer—which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos—needs to be extra patient.

Intermeccanica was founded in 1959 by a Canadian couple who, like anyone who visits Italy for the first time, fell madly in love with the country. Frank and Paula Reisner were beatnik 20-somethings, originally from Hungary and Czechoslovakia, buzzing around in a Fiat 500 and camping in the woods. Italmeccanica was a supplier to Fiat. Frank liked the name, changed it to Intermeccanica, and apparently without any trademark complaints, the couple started an aftermarket parts company in Turin. Building carburetors and exhausts ignited a deeper passion to craft custom bodies on a supplied chassis—a true carrozzeria or coachbuilding company like a Bertone or Pininfarina. After their modified Puch 500 beat an Abarth in a race, Abarth himself got so angry he demanded Fiat revoke Puch's contract with Intermeccanica. The company had made its mark.