Buying an Italian exotic in the Sixties was an appealing but iffy prospect for Americans. Dealership networks weren't quite what they are today, and qualified mechanics were hard to come by, to say the least.
So for a while there were several Italian carmakers that used American-sourced engines. Intermeccanica, along with the better-known Iso and De Tomaso, took this approach; and this car, the Italia Spyder, was first exported to the US in 1968.
Source: http://www.carbuzz.com/