The ultimate italian coachbuilder site
The ultimate italian coachbuilder site
The introduction of the Fiat 600 in 1955 meant the start of the era of Italian mass mobility. For the first time in their lives many Italians could afford to have their own motor car. In 1957 the market was broken open even further with the introduction of the Fiat 500, the successor of the Fiat Topolino.
The 500 did not seem to have received much enthusiasm from Vignale. In 1957 the spider ‘Mickey mouse’ was presented, followed in the next year by the Minnie, a coupe version of the little spider. It lasted almost 10 years before the Fiat 500 returned in the Vignale catalogues as the Vignale Gamine.
The story of Carrozzeria Vignale represents one of the many somewhat forgotten success stories born against the backdrop of an Italy that was torn apart by the Second World War and which, starting from the end of the 1950s, was able to recover enough to know a real miracle. economical just a few years later.
