The ultimate italian coachbuilder site
The ultimate italian coachbuilder site
In the 1963 Ford presented the Cougar II concept build by Vignale. This very handsome two-passenger GT sports car would have made a timely contender to the popular Corvette String Ray
The Ford Cougar II Vignale features a fiberglass body made by italian coachbuilder Vignale, electrically-operated top-hinged doors, “pop-up” headlamps, and a serious, fully instrumented interior. Powertrain was a high-performance 260 cu. in. V-8 engine that connected a four-speed transmission with a console-mounted gearshift lever. It was claimed that the Ford Cougar II Vignale was engineered to reach speeds in the 170 miles-an-hour range. When interior air pressure exceeded 15 pounds per square inch, a reliefpanel across the rear of the passenger compartment opened automatically. This panel was required, since there was the possibility that at high speeds, the extreme pressure against the rear window might blow it out. This beautiful candy-red car still exists today.
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.
