The Vignale Ferraris

Back in the days when buying, no make that ordering a car was a committed experience, one determined the make, model and the next decision was who would be the coachbuilder.  Hard to imagine, huh?  Pre-impulse shopping.  At Ferrari one had choices of Pininfarina, Zagato, Scaglietti, Bertone, Vignale and more less popular coachbuilders.  This year the Cavallino Classic is honoring the coachwork of Vignale.1949 Ferrari 166 Inter Vignale Love the roman numerals and RM (reverse mode?)

Interesting tidbit on the 166 models, the odd serial numbers were for road cars while the even numbers were reserved for racing models.  “Inter” was used by Ferrari to distinguish cars which were not specifically built for the track, though many spend time there.

In 1946 Alfred Vignale created Carozzieria Alfredo Vignale in Turin, Italy.   They focused primarily on limited production models from Fiat, Cunningham, Lancia, Maserati and the world class Ferraris.  A Vignale Registry of all makes and models does exist with a wealth of information online.  Let’s take a look at a few more models.1953 Ferrari 250 MM Spyder Vignale 1951 Ferrari 212 Export Vignale Same model, different car.

Ferrari built 82 versions of the 212 and Vignale was in charge of 37.  My husband and I were talking about the distinctions of a Vignale car versus something else and it was hard to come up with one characteristic like the double hump on a Zagato.  Here are some versions of the 212 model by other coachbuilders, what do you come up with?1952 Ferrari EL Inter Ghia Coupe 1951 Ferrari Export Fontana 1952 Ferrari 212 Europa PF (Pininfarina) Coupe

My distinction is the Vignale models have flowing curves which results in a sexier car.  Not that the Export Fontana isn’t exciting, but it’s a racing model.