Davide puts the spot on Fiat 500 Custom Models - Part 14: 500 Vignale Gamine

A “young girl” from the 1930s – this is how Alfredo Vignale fancied his Fiat 500 and so he called it “Gamine”, which means “young girl” in French. This car embodied the style of the 1930s with its all-around wheel wells, the headlamps that stuck out of the wings and the impressive radiator grille, which accentuated the long bonnet and made the little car almost look like a higher class vehicle. To implement this design feature, the rear seat was removed while maintaining the sedan-type body.

The Vignale Gamine is a two-seat spider – this is how roadsters are called in Italy – boasting an elegant black fabric top, various fancy features that made it stand out and more comfortable seats compared to the regular sedan. Superficially, only a very few details gave a hint of its better-known brother; among them were the round odometer from the 500 F, the wheels and the rear lights. Special options on offer included a steel-framed resin hardtop for 90,000 lira, a black steering wheel with a leatherette cover for 14,000 lira, a chromed luggage rack for 8,000 lira and a cigarette lighter for 5,000 lira.

Vignale was a company founded in 1946 by Alfredo Vignale, one of the most renowned Italian automobile manufacturers of the 20th century. Magnificent models for brands such as Ferrari, Lancia and Cisitalia originated from Viginale’s production halls. Vignale also made custom models based on the Fiat 500 and Fiat 600, many of them designed by Giovanni Michelotti, a brillant automobile designer.