This week we take you on a journey through the wonderful world of the Vignale Ferraris, all but one sketched by the amazing artist Giovanni Michelotti and translated into metal by Alfredo Vignale and his crew of talented panel beaters. Our photographers are Michael T. Lynch, Alessandro Gerelli, Hugues Vanhoolandt and Jonathan Sharp; in addition we have never-before-published color images of Vignale Ferraris in the era, taken by Robert F. Pauley and his brother at a number of events in the early 1950s.
By Pete Vack
The relationship with Michelotti coincided with Enzo Ferrari’s desire to change coachbuilders. Luigi Chinetti Sr. had con¬vinced Ferrari to construct a series of road cars and Chinetti was sure they could be sold in the U.S. Vignale could under-price and out-produce Touring, Ferrari’s main coachbuilder, and apparently Ferrari liked Michelotti’s ideas.
It was fine with Alfredo as well. “For Vignale, each new Ferrari chassis was analogous to the sculpture’s block of marble, a new challenge to his ability to give concrete form to his flight of fancy…” wrote Marcel Massini in his book “Ferrari By Vignale”. Vignale’s first Ferrari rolled out of the shop in 1950; about 156 Ferrari bodies were built, and after 1954 Vignale gradually stopped producing bodies for Ferrari and instead concentrated on the new Maserati 3500 as Ferrari teamed up with Pinin Farina for a new line of Ferraris.
Below: 20 delectable Vignale Ferraris by Serial Number