Celebrating the Art of Italian Coachbuilding
Celebrating the Art of Italian Coachbuilding
The Fiat 8V Vignale chassis 000080 designed by Michelotti.
The Fiat 8V chassis 000080 by Vignale is one of the most distinctive and captivating variations on the rare 8V platform, thanks to its lineage that traces back to one of the boldest show cars of the 1950s: the Demon Rouge. Designed by the brilliant Giovanni Michelotti and bodied by Vignale, the Demon Rouge—or “Red Devil”—was a unique expression of automotive artistry. It debuted at the 1955 Turin Auto Salon, where its dramatic, almost rebellious styling drew widespread attention. Dressed in black and crimson, it featured a long, tapered nose with headlamps cleverly integrated within an oval grille, and no bumpers to break up the car’s flowing aerodynamic lines. Most controversial was its roofline: a Plexiglas panel that extended to a lip over the rear window, intended to improve visibility in poor weather. Inspired by the Demon Rouge’s reception, Vignale and Michelotti created a more refined variation on its themes: the car built on 8V chassis no. 106.000080. This version preserved many of the original’s bold cues—such as the striking front-end layout and sculpted doors—but replaced the experimental roof with a more conventional fastback design. The new roof featured a wraparound rear window with thin pillars, echoing Michelotti’s contemporaneous work on Ferrari berlinettas. The hood retained the elegant, tapered chromed air intake, while the rear was neatly truncated, forming small fins at the ends of the rear fenders. Inside, the car was minimalist yet purposeful. The red-lacquered dashboard was fully instrumented, paired with a wood-rimmed steering wheel and competition-style bucket seats upholstered in pleated leather. Vignale’s craftsmanship shone through in the fine details, including flush-fitting door handles operated by push buttons, reminiscent of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL. Delivered new in November 1955 to Giuseppe Gattai in Viareggio, Italy, the car eventually traveled through Belgium to Erich Traber’s esteemed Swiss collection. It was later restored with a color scheme inspired by the Demon Rouge—black roof and body stripe, matched interior—and eventually joined a U.S. collection alongside two other coachbuilt 8Vs, a fitting home for such a rare and evocative machine.
Among the rarest expressions of postwar Italian automotive design, the Fiat 8V Démon Rouge occupies a distinct and intriguing space. Built in 1955 by Carrozzeria Vignale and styled by the prolific Giovanni Michelotti, this one-off Berlinetta stands not only as a creative outlier within the Fiat 8V lineage but as a bold statement of mid-century design philosophy at its most experimental.
In March 1952, Fiat surprised the world at the Geneva Motor Show with the Fiat 8V. A two-seater sports car that was also designed as a racing car. What was surprising was that Fiat had not shown any interest in re-entering the racing scene up to this point.
