The ultimate italian coachbuilder site
The ultimate italian coachbuilder site
Introduced in 1957, the 3500 GT coupé of the Touring body-maker was a great commercial success for the trident firm and so it seemed obvious to accompany the coupe with a spider version.
Designed by Giovanni Michelotti and built by Vignale, the spider, with a coupe loom 100mm shorter, was introduced at the 1959 Turin Exhibition already with rotating front breaks that were to become standard starting from 1960. Introduced in 1957, the 3500 GT coupé by Touring Superleggera was a great commercial success for the trident firm and so it seemed obvious to accompany the coupe with a spider version. A first Touring convertible prototype was shown at the 1958 Turin Motor Show. But it was a proposal by Carrozzeria Vignale (designed by Michelotti) shown at the 1959 Salon de l’Auto in Paris that went into production as 3500 GT Convertibile. The Convertibile did not feature Touring’s Superleggera construction, but rather a steel body with aluminium bonnet, boot lid and optional hard top; it was also built on an 10 cm shorter wheelbase, and weighed 1,380 kg. Front disc brakes and limited slip differential became optional in 1959, and were standardized in 1960; rear discs became standard in 1962.
Photo courtesy of Hyman Ltd.
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.
