Celebrating the Art of Italian Coachbuilding
Celebrating the Art of Italian Coachbuilding
The Siata Super Testa 500 Sport Spider by Carrozzeria Vignale.
The Siata Super Testa 500 Sport Spider by Carrozzeria Vignale was a limited-production sports spider constructed in Italy circa 1939–1940. Based on a modified Fiat 500 “Topolino” platform, the vehicle was developed by Siata (Società Italiana Auto Trasformazioni Accessori) and bodied by Carrozzeria Vignale of Turin. The model represents one of the earliest collaborations between a specialist mechanical tuning firm and a coachbuilder known for stylistic refinement on compact chassis. The mechanical base employed the Fiat 500’s front-mounted, water-cooled inline four-cylinder engine, originally displacing 569 cc. In the Super Testa configuration, Siata replaced the standard cylinder head with a performance-oriented aluminum component, added a twin-carburetor setup, and revised compression. Estimated power output was raised from approximately 13 to 22 horsepower in standard tuned form, with certain examples reportedly reaching 28 to 30 horsepower. Power was transmitted to the rear axle via a four-speed manual gearbox. Suspension retained the Fiat’s transverse-leaf setup at the front and a swing axle with semi-elliptic springs at the rear. Drum brakes were fitted to all four wheels. The spider bodywork was executed by Carrozzeria Vignale in lightweight aluminum. The form was compact, open, and low to the ground, with a shortened wheelbase and reduced overhangs. Notable styling elements included cut-down sides, cycle fenders, exposed headlamps, and a minimal folding windscreen. The body was mounted on a tubular or modified pressed-steel chassis structure. The seating layout was strictly two-seat, with a small fuel tank and spare wheel mounted at the rear. Production was extremely limited. Archival sources and coachbuilder registries suggest a total of no more than five examples were built. Each was constructed individually and exhibited slight differences in detail and finish. No factory records confirm serial numbering, and no comprehensive registry of chassis numbers has been located. One surviving example has been documented in historical exhibitions, but ownership records are incomplete. The Siata Super Testa 500 Sport Spider by Vignale is representative of the prewar Italian practice of adapting utility-class mechanicals into limited-run sporting applications. It reflects both Siata’s early engineering ambitions and Vignale’s formative stylistic experimentation prior to postwar series production.
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.
