767cc Inline 4
4 Speed Manual
Rear Engined Rear Wheel Drive
Hydraulic Drums
25 bhp 37 Ft-Lb
Exterior Light Blue Interior Light Blue and White
In the well established tradition of the Italian car industry in the 1950s, 1960s, and into the 1970s, Italian Carrozerie built inventive, beautiful, and sometimes truly unique coachbuilt versions based on the underpinnings of standards cars manufactured by Fiat, Lancia, etc. The Fiat 750 Vignale Coupe is one of these “ecceterini”, being one of a few Vignale bodied low production coachbuilt interpretations of what the pedestrian Fiat 600 could be. Based on the later 600D, with the larger 767cc engine, although still diminutive in size, the Vignale design extended the length both in front and in back over the original dimensions of the base 600. Construciton of these, cars, however, started with the shell of the unibody Fiat complete with suspension and drivetrain, at which point the unnecessary parts of the body were cut off and the new body was fabricated to fig what was left. Built in small numbers, the cars generally featured upgraded trim as compared to the base Fiat, but being small production cars were often hand built and tended to vary from one car to the other.
This example was sold new in Italy and was imported into the United States by the previous owner. Somewhere along the line it received some Abarth badging though I have not found any documentation to verify whether there are any Abarth components aside from the badges. The car had some restoration work and an older, inexpert repaint carried out in Italy, though likely in its original colour and, aside from the potentially incorrect badging, it is a complete, driveable example of a very rarely seen variant, especially in the United States. Driving the car is not significantly different from driving other Fiat 600 variants. They are all surprisingly useable cars, especially in the city, for their size and engine displacement, though at 6 feet tall, I’m a bit too tall to comfortably drive this car, due to its lower roof line, as compared to the standard model. This problem, however, doesn’t apply to Amy, for whom this car is perfectly sized, and it fits solidly in with her love of small underpowered cars.
