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Vignale Gamine

Also known as Fiat 500 Vignale Gamine, Fiat 500 Spider Vignale

An upright chrome grille, separate wings and a cut-down cockpit, styled after a Fiat sports car of the 1930s, on a Fiat Nuova 500 of 1967. It never sold as it was meant to, and it helped bring its coachbuilder down.

Blue open roadster with a tall black and chrome grille, wire wheels and tan seats, seen from the front right.
A blue Vignale Gamine from the front in Sorrento, Italy, in 2021, its vertical grille and round headlamps in chrome.Photo: Викидим, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

The spec plate

Vignale Gamine

Gamine · Turin

Built
1967–⁠1971Shown in Britain at Earls Court in October 1968
Country
ItalyCarrozzeria Vignale, Turin, on the Fiat 500 F
Maker
Carrozzeria Vignale, TurinAlfredo Vignale’s firm, sold to De Tomaso in 1969
Engine
499.5 cc Fiat air-cooled twinThe 500 F’s, at the back
Power
21.5 PS15.8 kW; the 500 Sport’s rating
Length
3,020 mm1,300 mm wide, 1,190 mm high
Weight
450 kgThe register gives 488 kg
Seats
2
Wheels
4Rear engine, rear-wheel drive
Price new
£698Britain, 1968–⁠69: £251 more than a Fiat 500
Production
at least 828Traced by the owners’ register; the total is unknown
Top speed
97km/h97 km/h60 mph; Motor found 55 mph its limit on the level

How big is it?

True proportion

3.02 m

It is 50 mm longer than a Fiat 500, about 1.7 adults laid end to end.

  • 1.30 m wide
  • 450 kg: about six adults
  • About 50 mm longer than a Fiat 500
  • Two seats, an open body and a soft top
Drawn at true proportion. The track is 3.6 metres long; the adult stands at the same scale. The Peel P50 is the smallest production car, on every page for comparison.

The story

History

Alfredo Vignale had put open bodies on the 500 before. His “Spider Miki Mouse” stood at the Turin show of 1957, the year the car came out, and a “Minnie” followed in 1958 (more coachbuilt 500s).1 The Gamine began, by the account of Guus Beliën’s 2024 history of the car, with Osvaldo Geminiani, a Neapolitan who owned G.A.M. in Monte Carlo. He proposed an open two-seater on the 500 and placed the first orders.2 Below The Radar tells it differently, as Vignale’s own idea; the book-based account is the better documented.3

Vignale styled it in the image of the Fiat 508 Balilla Coppa d’Oro, a sporting Fiat of the 1930s, and built it on the floorpan and mechanicals of the 500 F.2 The engine was the 499.5 cc twin at 21.5 PS. English Wikipedia calls it the 500 F’s engine, and Below The Radar the 500 Sport’s; the power is the Sport’s rating.23 There was only ever one engine, a soft top came as standard and a hardtop as an extra; cars with the hardtop are rare today.2 At 3,020 mm (9 ft 11 in) the Gamine is 50 mm longer than the Fiat, the length this site uses to mark out a microcar.2 It went into production in 1967.24

Britain, and £251 extra

British buyers first saw it at the Earls Court show in October 1968. It cost £698 there, £251 more than an ordinary Fiat 500. The importer, Demetriou, sold about 800, some 200 of them in Britain and the rest in other countries that drive on the left.3 The official top speed was 97 km/h (60 mph), but when Motor tested one in the spring of 1969 it found otherwise.23

Underneath it was a 500 F, so it should drive as one: a light car with about 21 PS and a gearbox without synchromesh.2 The sources do not even agree on its weight, 450 kg by English Wikipedia and 488 kg by the register, but either way it weighed less than half a tonne.24

55mph is about the best it can manage on the level.

Motor’s road test, spring 1969, as quoted by Richard Dredge in Below The Radar, 2020.3

The end of Vignale

The Gamine never met its sales targets. Slow sales, and the bankruptcy of Geminiani’s G.A.M., drove Carrozzeria Vignale out of business, and in 1969 Alfredo Vignale had to sell it to De Tomaso, which went on to build the Pantera there.23 Below The Radar says Vignale was killed in a road accident the day after he signed; Ford bought the business in 1973.3 The Gamine itself lasted until 1971.24 When the firm was sold, its production records went too.4

Cream open two-seat roadster from the rear left beside a red and black lorry, on brick paving.
A 1969 Gamine from the rear left in 2010: separate rear wings, cut-down doors and the Fiat’s engine lid.Photo: Alf van Beem, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Pale blue open roadster next to a tiny red one-seat car on purple carpet, a blue police-box prop behind.
A pale blue 1969 Gamine beside a Peel P50 at the NEC in Birmingham in 2023.Photo: Andrew Bone from Weymouth, England, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Pictures

More photographs, old and new

The car 10

  • Yellow open roadster with a tall chrome-framed vertical grille and separate front wings, parked on dry grass. Opens a larger view

    1 A yellow 1969 Vignale Gamine with its hood folded at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2010.

  • Red open roadster with an upright chrome grille in front of spectators lined up along a barrier on a sunny day. Opens a larger view

    2 A red Vignale Gamine drawing a crowd at Brooklands in 2011.

  • Red open roadster with cream seats, wire wheels and Gamine script on its grille, a vase of flowers by its nose. Opens a larger view

    3 A red Vignale Gamine on a show stand at the NEC in Birmingham in 2022.

  • Yellow open roadster with red wings and an upright chrome grille, a show card on the windscreen, on grass. Opens a larger view

    4 A yellow and red Vignale Gamine from the front left at a show in Dorset in 2016, its tall grille between the separate wings.

  • Blue open roadster with tan seats, wire wheels and flowing separate wings, parked on stone paving above a gorge. Opens a larger view

    5 A blue Vignale Gamine in profile in Sorrento, Italy, in 2021.

5 more picturesFewer pictures
  • Yellow open roadster with bright red wings from the rear right, its louvred engine lid and British plate, on grass. Opens a larger view

    6 A yellow and red Vignale Gamine at a show in Dorset in 2016, seen from the rear right.

  • Rear of a coral-pink open roadster with twin exhausts and louvred engine lid, a marshal in orange overalls beside it. Opens a larger view

    7 A red Vignale Gamine from behind at Brooklands in 2011, its Vignale badge on the tail.

  • A small white open roadster with a tall pointed chrome grille and round headlamps, a man and a woman aboard. Opens a larger view

    8 White Vignale Gamine of 1969, DR-39-58, driven towards the camera with two aboard, in April 2010.

  • An orange open roadster with a tall black and chrome grille on a brick street, onlookers and a lorry behind. Opens a larger view

    9 Orange Vignale Gamine, 95-75-GJ, with its driver at a classic-car meeting in the Netherlands, from the photographer’s own 1990s print.

  • An orange open roadster with a tall chrome grille and black alloy wheels on a village road, two people aboard. Opens a larger view

    10 Orange Vignale Gamine of 1970 on a club run in Wijchen, Netherlands, in July 2020, its driver giving a thumbs-up.

Inside and details 3

  • Looking down into a blue open roadster with tan leather seats, a wooden three-spoke steering wheel and a round speedometer. Opens a larger view

    11 Inside a blue Gamine in Sorrento: a wood-rimmed wheel, tan leather seats and the Fiat 500 speedometer.

  • Looking down into a yellow open roadster with two black ribbed seats, a three-spoke wheel and a yellow painted dash. Opens a larger view

    12 Inside a yellow and red Vignale Gamine in Dorset in 2016: two black seats and a body-coloured dashboard.

  • Cream painted dashboard with a black three-spoke steering wheel, one round dial, toggle switches and a mirror on the scuttle. Opens a larger view

    13 The dashboard of a white 1969 Vignale Gamine in 2010: a three-spoke wheel and the Fiat 500’s single round speedometer.

Picture credits (13)
  1. 1 Brian Snelson, CC BY 2.0
  2. 2 Tony Harrison from Farnborough, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0
  3. 3 Phil Parker from Leamington Spa, UK, CC BY 2.0
  4. 4 Andrew Bone from Weymouth, England, CC BY 2.0
  5. 5 Викидим, CC BY-SA 4.0
  6. 6 Andrew Bone from Weymouth, England, CC BY 2.0
  7. 7 Tony Harrison from Farnborough, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0
  8. 8 Alf van Beem, CC0
  9. 9 Erremm, CC BY-SA 4.0
  10. 10 Rutger van der Maar, CC BY 2.0
  11. 11 Викидим, CC BY-SA 4.0
  12. 12 Andrew Bone from Weymouth, England, CC BY 2.0
  13. 13 Alf van Beem, CC0

Variants

One engine, two tops

The Gamine
VariantYearsWhat differsHow many
Gamine1967–⁠1971Open two-seater with a soft top; one engine onlyAt least 828 traced
Gamine with hardtop1967–⁠1971The optional hardtop, now rareNot known

Specification

From English Wikipedia unless noted

Engine and drive

EngineFiat air-cooled twin, 499.5 cc, at the back2
Power21.5 PS (15.8 kW)221 bhp, “from the 500 Sport”, by Below The Radar
GearboxFour speeds without synchromesh, as in the 5002

Body and chassis

BaseFiat 500 F floorpan and mechanicals2
BodyOpen two-seater with soft top; hardtop optional2

Dimensions

Length3,020 mm2
Width and height1,300 mm and 1,190 mm2
Wheelbase1,840 mm2
Weight450 kg2488 kg by the register

Performance and running

Top speed97 km/h (60 mph), official23About 55 mph (89 km/h) on the level in Motor’s test
Price new£698 in Britain, 1968–⁠693

How many were built?

Every figure, with its source

At least 828 builtThe register has traced 828 Gamines in 38 countries, and that is the one firm number. Vignale’s records were lost when the firm was sold, so the true total is unknown, but it cannot be lower than the cars that have been found.

  1. 2,000 or soGamines builtUnconfirmed

    Below The Radar, 20203

  2. 800–900Gamines built, an estimateUnconfirmed

    English Wikipedia2

  3. 828Gamines traced, 517 of them with known chassis numbersOne source

    The Vignale Gamine register, October 20264

  4. about 800sold by the importer in right-hand-drive markets, about 200 of them in BritainOne source

    Below The Radar3

  • Two sources agreetwo good sources give the figure
  • One sourcea good source, alone
  • Unconfirmeda lead only, not yet checked

Famous for

Three points

  1. A baby roadster

    The look of a 1930s Fiat sports car on the running gear of a 1960s 500.

  2. It helped cost Vignale his firm

    Poor sales, and the bankruptcy of the firm that ordered it, forced the sale of Carrozzeria Vignale in 1969.

  3. Found one by one

    With the factory’s records lost, owners have traced 828 cars in 38 countries.

Survivors and collecting

Today

The Gamine’s register began in 1997. By October 2026 it had traced 828 cars in 38 countries, 517 of them with a known chassis number and 311 still without.4 Its owners also gather in a Facebook group, and in 2024 Guus Beliën published Vignale Gamine – Complete Historie in the Netherlands, in Dutch with an English translation.24 No auction results have been gathered for this page.

Red open roadster with whitewall tyres and a vertical chrome grille on a grey plinth, an information plaque before it.
A red Gamine at the Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile in Turin in 2023.Photo: Derbrauni, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sources

Numbered as in the text

Guus Beliën’s 2024 book on the car and the full Motor test of 1969 were not read, and no auction results were gathered. Sources are given as plain text; the links are on the Credits page.

  1. Italian Wikipedia, Fiat Nuova 500, table of derivatives, read in full.
  2. English Wikipedia, Vignale Gamine, read in full. It cites Richard Dredge, Rob de la Rive Box, Encyclopaedia of Classic Cars (1999), and Guus Beliën, Vignale Gamine – Complete Historie (2024), p. 23.
  3. Richard Dredge, “The story of the Fiat 500-based Gamine”, Below The Radar, 6 December 2020, read in summary.
  4. The Vignale Gamine register, vignalegamine.net, read in summary on 7 October 2026.