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 Stepping outside the norm for a moment, first by posting multiple reference photos of the 'mystery car', and secondly by choosing a car so rare  - only 4 ever produced - that it eliminates a lot of 'casual' guesses.

 

I'll offer up-front that the photos concentrate on this car's one externally visible, innovative & radical design feature, that it is Italian, and I'll mention that it had a disproportionate influence on race car design, in the sense that many copied this feature, but soon abondoned it because it proved to be a completely wrong-headed solution to the problem it supposedly addressed.

 

Please give us the make of the car and more importantly, please identify the coach builder - and identify the feature that so distinguishes this charming little car..

 

JZG

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No, not a Scaglietti body/product nor his design, No, not an ALFA, and Yes,  the '57 and later 'privateer' Testa Rossas had very similar cut-away front fenders.Good ol' Enzo caused a bit of controversy when he claimed that his Maranello-based racing department came up with the idea of the cut-away front fender to increase the topspeed of the 'privateer' TRs in '56, thus making them more attractive for well-heeled customers to buy & race. Actually iit was a case of shooting himself in the foot, because the little blue car shown here was a 1100cc capacity GT with a topspeed of about 110mph, not a 180mph three-liter LaMans racercar, and on such a fast car the design compromised the stability of the TRs due to aerodynamic front-end lift, something which simply wasn't a factor in the small enclosed car. 

 

Hint - the coachbuilder in question was responsible for some of the most memorable and elegant very early Ferraris, prior to Ferrari's long affiliation with Pinifarina, and when you see the entire car, you'll instantly recognise the 'signature look' of the Carrozzeri in question.

 

.....thanks for playing

 

JZG

 

 

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1952 OSCA MT4-AD Le Mans Vignale? When I was small, I had an Italian diecast toy of the MT4 but I seem to recall it was the more conventional Barchetta version. I thing the Vignale one won the 1954 12 hour Sebring race with Stirling Moss and A N Other at wheel, against far larger engined cars. 

 

Wilson

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You've got it.

 

What a delightful little car.  The first image shows the placard every car in the casual, free 'Concours-on-the-Avenue', part of the annual Monterey Car Week, must display - so visitors can tell what they're looking at.

 

The other photos show how succesfully & convincingly Vignale managed to make the diminutive Coupe look like a perfectly well-proportioned, real Ferrari GT.

 

Your turn, Wilson

 

JZG

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Two more images to more fully illustrate this rare, significant and utterly charming little car.

 

JZG

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Apologies for the delay guys, been a very busy week. Anyway here is your next one. 

 

Wilson

 

 

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Fiat Abarth 695 Biposto 

 

dunk

 

I think between you it's near enough. It is my wife's 160BHP version of the Abarth 595 (I think the 695 has 180 BHP). Quite a remarkable little 16 valve DOHC engine, supposedly developed with assistance from Ferrari, which even though it is only 1400cc with quite a large blower, has less turbo lag than my 997 Turbo S. The Italians must have special versions of the Euro drive past noise meters. The 595 is pretty noisy from outside although fairly quiet inside. Having been lent a Twin Air 500 when the Abarth was having its first service, my wife actually admitted I was correct in persuading her to get the Abarth instead. The only downside is its ICE, where it has no screen, only an FM radio not DAB and no Bluetooth. I think this may just have been corrected with an updated model but we bought this as an ex-demo, with 400 miles on the clock and got a great deal on it. 

 

Wilson

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Edited by wlaidlaw
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Ok, here we go:---

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Edited by Manoleica
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Ok, here we go:---

 

I think you need to make that image a bit larger, by cropping the original and resizing to XXXpx x 1024px. On my 15" MBP, it is barely visible and could be anything. 

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I think you need to make that image a bit larger, by cropping the original and resizing to XXXpx x 1024px. On my 15" MBP, it is barely visible and could be anything. 

Apologies  -- will do

 

 

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Edited by Manoleica
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