|
Vignale Gamine
The Vignale Gamine is a small rear-engined car produced by Carrozzeria Vignale from 1967 to 1970, based on the Fiat 500, also known as Nuova 500. Unlike the 500, however, the Gamine had an open-top Roadster structure and only two seats. Styling was by Alfredo Vignale. The Gamine is sometimes related in design to the Fiat 508 Balilla. A hard-top was offered at an extra cost, and is considered these days to be quite rare. It was powered by a 2-cylinder, air-cooled engine of 499.5 cc from the Fiat 500 sport, the sporty version of the 500, and an engine later to be offered on the 500F. There was only one engine version producing . A top speed of 97 km/h (60 mph) was claimed according to official data. The Gamine never sold very well. In fact, the slow sales drove Carrozzeria Vignale out of business, forcing Alfredo Vignale to sell his production line to De Tomaso De Tomaso Automobili ltd. (previously known as De Tomaso Modena SpA) is an Italian car-manufacturi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vignale
Vignale is the luxury car sub-brand of Ford Motor Company used in automobiles sold in Europe.Ford Vignale: The history behind Vignale, Ford's new luxury division on Auto Express, 28 Mar 2016 The former company Carrozzeria Alfredo Vignale was an Italian established in 1948 at Via Cigliano, , by Alfredo Vignale (1913–69) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rear-engine, Rear-wheel-drive Layout
In automotive design, an RR, or rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout places both the engine and drive wheels at the rear of the vehicle. In contrast to the RMR layout, the center of mass of the engine is between the rear axle and the rear bumper. Although very common in transit buses and coaches due to the elimination of the drive shaft with low-floor buses, this layout has become increasingly rare in passenger cars. Overview Most of the traits of the RR configuration are shared with the mid-engine rear-wheel-drive, or MR. Placing the engine near the driven rear wheels allows for a physically smaller, lighter, less complex, and more efficient drivetrain, since there is no need for a driveshaft, and the differential can be integrated with the transmission, commonly referred to as a transaxle. The front-engine front-wheel-drive layout also has this advantage. Since the engine is typically the heaviest component of the car, putting it near the rear axle usually results in more ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiat 500
The Fiat 500 ( it, Cinquecento, ) is a rear-engined, four-seat, small city car that was manufactured and marketed by Fiat Automobiles from 1957 until 1975 over a single generation in two-door saloon and two-door station wagon bodystyles. Launched as the ''Nuova (new) 500'' in July 1957, as a successor to the 500 "Topolino", it was an inexpensive and practical small car. Measuring long, and originally powered by a 479 cc two-cylinder, air-cooled engine, the 500 was smaller than Fiat's 600, launched two years earlier, and is considered one of the first purpose-designed city cars. In 1959, Dante Giacosa received a Compasso d'Oro industrial design prize for the Fiat 500. It was the first time when it was awarded to an automotive industry. In 2007, the 50th anniversary of the Nuova 500's launch, Fiat launched another Fiat 500 (2007), new 500, stylistically inspired by the 1957 Nuova 500, featuring a front-mounted engine and front-wheel drive. In 2017 Fiat celebrated the 60 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rear-engined
In automobile design, a rear-engine design layout places the engine at the rear of the vehicle. The center of gravity of the engine itself is behind the rear axle. This is not to be confused with the center of gravity of the whole vehicle, as an imbalance of such proportions would make it impossible to keep the front wheels on the ground. Rear-engined vehicles almost always have a rear-wheel drive car layout, but some are four wheel drive. This layout has the following features: *Packaging: since there is no need for a transmission tunnel, the floor can be flat. *Rear traction: having the engine located over the driven wheels increases downward pressure, which is helpful for grip on loose surfaces, although can be prone to oversteer. *Simplicity of manufacture: the engine is near the driven wheels, and the transmission can be merged with the differential to save space. This layout was once popular in small, inexpensive cars and light commercial vehicles. Today most car makers have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roadster (automobile)
A roadster (also spider, spyder) is an open two-seat car with emphasis on sporting appearance or character. Initially an American term for a two-seat car with no weather protection, usage has spread internationally and has evolved to include two-seat convertibles. The roadster was also a style of racing car driven in United States Auto Club (USAC) Championship Racing, including the Indianapolis 500, in the 1950s and 1960s. This type of racing car was superseded by rear-mid-engine cars. Etymology The term "roadster" originates in the United States, where it was used in the 19th century to describe a horse suitable for travelling. By the end of the century, the definition had expanded to include bicycles and tricycles. In 1916, the United States Society of Automobile Engineers defined a roadster as: "an open car seating two or three. It may have additional seats on running boards or in rear deck." Since it has a single row of seats, the main seat for the driver and passenger w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiat 508
The 508 Balilla was a compact car designed and developed by Fiat in 1932. It was, effectively, the replacement of the Fiat 509, although production of the earlier model had ceased back in 1929. It had a three-speed transmission (increased to four in 1934), seated four, and had a top speed of about . It sold for 10,800 lire (or 8,300 2005 euro). About 113,000 were produced. The car was also assembled by Walter Motors a.s. in Czechoslovakia, in the Centralne Warsztaty Samochodowe factory in Poland, by NSU-Fiat in Germany and by "SAFAF" (rebranded in 1934 as "Simca-Fiat") in France. Background The car was developed by some of the leading Italian automotive engineers of the day, including Nebbia, Fessia and Tranquillo Zerbi. The goal was to incorporate some of the qualities of a high class automobile into a modestly priced vehicle. The car had its unveiling on 12 April 1932 at a motor show being held on the Fiera Milano trade fair site. Etymology The popular 508 baby Fiat small ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
De Tomaso
De Tomaso Automobili ltd. (previously known as De Tomaso Modena SpA) is an Italian car-manufacturing company. It was founded by the Argentine-born Alejandro de Tomaso (1928–2003) in Modena in 1959. It originally produced various prototypes and racing cars, including a Formula One car for Frank Williams's team in 1970. Most of the funding for the automaker came from de Tomaso's brother-in-law, Amory Haskell Jr, Rowan Industries. In 1971, Ford acquired an 84% stake in De Tomaso from Rowan with Alejandro de Tomaso himself holding the balance. Ford would sell back their stake in the automaker in 1974 to Alejandro. The De Tomaso brand was acquired in 2014 by Hong Kong based Ideal Team Ventures and in 2019, the newly formed company presented their first product, a retro-styled sports car called the P72. The blue and white stripes of the logo's background are the colors of the national flag of Argentina. The symbol in the foreground that looks like a letter "T" is the cattle br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
De Tomaso Pantera
The De Tomaso Pantera is a mid-engine sports car produced by Italian automobile manufacturer De Tomaso from 1971 to 1992. Italian for "Panther", the Pantera was the automaker's most popular model, with over 7,000 manufactured over its twenty-year production run. More than three quarters of the production was sold by American Lincoln-Mercury dealers from 1972 to 1975; after this agreement ended De Tomaso kept manufacturing the car in ever smaller numbers into the early 1990s. History The Pantera was designed by the Italian design firm Carrozzeria Ghia's American-born designer Tom Tjaarda and replaced the Mangusta. Unlike the Mangusta, which employed a steel backbone chassis, the Pantera's chassis was of a steel monocoque design, the first instance of De Tomaso using this construction technique. The Pantera logo included a T-shaped symbol that was the brand used by De Tomaso's Argentinian cattle ranching ancestors, as well as a version of the Argentinean flag turned on its side, i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cars Of Italy
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as the birth year of the car, when German inventor Carl Benz patented his Benz Patent-Motorwagen. Cars became widely available during the 20th century. One of the first cars affordable by the masses was the 1908 Model T, an American car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. Cars were rapidly adopted in the US, where they replaced animal-drawn carriages and carts. In Europe and other parts of the world, demand for automobiles did not increase until after World War II. The car is considered an essential part of the developed economy. Cars have controls for driving, parking, passenger comfort, and a variety of lights. Over the decades, additional features and controls have been added to vehicles, making them progressively more complex. These i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cars Introduced In 1967
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as the birth year of the car, when German inventor Carl Benz patented his Benz Patent-Motorwagen. Cars became widely available during the 20th century. One of the first cars affordable by the masses was the 1908 Model T, an American car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. Cars were rapidly adopted in the US, where they replaced animal-drawn carriages and carts. In Europe and other parts of the world, demand for automobiles did not increase until after World War II. The car is considered an essential part of the developed economy. Cars have controls for driving, parking, passenger comfort, and a variety of lights. Over the decades, additional features and controls have been added to vehicles, making them progressively more complex. These i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
