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Ferrari 340 America Vignale Coupé - the surprising transformations of a super sports car

Name: Ferrari 340 America Vignale Coupé 1952
Brand: Ferrari

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Created on November 28, 2020

Text:

Bruno von Rotz

Photos:

Daniel Reinhard

David Newhardt - courtesy Mecum Auctions

Bruno von Rotz

Vincent von Rotz

Bonhams

FCE Media

Courtesy Bonhams

Archiv

Daniel Reinhard

David Newhardt - courtesy Mecum Auctions

Bruno von Rotz

Vincent von Rotz

Bonhams

FCE Media

Courtesy Bonhams

Archiv

Ferrari 340 America Vignale Coupé (1952) - largely in Le Mans 1952 configuration

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Ferrari 340 America Vignale Coupé (1952) - suitable for the road, but also for Le Mans

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Ferrari 340 America Vignale Coupé (1952) - according to design critics, the shape is not one of Michelotti's best works

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Ferrari 340 America Vignale Coupé (1952) - the shape was designed by Giovanni Michelotti

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Ferrari 340 America Vignale Coupé (1952) - the coupé weighed around 930 kg at the time

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Ferrari 340 America Vignale Coupé (1952) - right-hand drive with large wooden steering wheel

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Ferrari 340 America Vignale Coupé (1952) - actually looks pretty comfortable for a racing car

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Ferrari 340 America Vignale Coupé (1952) - a four-speed gearbox is fitted

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Ferrari 340 America Vignale Coupé (1952) - the mighty Lamppredi 4.1-liter V12 engine

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Ferrari 340 America Vignale Coupé (1952) - longitudinally mounted V12 engine with 60 degree angle

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Ferrari 340 America Vignale Coupé (1952) - the V12 is said to produce 260 hp at 6500 rpm

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Ferrari 340 America Vignale Coupé (1952) - with the Le Mans starting number 14

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Enzo Ferrari with the 125 S in the factory courtyard (1947)

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Ferrari 225 S (1951) - prototype of the Tuboscocca Coupé with a displacement of 2560 cc, a predecessor of the 340 America Coupé in terms of style

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Ferrari 340 America Spider Superleggera (1951) - magnificent Barchetta

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Ferrari 340 America (1951) - the engine is admired at the 1951 Paris Motor Show

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Ferrari 340 America Spider Superleggera (1953) - Barchetta

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Ferrari 340 (1953) - the 4.1-liter engine in Marzotto's car

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Ferrari 340 (1953) - the 4.1-liter engine

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Ferrari 340 America (1953) - at the Concours d'Elegance, Monti's Ferrari, winner in one discipline

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Ferrari 212 Inter Cabriolet Vignale (1951) - at the 1951 Turin Motor Show

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Ferrari 340 America Touring Berlinetta (1951) - at the Concours d'Elégance Schloss Bensberg Classics 2016

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Ferrari 340 America Touring Barchetta (1950) - at the Concours d'Excellence Lucerne on September 17, 2016

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Ferrari 340 America (1951) - Class G 84 - Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este 2019

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Ferrari 340 America Vignale Coupe Speciale (1951) - offered as lot 152 at the Bonhams Quail Lodge auction on August 15/16, 2019

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Ferrari 340 MM (1953) - Auto e Moto d'Epoca in Padua 2019

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Ford (1962) - Advertisement showing a Devin-bodied Special, in the USA in 1962 (English)

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Ferrari 340 America Vignale Coupé (1952) - strassen-, aber auch Le-Mans-tauglich

Ferrari 340 America Vignale Coupé (1952) - die Form gehört gemäss Designkritikern nicht zu den besten Werken Michelottis

Ferrari 340 America Vignale Coupé (1952) - die Form stammt von Giovanni Michelotti

Ferrari 340 America Vignale Coupé (1952) - rund 930 kg brachte das Coupé damals auf die Waage

Ferrari 340 America Vignale Coupé (1952) - rechtsgelenkt mit grossem Holzlenkrad

Ferrari 340 America Vignale Coupé (1952) - sieht für einen Rennwagen eigentlich ziemlich bequem aus

Summary

It's hard to imagine, but this Ferrari was once rediscovered under a Devin plastic body, fitted with a Chevy V8 engine. It took part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1952 and is worth millions today, although it changed hands for 200 dollars in 1990. This vehicle report follows the traces of a special Ferrari Coupé and shows it in many pictures.

This article contains the following chapters

More displacement for more power
Many body variations
The Vignale coupé 0202A
Test by Road & Track
Racing car for the road
Accidents and conversions
Back to the beginnings

Estimated reading time: 7min

Preview (beginning of the article)

Enzo Ferrari managed to do what many others failed to do. He built a sports and racing car company and it survived the difficult early days as well as the following seven decades. In the early 1950s, just under 100 cars a year left the buildings in Maranello, but they were among the world's best sports and racing cars. The variety of types, engine variants and body styles was enormous and would have driven any company optimizer to white heat. But Enzo Ferrari kept coming up with new makes to win in racing and earn the money with the fast production cars that enabled him to race at the top in the first place.

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