The almost unlimited possibilities of the carrossier
The car in the photo above almost looks like a Vignale-bodied Fiat 8V, doesn't it? Far from it, it's an MG TD, for which Giovanni Michelotti drew a coupé body in 1953, which the sheet metal workers at Vignale then shaped into a masterpiece and finally placed on the TD chassis.
With its free-standing fenders and headlights, the MG TD itself looked more like a pre-war vehicle, but its separate chassis provided a good basis for new bodywork. Michelotti, together with Vignale, also gave the interior quite a makeover.
The result is impressive and looks at least 10 years younger than the original.
In the same year, Michelotti also rebuilt an MG TD with Ghia Aigle. Again, the result was a one-off that looked much more modern than the original TD, but was clearly different from the Vignale TD.
The car was then presented at the Geneva Motor Show and certainly caused a lot of admiration. A small note: the radio was probably added later.
Wouldn't it be great if you could still take your BMW X1 or Jaguar I-Pace to a coachbuilder today, who would design a more modern and appealing body for the "chassis" supplied? Of course, this is largely impossible today, not least because it would be very expensive to register the car afterwards.
P.S. Why did we think of this just now? On the weekend of June 19, 2022, we visited the Michelotti exhibition in Aigle, which is only open for a short time. We have also published a detailed report on this in the meantime.
