Coachbuilt on a budget
Coachbuilt bodywork is usually the preserve of the extremely rare and reassuringly expensive elite.
Yet, there are plenty of cars made with bodywork by notable coachbuilders based on some very down to earth models.
Just because a car started out as an Austin Seven, Ford Escort or Volkswagen Beetle, doesn’t mean it can’t have all the elegance of much pricier options.
Here’s our look at some of the best affordable cars with coachbuilt bodies. The list is arranged in alphabetical order.
1. Austin Seven Swallow
The Swallow showed coachbuilt glamour was available, if not to the masses, then certainly the middle class.
Based on a standard Austin Seven chassis from 1927, the more rakish Swallow body was initially offered as a two-seat open-top, with a detachable, aluminium hardtop roof an option from 1928.
The curvier lines of the Swallow gave it a more sporting air over the normal Austin Seven, while the saloon version from 1928 came with a V-shaped windscreen and distinctive ‘pen-nib’ paint scheme on the bonnet.
Revised Swallow models came in 1930 and these led to the formation of SS Cars in 1931, which went on to become Jaguar.
2. Crayford Cortina
Crayford started out converting the Mini into a convertible in 1961, but it was the firm’s work on the Ford Cortina Mk1 that put it on the map.
The Crayford Cortina was unveiled at the 1964 Racing Car Show in London and played to the original car’s clean lines.
Much more than just a chop-top Cortina, Crayford’s car was carefully engineered with a neat roof that stowed almost flush with the rear deck.
Using a two-door Cortina, the Crayford also came with winding rear windows to add to the smooth lines.
3. Dannenhauer & Stauss
The Volkswagen Beetle spawned many coachbuilt spin-offs with varying degrees of success, but one of the most handsome was undoubtedly the Dannenhauer & Stauss.
Using an unmodified Beetle platform, the Dannenhauer & Stauss came with a bespoke body that looked similar to a Porsche 356 from the front, but was more tourer than sports car.
The body was all handmade, a process familiar to Gottfried Dannenhauer with his coachbuilding background.
The company built between 80 and 135 of its Sportkabriolett model between 1950 and 1957, though sales tailed off notably when Volkswagen launched its Karmann Ghia in 1955.
4. Fiat 600 Gentleman
Pietro Fua was not afraid to mix his high-end commissions with work on much more affordable machinery, resulting in cars like the Fiat 600 Gentleman.
Taking the basic Fiat 600, Frua turned it into a Gentleman by crafting a body with a coupé-like roofline and a large, wraparound rear window.
The uncluttered lines of this model were a Frua trademark and its sporty style led to a small run of production models from 1956.
5. Fiat 750 Vignale Spider
Fiats provided rich pickings for Italian coachbuilders looking to transform low-cost cars, and the Fiat 750 Vignale Spider was among the most elegant.
Styled by Giovanni Michelotti, the Vignale Spider was a concerted effort by Fiat to inject some chic into its range using its 600D as a starting point.
While not especially sporting to drive, the 750 Vignale Spider looked the part and came with an engine enlarged to 750cc for improved performance.
Vignale built the Spider for Fiat and also offered Berlinetta and Coupé versions.
6. Fiat 1100 TV Coupé
The Turismo Veloce (TV) Coupé based on the Fiat 1100 saloon was designed and produced by Pinin Farina.
First seen at the 1953 Paris Salon, the Italian coachbuilder grafted its sleek, two-door body on to the Fiat platform, giving it a distinctly American style, albeit in scaled-down form.
A wraparound rear window was another US influence and unusual on a European car introduced in 1953.
Pinin Farina sold 780 of this coupé in three years.
7. Fiat 1500 Coupé Ellena
Carrozzeria Ellena of Turin tended to focus on Ferrari and Lancia, so the Fiat 1500 Coupé Ellena was a rare departure from the norm.
Using the Fiat 1500 as its base, the body of the coupé was not so different in style and form from the coachbuilder’s usual fare.
Sleek lines disguised the smaller size of the car very well, while the fastback looks added purpose without the expense of overly curvaceous glass.
Its 1481cc, four-cylinder engine was enough to see the Fiat 1500 Coupé Ellena to 100mph, which helped the company sell a small number of these models until its demise in 1966.
8. Ford Anglia Spider Frua
Some coachbuilt cars look so good you wonder why they didn’t sell in large numbers. To our eyes, the Ford Anglia Spider Frua is one such car.
Based on the big-selling Ford Anglia 105E, its origins were cheap and offered a sporty, rear-wheel-drive set-up that Italian coachbuilder Frua thought had potential.
The grille clearly acknowledged the Anglia, while the unfussy profile was a match for anything from MG or Fiat.
A simple, fabric roof folded down to reveal a cabin with revised Ford instruments and two seats.
The Anglia Spider was shown at the 1965 Geneva motor show, but sadly the project went no further.
9. Frua Monte Carlo GT
At first glance, this Frua-designed car could be based on a Ferrari or Maserati, yet beneath its crisp shape lies a Ford Escort 1300.
Revealed at the 1971 Salon de Automobile in Paris, the Monte Carlo GT drew plenty of attention for its neat lines and coupé profile.
The twin air intakes in the nose panel were functional and added a sporty touch, along with the dual power bulges in the bonnet.
Only ever a one-off, the Monte Carlo GT was sold to a Swiss woman and was later repainted from its original brown to metallic red.
10. Ghia 1500 GT
Most of Ghia’s designs were marketed under other manufacturers’ names, but not the 1500 GT.
Using a shortened Fiat 1500 platform, the Italian coachbuilder added its own elegant coupé body styled by Sergio Sartorelli.
The sweeping fastback looks gave a sporting appeal that was matched by the car’s 50/50 front-rear weight distribution.
A tuned version of Fiat’s 1.5-litre, four-cylinder engine provided the power and offered a top speed of 110mph.
The 1500 GT was hand-crafted in Ghia’s Turin workshops and it is thought that 846 of these pretty coupés were produced between 1963 and 1967.
11. Innocenti 950 Spider
During his relatively short spell at Ghia, designer Tom Tjaarda was prolific and kick-started his tenure at the Italian coachbuilder with the Innocenti 950 Spider.
Based on an Austin-Healey Sprite, the 950 Spider came with a much more modern look, including small rear fins on the wing tops.
Launched in November 1960, the Innocenti was built by Ghia and went on to sell steadily in Italy, with 6857 Spiders made and a further 794 of the later ‘C’ coupé model.
A handsome hardtop was added as an option in late 1961, while the engine was increased to 1098cc in late 1963 in keeping with the new donor platform from the Austin-Healey/MG Midget.
12. Lombardi Grand Prix
There is some debate about who came up with the shape of the Lombardi Grand Prix, with some citing Giuseppe Rinaldi and others claiming it’s the work of Pio Manzù.
Whoever it was, they did a splendid job of this wedge-profiled featherweight coupé based on the Fiat 850 platform.
Other than its rear-engined layout, the Grand Prix gave nothing away about its humble base thanks to the pop-up headlights, low roofline and Kamm-tail rear.
The car’s light weight helped make the most of the 843cc engine’s modest output, though this was improved in later cars to push the top speed to 100mph – and there was an option with a little more go.
13. MGB Berlinette
Belgian coachbuilder Jacques Coune spotted an opportunity when the MGB was launched as a roadster in 1962 with no closed version as an alternative – the GT wouldn’t arrive until 1965.
Coune unveiled the Berlinette at the 1964 Brussels motor show in January 1964 to give MG buyers the choice of a coupé.
With its faired-in headlights, sloping roof and cut-off tail, the only obvious link to the MGB was that the standard doors were retained.
The roof section was made from glassfibre for ease of production and cost, but the Berlinette still ended up costing twice as much as an MGB Roadster, which proved to be the Coune car’s downfall – only 56 were built by the time the curtain came down on it in 1970.
14. Panther Rio
Panther went to considerable effort to completely replace the bodywork of the Triumph Dolomite to create its Rio mini limousine.
However, even with its rectangular headlights and Rolls-Royce-esque grille, the Rio still looked remarkably similar to the car it was built on.
The hand-formed aluminium skin was made to an exemplary standard, but that came at a high price and a Rio in Especiale trim cost three times as much as a Dolomite Sprint.
The inevitable outcome was the Rio did not sell in great numbers, with only 38 completed.
15. Peugeot 404 Coupé
Pininfarina had already styled Peugeot’s everyday 404 saloon, but the Italian company was given a much freer rein with the Coupé and its Décapotable open-top sibling.
Arriving in 1961, the Peugeot 404 Coupé offered elegant lines with a subtle kick in the top of the rear wing just ahead of the doors.
All of the bodies were built by Pininfarina at its Turin factory and they were then sent to Peugeot’s Sochaux plant to be finished, and both companies insisted on an exceptionally high quality of workmanship for this coachbuilt 404.
Customers could choose from carburettor or fuel injection for the 1.6-litre engine, and both Coupé and Convertible lasted through to 1969, with 6837 and 3728 built, respectively.
16. Philippe Charbonneaux 2CV Coupé
Long before Citroën offered its own 2CV-based coupé with the Bijou, Philippe Charbonneaux presented his take on the idea at the 1955 Salon de l’Auto in Paris.
While there was no mistaking the prominent Citroën badge in the grille, the rest of this 2CV derivative’s sleek body was more haute cuisine than chambre d’hôte.
The work on the body was started by Pacaud but finished by Saint Cloud in Paris, and it used the windscreen from a Simca 9 Sport.
With only a 425cc, twin-cylinder engine from the 2CV, the Coupé was not swift, but its style made it welcome at many concours d’elegance events in the period after its motor show debut.
17. Renault 4CV Roadster by Legros
Legros was Renault’s agent in Belgium, so was well placed to produce its own take on a sporting car from the French car maker.
Using the modest 4CV as its starting point, Legros’ coachbuilders hand-formed the bodywork to replace that of the four-door original.
The outcome was a pared-back two-seater in the barchetta style with cut-down sides in place of doors and a stubby windscreen.
Only a handful of Legros’ roadsters were ever made and most were intended as beach cars or town runabouts for the summer months.
18. Rometsch Beeskow
Johannes Beeskow came up with a sophisticated shape for the Rometsch model that would bear his name.
Using the Volkswagen Beetle as a base, the Beeskow avoided looking much like its donor and was an altogether much classier offering than many other coachbuilt cars on the Beetle platform.
Most Beeskows were convertibles, with a small number of coupés, and they were unusual for the 2+1 seating that positioned the rear passenger at 90 degrees to the front seats.
The quality of the Rometsch Beeskow made it expensive, but that didn’t put off the King of Sweden from being first in the queue to buy one – Audrey Hepburn was another notable customer.
19. Sunbeam Venezia
While Sunbeam had stayed close to home for the coupé conversions of its Alpine by Hove-based Harrington, it struck out further afield for the Venezia.
The Italianate name reflected the car’s design by Touring and it was constructed using the superleggera method with aluminium panels over a tubular steel frame.
Underneath the sleek, two-door body was a Humber Sceptre floorpan and engine, and the Venezia even used the Humber’s stock windscreen.
The Venezia was not particularly quick with a top speed of 100mph when it was launched in 1963.
Most were sold in Italy when new, with production reaching 143 cars by the time the Venezia was withdrawn in 1964.
20. Zagato Mini Gatto
Zagato was among the first to spot the potential in the Mini for turning it into something less proletarian and more glamorous with its Gatto.
The name means ‘cat’ in Italian and it was designed by Ercole Spada to retain all of the agility of the Mini, despite being given a wheelbase 4in (102mm) longer to make the cabin roomier and help with the exterior proportions.
Thanks to the balanced style, there’s not much to give away the Gatto’s underpinnings save for the 12in wheels.
It was planned for production, with racing driver and later owner of Bristol Cars Tony Crook believing he could sell 30 Gattos per week.
However, this came to nothing when BMC refused to sell the Mini components to Zagato.
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