This little coupé, built by Vignale coachworks in the mid-sixties, was based on Fiat 1300 Berlina (sedan) chassis and engine. It was a cheap way to stand out of the crowd thanks to Michelotti’s design. This model had an engine developed by Giannini. In the sixties the Giannini (founded in 1963) was the Roman response to the Abarth: specialized in "tuning" of Fiat cars.

The 1300 S by Giannini is technically very different from the Fiat 1300: more powerful (66 hp instead of 60) thanks to changes to the cylinder head, the camshaft, the carburettor, the air filter, the exhaust and the final drive ratio, it can reach a top speed of 150 km / h (compared to 140 of the original model).

The fifties were troubling times for coach builders that built their models by hand. Many, like Saoutchik in France, were forced to stop while others survived by specializing to design or expanding and mechanizing their production. But Vignale stayed put, slowly shifting from single orders to increasingly larger series. Especially the designs based on the Fiat 600 and the van versions of the Fiat Multipla must have been rather popular.

Around 1960 Giovanni Michelotti, who always designed for other coach builders as well, slowly concentrated on larger projects while Alfredo Vignale took the road of expanding into more mechanized mass production. Thus in August 1961 the carrozzeria moved to their new premises in Grugliasco, just outside Torino. The new factory in Grugliasco Here, production really started. The last Lancia Appias, the Flavia, the Maserati 3500 GTV and Sebring, and of course the Fiats that were later even produced under Vignale's own name.

The economic decline forces of the late sixties appeared in the end too strong for small coachbuilders like Vignale. The relatively small scale production, quite labour intensive even for that time, made Vignale cars too expensive to attract the large production needed to survive. Alfredo Vignale had to give up and sold the firm to De Tomaso who used the premises to accommodate Ghia's production of the Pantera.

This 1965 Fiat 1300S coupe was the 5th produced, part of a small production run by the Italian coachbuilder Vignale. Power is from a 1,295cc inline-four paired with a four-speed column-shifted manual transmission, and the body is finished in metallic green over a red interior with a “stock” Nardi steering wheel, power-operated front windows, and a push-button radio. The car is first been sold in Italy and spent a year in a Greek collection. Subsequent service included replacement of the crankshaft seal, thermostat, contact pins, and brake lines in 2016 as well as front brake caliper rebuilds in 2020.

Cromodora 13″ CD3 alloy wheels with chrome Fiat center caps are mounted with older 185/70 BFGoodrich tires. A full-sized steel spare is located in the trunk. The brake lines at all four corners are said to have been replaced in 2016, and the front calipers were rebuilt in February 2020.