All Vignale Ferrari's consist of very many body-panels that form themselves to the Ferrari-chassis that is underneath it. Almost all designs originate from Giovanni Michelotti and were built in aluminium. The designer Michelotti worked closely with Alfredo Vignale, one of the newest coachbuilders in Turin; the pair had worked together at Stabilimenti Farina.
This most attractive high performance, open cockpit Ferrari Sport Spider completed its initial factory road test in the Appenine foothills around Maranello on 28th May 1952, before being shipped to its first owner, the Portuguese Ferrari agent Joao A. Gaspar of Oporto. He had the car registered on Portuguese license plates – ‘GD -18-48’ – and sold it to his fellow countryman and motor sports enthusiast Vasco Sameiro, of Lisbon.
The Ferrari was painted yellow and on 22nd June 1952, it made its motor racing debut – driven by Vasco Sameiro in the Portuguese Grand Prix for sports cars, run around the streets of Oporto.