The name Stanguellini might not ring a bell today, but back in the day it was a very well-known brand in the world of sports cars and motor racing. Stanguellini, to all intents and purposes, was the first Italian tuner, modifying cars like Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Fiat for racing.

The founder of the company Vittorio Stanguellini wasn’t exactly Enzo Ferrari, but he managed to achieve significant success in motorsport, including class wins in Mille Miglia, Targa Florio, and Sebring. He also tried Le Mans, but given the scale of his operations he never managed anything better than fourth place, which is still respectable.

Like other Italian car makers that set up shop in Modena back in the 50s and 60s, Stanguellini began making road going cars to finance their motorsport projects. And again, like other Italian sports car makers of the time, they created some true masterpieces.

Stanguellini was obsessed with using Italian parts for his cars, and almost everything he made used Fiat components. He also benefited from works of local design experts such as Bertone and coach builders like Carrozzeria Reggiano.

In many ways Stanguellini can be considered the Italian Lotus, for their desire to reach performance through lightness. With engines from Fiat 500s and 750s, their cars kinda needed to be light.

To understand and appreciate the significance of Stanguellini’s work you best pop by their dedicated museum in the outskirt of Modena where there is a display of their finest road cars as well as racing heroes. But don’t despair if you can’t make it. We’ve been down there and brought these pictures as souvenir…