Italian Startup Automobili Mignatta Teases Roofless V8 Speedster

A few years ago, there was a brief trend of limited-edition supercars that harked back to the sports car racers of the 1950s by doing away with such fripperies as roofs and windscreens. Most of the big names seem to have moved on from this, but Italian startup Automobili Rignatta is hoping to fill that void with its first model, the Rina.

Based in Piedmont in northwestern Italy, not much is currently known about the company or the car it plans to build, but we have had brief glimpses of what it’ll look like. It promises a curvaceous, retro-inspired body with a long, thrusting bonnet and a sharply cut-off tail – almost as if someone’s taken an Alfa Romeo 8C Spider and done away with the windscreen and soft top.

That 8C vibe continues at the rear with its minimalist circular tail lights, although things are a bit different up front: the images shown off so far almost make it look as if the Rina has hidden headlights, although this may just be a product of a render that’s not fully detailed yet.

We also know a little about what lies underneath this body, with Mignatta promising a decidedly analogue experience. Up front will be a V8 engine, but where it’s coming from and what sort of numbers it’ll produce aren’t yet clear. It’ll send power through a six-speed manual gearbox, mounted out at the rear of the car in a transaxle configuration, and there’ll be a mechanical limited-slip diff on the rear axle too.

Plenty of carbon fibre in the body and chassis contribute to a targeted kerb weight of around 1000kg, and Mignatta says there’ll be no infotainment system, or even a radio, to try and make the Rina as driver-focused as possible.

That’s about all we know about it for now, besides the fact that Mignatta plans to limit production to 30 (presumably very expensive) units per year, but we can expect a full reveal on 8 May.