The $290,000 Mignatta Rina Coupe Nobody Saw Coming

Automobili Mignatta was barely a name in the car world a year ago. Now the small Italian company is taking its $290,000 Rina Barchetta to the Goodwood Festival of Speed and already has a second model in the works. A Coupe is coming, and the first sketches suggest it could steal attention from the open-top car.

The Barchetta heading to Goodwood wears silver paint with subtle green tones and plenty of forged carbon fiber. The material appears around the headlights, behind the front wheels, and along the side skirts. More of it is found inside on the door panels, rollover hoops, dashboard, and steering wheel.

Deep green and white leather adds some color to the cabin, but the gated manual shifter is hard to ignore. Its exposed mechanism mixes solid stainless steel with composite materials. Mignatta also uses billet-machined aluminum for the speedometer surround, center console, and climate controls. Clearly, this isn't a cabin built from an off-the-shelf parts catalog.

The Coupe isn't ready to show its face yet, but Mignatta will bring design sketches to Goodwood. The drawings reveal a flowing double-bubble roof and a shape that feels straight out of the 1960s. There's more than a hint of Ferrari 250 GTO in the profile, and the hardtop may end up looking even better than the Barchetta.

Both versions use a Ford-sourced 5.0-liter naturally aspirated V8 tuned by Italtecnica Engineering to produce around 500 hp. A six-speed manual sends power to the rear wheels through a limited-slip differential. No hybrid system and no complicated drivetrain tricks. Sometimes a big V8, three pedals, and a pretty Italian body are enough.