Weighing in at just 480kg, the Vallelunga Spyder used a 1500cc Ford four cylinder engine coupled to a four-speed Volkswagen gearbox with Hewland internals. Specially prepared in Modena to produce 105bhp, De Tomaso’s claimed top speed of 137mph was probably not far from the truth and this featherweight roadster would undoubtedly have provided exhilarating performance on road or track. De Tomaso went to Carrozzeria Fissore for the Spyder’s bodywork, the Savigliano firm designing and fabricating a portly aluminium shell. At the front, cowled headlights were standard fare for the period but the uncomfortably high waist line was accentuated by agricultural detailing like those tacked on side repeaters. Rounded front wings ran back to a wraparound windscreen that enveloped both driver and passenger in the scantily trimmed cockpit. Fissore’s bulbous rear wings incorporated engine cooling scoops that pre-dated Ferrari’s 250 LM by almost a year.

First displayed during October 1963 at the Turin Salon, the Spyder was finished in a distinctive metallic blue-green whilst mounted on the wall directly behind was a bare chassis exposing the Vallelunga’s innovative underpinnings. Driven by Secondo Ridolfi, the Spider apparently began winning races immediately and we are currently researching the finer points of this cars competition history. Despite remaining a one-off, De Tomaso did get to a fairly advanced stage in offering a more road-oriented version, the Vallelunga ‘Spider a 2 Posti’. Featured in one of the earliest items of De Tomaso sales literature, a 1963 brochure, the 2 Posti was to be priced at $4315. But while this side of the project came to nothing, 1964 would see a Vallelunga Berlinetta enter genuine production.