Ferrari 166 MM Touring Barchetta 1949, Itália

 

Ferrari 166 MM Touring Barchetta 1949, Itália
Fotografia


Named in honour of Clemente Biondetti’s benchmark victory at the 1948 Mille Miglia in a Ferrari 166 Sport, the 166 MM quickly became one of the era’s most successful sports racing cars, achieving overall victory in 1949 at the Mille Miglia and 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as the 1950 Mille Miglia. Chassis number 0024 M is the 10th of 25 examples originally clothed in the most desirable barchetta coachwork by Touring. Completed in late 1949, the 166 MM was equipped with racing-specification pistons, dual exhaust pipes, and a 100-litre competition fuel tank, yet also trimmed for comfortable street use with a Lusso interior.
Ordered by the Automóvil Club Argentina, the Ferrari was finished in tribute to the Argentine national colours of Avorio (cream/light yellow) and Blue, and made its debut at the 1949 Paris Motor Show. After shipment to Argentina two months later, the 166 MM was driven by privateer Carlos Menditeguy to a commanding win at Mar del Plata on 15 January 1950. Significantly, this was the first sports car win for Ferrari in South America.
Following its brief Argentine sojourn, chassis 0024 M was returned to the factory in Maranello and sold in November 1950 to the Milan-based Luigi Francesco Zaccaria Terravazzi. With co-driver Aprile Palmer, Terravazzi entered the Ferrari in the Mille Miglia on 29 April 1951 and finished 8th in class. 10 days later, Terravazzi sold the 166 MM to Palmer, and the barchetta was campaigned on 3 June 1951 at the Coppa della Toscana and then in the Susa-Moncenisio hillclimb on 21 July, finishing 11th overall.
The Ferrari passed through the care of three more Italian owners over the following five years, eventually receiving new aluminium berlinetta coachwork by Vignale in 1954. In April 1956, the 166 was sold to Los Angeles resident, Theodore Pala. As was the case with many Ferrari race cars of this period, for a time the original drivetrain was removed in favour of a Chevrolet V-8 in order to keep the car on the road. Chassis 0024 M was subsequently profiled in the July 1959 issue of Motor Trend.
In December 1974, chassis 0024 M was sold via marque historian, Stan Nowak, to collector Gary Schonwald. Shortly thereafter Schonwald acquired the matching-numbers engine and gearbox, and removed the Vignale body. In 1986 the car was sold to Connecticut-based dealer Keith Duly, who retained Neil Twyman of Potters Bar, England, to conduct a comprehensive restoration. The mechanical work was entrusted to the respected Jim Stokes, while a new barchetta body in the original Touring style was handcrafted by the well-known body expert Bob Ford.
Following completion in late 1989, the 166 MM was acquired by an enthusiast in Santa Barbara, California who retained possession for six years before selling the car to a Japanese collector. Subsequently the Ferrari was featured as the cover car of the Summer 1996 issue of Prancing Horse magazine. After passing through the care of a second Japanese collector, chassis 0024 M returned to American ownership in March 2008, before being sold to its most recent American connoisseur and world-class Ferrari collector in 2011.
The 166 MM Touring Barchetta has long been among the most sought after of Ferrari’s early sports racers and has aged beautifully as a hand-crafted masterpiece of the marque’s foundational engineering. The one-off original colour scheme that chassis 0024 M once wore—a feature highly valued within the current contemporary market—adds additional punch to the car’s provenance. As the Touring Barchettas have only come up for auction approximately once every five to 10 years, this rare opportunity offers the next owner the chance to acquire an example of the model that achieved two overall victories at the grueling 1,000-mile Mille Miglia. Easy to drive on rallies, and stunning to view on the world’s greatest Concours d’Elegance stages, chassis 0024 M would make a wonderful addition to any serious Ferrari collection.