1949 Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta

Barchettas won the 1949 Mille Miglia and LeMans, and made Enzo Ferrari famous as a builder of refined, race-winning cars. Enzo Ferrari launched the 166 Mille Miglia, named after the 1948 Ferrari victory in the Mille Miglia and bodied by Touring Superleggera, at the 1948 Turin Salon. It caused a sensation with its elegant and innovative design. Journalist Giovanni Canestrini declared it looked like a Barchetta, Italian for 'little boat.'

Ferrari's 166 designation derives from the displacement of a single cylinder of its engine. The initial 166S (Sport), evolved from its 125S race car, the first built by the automaker. With its lightweight body, the 166MM became Ferrari's most potent example of this type. In 1949, Luigi Chinetti and Peter Mitchell-Thomson, 2nd Baron Selsdon, won Le Mans with it (Thomson raced for only one hour to comply with the second driver rule).

The 1995cc all-alloy V12 engine is fitted with triple Weber carburetors and develops 140+ horsepower and is mated to a five-speed manual transmission. The car's purity of form and timeless beauty are legendary.

This Barchetta (serial 0022M, engine 0020M) was completed in May 1949 and was the 9th of 25 built. Sold in August it became the first Ferrari shown at a concours; this lusso Barchetta appeared at the concours d'Elegance lido in Venice in September 1949 and it won first place in Group 18. It is the next to last 1949 'short hood' Barchetta, and it is known to have raced in eleven (possibly twelve) events in Italy, Monte Carlo and Portugal from 1950 to 1953. In 1951, Elio Checcacci and Gianfranco Bardazzi finished tenth overall and third in class in the Targa Florio. Clemente Biondetti, four-time winner of the Mille Miglia, raced this car five or six times in 1952 taking third overall and two firsts in class.

This example participated in the 40th Barchetta Reunion in 1989 and the Colorado Grand.