1967 ASA 1000 GT

Enzo Ferrari insisted that road cars wearing his name should be endowed with 12-cylinder power, yet the allure to expand his income stream to support its core racing activities led to a smaller displacement option in 1959. Just like the Dino never wore a Cavallino Rampante badge, the four-cylinder 'Ferrari' was not marketed as a Maranello product. The prototype example, which would eventually become known as the ASA 1000 GT, was shown on Carrozzeria Bertone's stand at the Geneva Show in 1961 under the name 'Mille' ('one thousand' in Italian). Ultimately, Enzo Ferrari decided not to sell the car as a 'Ferrari,' rather entrusting production to one of his friends named Oronzio de Nora.

Autocostruzioni Societa per Azioni, or ASA, was created by racing drivers Gerino Gerini, Lorenzo Bandini, and Giancarlo Baghetti. They recruited the Ferrari engineer Giotto Bizzarrini to join them, along with Oronzio and Niccolo de Nora, father-and-son Ferrari clients who owned a company manufacturing electromechanical components. Unofficially known as the Ferrarina, meaning 'little Ferrari' in Italian, the project began with a model internally known as 854, a designation sourced from its 850cc four-cylinder engine. The ASA models were powered by inline-four and straight-six engines derived from the Gioacchino Colombo-designed '250' 3-liter Ferrari V12 engine. The chassis was developed by Giotto Bizzarrini and used a similar tubular frame chassis design that he had created for the 250 GTO.

The 850cc four-cylinder engine had a bore and stroke of 65 x 64mm and breathed through two Weber 38DCO carburetors. Dubbed the Tipo 122, it offered 68 horsepower at 7,000 RPM. This engine was soon followed by the Tipo 125 and 126 engines. The Tipo 126 engine had a 973cc displacement and delivered 86 horsepower at 7,000 RPM. The final engine design, completed in 1960 and called the Tipo 141, had a 1,032cc displacement with a bore and stroke of 69 x 69mm. It used single overhead camshafts, two Weber 38DCOA carburetors, a 9:1 compression ratio, and delivered 100 horsepower at 7,200 RPM.

The 'Mille' was an entirely new car based on the 854, wearing a two-door fastback coupe design created by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Bertone but certainly inspired by contemporary Ferrari GT models.

The ASA 1000 GT appeared in 1962 at the Turin Show and production began in 1964, ultimately less than 100 ASA 1000 GTs were built during its three-year production lifespan. The cars were well-engineered with attractive styling by Giorgetto Giugiaro but were far too expensive. It was estimated that upwards of 5,000 examples could be produced annually, but the Ferrari factory was unable to handle this kind of volume production, and Enzo Ferrari was reluctant to expand to cope with these production capacities. So before the Turin debut of the Mille, Ferrari entrusted the production of the 'Ferrarina' to Oronzio de Nora and his son, Niccolò de Nora.

The production version of the ASA 1000 GT was virtually identical to the 'Mille' prototype when it debuted in 1962 at Turin. Its tubular spaceframe chassis was suspended by a live axle at the rear and double wishbones at the front. Coil springs, anti-roll bars, and tubular dampers were used front and rear, along with disc brakes of the type used on the Ferrari 250 GTE. The four-speed Alpine gearbox included Laycock overdrive on the two top gears. The coupe bodywork was formed from steel with the hood and trunk lids made from aluminum. Weighing approximately 1,720 pounds, the ASA 1000 GT was able to sprint from zero-to-sixty mph in 14 seconds.

ASA built at least two fiberglass-bodied convertibles with one of them being shown at the 1962 Turin Auto Show alongside the coupe. No more than 17 examples were factory Spiders.

Despite the low production, future models were planned and several racing variants were built. The ASA 1000 GTs contested the 1965 Targa Florio, finishing as high as 3rd and 4th in class. That October, a 'Berlinetta 411' version of the 1000 GT with alloy coachwork and an enlarged engine was displayed in Paris. Its enlarged 1,092cc engine produced 104 bhp at 7,500 and the bodywork was formed from aluminum. To reduce weight even further, the windows were Plexiglass. Additional competition features included wider tires and a competition gas filler. At least two examples contested the 1965 Targa Florio where they placed 17th and 22nd overall, and 3rd and 4th place in the 1000-1600cc prototype class.

Four fiberglass-bodied competition cars dubbed the RB613 or 'Roll Bar 1300' wore aerodynamic bodies designed by Luigi Chinetti Jr. and manufactured by Carrozzeria Corbetta. The 'RB' abbreviation in the name was from the chassis's integrated roll bar, and the '13' was from its 1.3-liter straight-six engine. Luigi Chinetti's North American Racing Team entered one ASA RB613s at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans and the other example that 'toed the line' was a factory entry. At the 1967 Daytona 24 Hours, the NART entered RB613 was driven by Suzy Dietrich and Donna Mae Mims to a 24th place finish. These two ladies later drove the ASA for NART in the 1967 Sebring 12 Hours, finishing 25th.

Enzo Ferrari was a very busy man during the late 1950s and early 1960s, with his competitive racing program, road car production, and entertaining bids from the Ford Motor Company to buy the company. He eventually declined their offer in the 11th hour, birthing the famous 'Ford v. Ferrari' that led to the Ford GT40 capturing victories at Le Mans from 1966 through 1969. Enzo's attempt to move down-market with the 'Ferrarina' ultimately proved unsuccessful, despite their Ferrari DNA, Bizzarrini/Chiti engineering, and Giugiaro design.

by Daniel Vaughan | Nov 2021