Ferrari 166 S
Encyclopedia
- See also the 166 InterFerrari 166 InterThe Ferrari 166 Inter was Ferrari's first true grand tourer. An evolution of the 125 S and 166 S racing cars, it was a sports car for the street with coachbuilt bodies. The Inter name commemorated the victories claimed in 166 S models by Scuderia Inter. 37 166 Inters were built from 1948 through...
GT car
The Ferrari 166 S was an evolution of Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...
's 125 S
Ferrari 125 S
The Ferrari 125 S was the first vehicle produced and built by automaker Ferrari of Modena, Italy. Although preceded by Enzo Ferrari's Auto Avio Costruzioni 815 of 1940, the 125 S was the first vehicle to bear the Ferrari name when it debuted on May 11, 1947 at the Piacenza racing circuit...
sports race car that became a sports car
Sports car
A sports car is a small, usually two seat, two door automobile designed for high speed driving and maneuverability....
for the street in the form of the 166 Inter
Ferrari 166 Inter
The Ferrari 166 Inter was Ferrari's first true grand tourer. An evolution of the 125 S and 166 S racing cars, it was a sports car for the street with coachbuilt bodies. The Inter name commemorated the victories claimed in 166 S models by Scuderia Inter. 37 166 Inters were built from 1948 through...
. Only 39 Ferrari 166 S's were produced, soon followed by the production of the 166 Mille Miglia (MM) which was made in much larger numbers from 1949 to 1952. The 166 MM were in fact updated 166 S and were the cars that score many of Ferrari’s first international victories and made Ferrari a serious competitor on the racing industry. It shared its Aurelio Lampredi
Aurelio Lampredi
Aurelio Lampredi was an Italian automobile and aircraft engine designer.Born in Livorno, he began his career at Piaggio, makers of the Vespa scooter, but quickly moved up to larger engines...
-designed tube frame and double wishbone/live axle
Live axle
A live axle, sometimes called a solid axle, is a type of beam axle suspension system that uses the driveshafts that transmit power to the wheels to connect the wheels laterally so that they move together as a unit....
suspension with the 125. Like the 125, the wheelbase was 2420 mm long. 39 examples were produced from its introduction at the Turin Motor Show in 1948 to its retirement in 1950. It was replaced by the 2.3 L 195 S
Ferrari 195 S
The 195 S was a racing sports car produced by Ferrari in 1950. Introduced at the Giro di Sicilia on April 2, 1950, it was similar to the 166 MM also run at that race. The two cars, one open and one closed coupe, shared that car's 2250 mm wheelbase but sported an enlarged 2.3 L version...
in 1950. The first 166 Inter was designed by Touring's chief stylist, Carlo Anderloni. 166 S competition models were generally coachbuilt by Carrozzeria Allemano
Carrozzeria Allemano
Carrozzeria Allemano was an automobile coachbuilder in Turin, Italy, owned by Serafino Allemano. Allemano made various cars based on their own designs, and in some cases, externally made designs, such as those by Michelotti...
.
The 1.5 L Gioacchino Colombo
Gioacchino Colombo
Gioacchino Colombo was an Italian automobile engine designer.Colombo was born in Legnano. He began work as an apprentice to Vittorio Jano at Alfa Romeo. In 1937, Colombo designed the 158 engine for the Alfetta and caught the attention of Enzo Ferrari. Ferrari asked Colombo to design a small V12...
-designed V12
V12 engine
A V12 engine is a V engine with 12 cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of six cylinders, usually but not always at a 60° angle to each other, with all 12 pistons driving a common crankshaft....
engine of the 125 was changed, however, with single overhead camshafts specified and a larger 2.0 L (1995 cc/121 in³) displacement. This was achieved with both a bore and stroke increase, to 60 by 58.8 mm respectively. Output was 110 to 140 hp (82 to 104 kW) at 6,000 rpm with one to three carburettors.
Motor Trend Classic
Motor Trend
Motor Trend is an American automobile magazine. It first appeared in September 1949, issued by Petersen Publishing Company in Los Angeles, and bearing the tag line "The Magazine for a Motoring World". Petersen Publishing was sold to British publisher EMAP in 1998, who sold the former Petersen...
named the 166 MM Barchetta
Barchetta
A barchetta was originally an Italian style of open 2-seater sports car which was built for racing. Weight and wind resistance were kept to a minimum, and any unnecessary equipment or decoration were sacrificed in order to maximize performance....
as number six in their list of the ten "Greatest Ferraris of all time".
Examples
Nine 166 Spider Corsas and three 166 Sports were built. The oldest Ferrari car with an undisputed pedigree still in existence is VIN#002C, a Model 166 Spider Corsa which was originally a 159 and is currently owned and driven by James GlickenhausJames Glickenhaus
James Glickenhaus is an American investment professional at Glickenhaus & Co., the finance firm started by his father, Seth Glickenhaus. He was formerly a movie director before entering the finance world....
. #0052M, a 1950 166 MM Touring Barchetta was recently uncovered in a barn and was shown in public for the first time since 1959 in the August 2006 issue of Cavallino magazine.
Racing
Ferrari 166 racing cars won Mille MigliaMille Miglia
The Mille Miglia was an open-road endurance race which took place in Italy twenty-four times from 1927 to 1957 ....
in both 1948 and 1949, driven by Clemente Biondetti
Clemente Biondetti
Clemente Biondetti was an Italian auto racing driver.-Biography:Born in Buddusò, Sardinia, into a working class family, Biondetti began racing motorcycles in 1923 but in 1927 turned to automobiles...
and Giuseppe Navone the first year and Biondetti and Ettore Salani the next. In 1949 the 166 also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining...
in the hands of Luigi Chinetti
Luigi Chinetti
Luigi Chinetti was an Italian-born racecar driver, who emigrated to the United States during World War II and became an American citizen....
and Lord Selsdon, and the Targa Florio
Targa Florio
The Targa Florio was an open road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 and 1973...
, with Clemente Biondetti
Clemente Biondetti
Clemente Biondetti was an Italian auto racing driver.-Biography:Born in Buddusò, Sardinia, into a working class family, Biondetti began racing motorcycles in 1923 but in 1927 turned to automobiles...
and Igor Troubetzkoy
Igor Troubetzkoy
Prince Igor Nikolayevich Troubetzkoy was the driver of the first Ferrari to ever compete in Grand Prix Motor Racing. He drove a 2-litre Ferrari "Tipo" 166 in Monaco on May 16, 1948. Earlier that year he had won the Targa Florio with the Ferrari 166 Sport Allemano Spyder...
, making it the only car ever to win all three races. The same year, another 166 won the 1949 Spa 24 Hours
Spa 24 Hours
The Total 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event held annually in Belgium at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. Conceived by Jules de Their and Henri Langlois Van Ophem just one year after the first 24 Hours of Le Mans, the race was run under the auspices of the Royal Automobile Club Belgium...
.
A 166 chassis, this time with the bigger 195 engine, won the Mille Miglia again in 1950 with drivers Giannino Marzotto and Marco Crosara.
Cited in song
The 166 was memorialized in song by RushRush (band)
Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...
on their Moving Pictures
Moving Pictures (album)
- Personnel :* Geddy Lee - Bass guitar; Minimoog; Oberheim 8-voice synthesizer; OB-X, Moog Taurus bass pedals, vocals* Alex Lifeson - Electric and acoustic guitars, Moog Taurus...
album. The song, "Red Barchetta
Red Barchetta
"Red Barchetta" is a song by rock band Rush from their album Moving Pictures.-Synopsis:The song describes a future in which many classes of vehicles have been prohibited by "the Motor Law"...
", a futuristic story of man against an oppressive society, was inspired by Richard S Foster's "A Nice Morning Drive", a short story published in November, 1973 issue of the magazine Road and Track. In the original article, the protagonist drove an MGB
MG MGB
The MGB is a sports car launched by MG Cars in May 1962 to replace the MGA. Introduced as a four-cylinder roadster, a coupé with 2+2 seating was added in 1965...
. A former MGB owner himself, Rush lyricist Neil Peart
Neil Peart
Neil Ellwood Peart , OC, is a Canadian musician and author. He is the drummer for the rock band Rush.Peart grew up in Port Dalhousie, Ontario . During adolescence, he floated from regional band to regional band in pursuit of a career as a full-time drummer...
exercised a little artistic license in changing the hero's car from an MGB to the car of Peart's dreams, the Red Barchetta, providing the song an eminently more stylish name.