Ferrari 166 MM

1948 Ferrari 166 MM

To commemorate their first major success at the prestigious 1948 Mille Miglia, Ferrari upgraded their successful 166 Sport and made a series of cars called the 166 MM. These contributed more than any other previous type, scoring many of Ferrari's first international victories and established the company as a serious manufacturer of sports cars.

For their new series, Ferrari outsourced production of the bodies to specialist companies like Touring of Milan who made almost 25 roadsters using their patented Superleggera technique. It fixed aluminum-alloy panels directly to a tubular space frame which was both light and rigid. Touring's roadster was the first to be nicknamed 'Barchetta' which was Italian for little boat. Afterwards, other chassis and bodies of similar shape adopted this name.

Ferrari's first coupes were built as 166MMs. The very first of these was a very unique Zagato Panoramica Speciale built on chassis 0018M. It was closely followed by three Touring Berlinettas made for the 1950 LeMans.