You’d be hard-pushed to pick two better examples of iconic Ferrari imagery than these two cars, both marketed by marque-specialist David M. Gizzi of Euro-Classics in Carmel, California.

While the later car’s futuristic, hyper-functional aerodynamics and extraordinarily powerful 3.0-litre V10 are now taken for granted, don’t underestimate the technical impact in war-torn Europe of the 166 MM, itself a multi-cylinder tour de force, and just as dominant in sportscar racing as the Schumacher-era car was in F1.

The 166 earned its ‘MM’ suffix to celebrate Biondetti’s win in a cycle-winged car in the 1948 Mille Miglia. Its Gioacchino Colombo-designed, 1995cc V12 proved a flexible, sophisticated modern design in a world of long-stroke, big-capacity sixes. For 1949, celebrated coachbuilder Carrozzeria Touring completed the famous Barchetta roadster bodywork you see here – a perfectly proportioned style maintained by Ferrari for much of the early 50s.

That year, Touring-bodied 166 MMs won the Mille Miglia, Targa Florio and – most importantly – the first post-War Le Mans 24 Hours. In 1950, the small roadster proved a tough competitor in short-circuit ‘airfield’ racing, in Great Britain and the USA, as well as in the classic tests of endurance such as Sebring, the Mille Miglia and Le Mans.

This very car (seen above, on the Mille Miglia retrospective) competed in the 1950 Mille Miglia (Serafini/Salani, 2nd overall, 2nd in class), the Le Mans 24 Hours (driven by the previous year’s victor, Luigi Chinetti) and, with World Champion-to-be Alberto Ascari behind the wheel, the Targa Florio and at Silverstone where Ascari was the outright winner.

Its 1950 racing record includes:

Silverstone - Ascari, 1st
Targa Florio - Ascari/Salani, DNF
Mille Miglia - Serafini/Salani, 2nd overall and 2nd in class
GP Luxembourg - Villoresi, 2nd
Coppa della Toscana - Serafini/Salani, 1st overall
Le Mans 24 Hours - Chinetti/Dreyfus, DNF
Coppa d'Oro delle Dolomiti - Cornacchia, 3rd overall and 3rd in class
Giro delle Calabria - Serafini, 1st
Coppa Adriatica - Petrobelli, 3rd in class

Ferrari Classiche-certified, it has subsequently competed in the Mille Miglia retrospective event many times.

The modern Ferrari F1 car isn’t just a ‘Schumacher-era’ Grand Prix car, it’s a genuine ex-Schumacher chassis, one in which the great driver won at Imola, Zeltweg, Magny-Cours and finished second at Monaco. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello then used the car for a fourth at Hockenheim and a second at Spa.

This was the era of total dominance by the pairing of Ross Brawn and Schumacher. In 2002, it was an almost total close-out with either of the Scuderia’s drivers winning every round bar two, Schumacher’s final tally being a then record-breaking 11 wins, five seconds and a solitary third place. The Scuderia’s Constructors’ Championship-winning margin was a crushing 129 points, and the Drivers’ World Championship was over after the French GP, with six races still to run.

The following year, Schumacher won again, but not at such a canter. Although he was to repeat another record-breaking run of wins in 2004 (13 – quite incredible), 2002 was the year when the Schumacher-Ferrari bandwagon really started rolling.

Between them, the 1950 Ferrari 166 MM and 2002 Ferrari F2002 perfectly book-end just over 50 years of racing dominance by the most magical – and collectable – name in motoring.

For further information, visit www.euro-classics.com, email [email protected] or call +1 831 626 6050.

You can see all of David Gizzi's cars for sale in the Classic Driver car database.

Text - Steve Wakefield
Photos - Euro-Classics