During WWII Enzo Ferrari had decided to develop his own competition cars and in 1946 commissioned Gioacchino Colombo to come up with a small-capacity V12 engine. The resulting 1.5-litre Tipo 125 unit was designed with light weight and compact dimensions in mind and found its way into the first model 125 Sport chassis in 1947, the car being given its competition debut on May 11th at Piacenza, driven by Franco Cortese. Development, driven by competition, was rapid and by August of 1947 Colombo had increased the engine’s capacity to 1.9 litres to create the 159 Sport, given its debut at Pescara driven once again by Cortese. On October 12th Raymond Sommer took victory in Turin with the 159 Sport to give Ferrari its first international race win.
For 1948 engine capacity was taken up to a full 2 litres and the resulting Tipo 166 would become Ferrari’s first series-production model. Initially, the factory concentrated on competition chassis to be raced by the Work’s team (or wealthy private clients) and in April 1948 Ferrari won the Targa Florio then a month later took victory for the first time in the Mille Miglia. Subsequently, 166 chassis built for competition use were denoted by the ‘MM’ suffix. Early in 1949 production began on the first proper touring cars, designed primarily for road use and given the title ‘166 Inter’ along with an ‘S’ suffix for the chassis number. These first 166 Inter chassis tended to be bodied by Touring and then Farina and were of a slightly longer wheelbase than the later cars.
By late 1949 another coachbuilder was commissioned to produce a series of coachwork for the 166 Inter – Alfredo Vignale had been a superintendent at Stabilimenti Farina but had set up his own workshops in 1946 and in 1949 was joined by a young stylist, also ex-Farina – none other than Giovanni Michelotti. The first Michelotti design for the 166 was the ‘Coupe Grand Sport’, a low, compact 4-light coupe with a distinctive crease along the flanks and a chrome grille that extended from the bumper line to the top edge of the nose. Several short-chassis 166 Inters built through 1950 shared this basic design, with various individual detail differences, starting with 045 S and ending with 0071 S.
This car, chassis number 0069 S, is one of these Vignale-bodied 166 Inters and began its build on 15th September 1950, being completed 22nd January 1951 and was delivered to its first owner Inico Bernabei in Rome. Bernabei was a driver of some note in Italy, the highlights of his career probably being 2nd place on the Targa Florio in 1950 driving a 166 MM and 3rd the following year driving a Maserati A6GCS. He later also drove a 340 America and a 250MM amongst others. Later in 1951 the car moved to France and appeared at the Cannes concours d’elegance. The car is also rumoured to have taken part in the Liege-Rome-Liege Rally at some point in the 1950’s and although no details can be found, the presence of Halda timing equipment in later photographs would suggest the car might have seen some competition use.
The next owner noted in the documented history is Fred Herdeen of New York in 1959. Mr. Herdeen was an active member of the Vintage Sports Car Club of America, helping to organise race meetings in his region, and was an early member of The Ferrari Club of America, recorded in their archives as being present with 0069 S at the third annual meeting of the club at Indianapolis in 1966. The 166 was noted as the earliest car in attendance and won the award for the farthest distance travelled to the event. There is also cine film of the Herdeens with the car at Bridgehampton for the 500km race there in September 1964.
In 1975 0069 S was purchased by Alvin Meyer who was sales manager at Modena Sports Cars in New York. He would go on to own the car until the late 1980’s and during his ownership several colour photographs were featured in Antoine Prunet’s definitive book ‘The Ferrari Legend: The Road Cars’.
Over the next decade the 166 made its way to the UK via the Antipodes and Zimbabwe and in 1998 was sold to Pierangelo Masselli in Italy. Mr. Masselli, a successful businessman in the solar power industry, is also a serious Ferrari collector and keen amateur racing driver and took part in the Mille Miglia with 0069 S in 2002 and 2003. The car’s next owner was Kazumi Araki in Japan who enjoyed the car at La Festa Autunno in 2011, based in Tokyo and organised by the team from Mille Miglia. He was also in attendance at Suzuka in 2012 for the Ferrari Racing Days event.
The car then returned to the UK and spent time in the collections of two further owners in London and the Channel Islands before passing to its’ most recent custodian who has used the 166 successfully on the Mille Miglia in both 2023 and 2024. Throughout this period the car has been regularly maintained by renowned experts GTO Engineering with numerous invoices on file, with the most recent works including gearbox, clutch and distributor rebuilds.
0069 S is an important part of Ferrari’s early history, having been built right at the beginning of the firm’s move towards road car construction. It also represents an outstanding combination of designer and coachbuilder which resulted in extremely elegant bodywork clothing the competition-proven chassis. This early series of Vignale berlinettas laid the foundation for Ferrari’s reputation as a builder of the World’s most beautiful GT cars. Having been maintained regardless of cost for over a decade by one of the UK’s leading Ferrari specialists this 166 performs as beautifully as it looks, as evidenced by its’ successful participation in the gruelling Mille Miglia for the last two years, and is ready to take a lucky new owner on any number of similar events, shows or concours around the World.