This is a wire frame 1:2 scale sculpture of the Ferrari 166 MM by Allegretti de Modène, a firm headed up by Mario Allegretti – a Modena-based coachbuilder who worked on the Maserati 250F and the A6GS in the 1950s, before fabricating coachwork for the Ferrari 250 chassis.
Allegretti would turn some of his attention away from building the bodies of actual cars and focus it on some interesting art projects – most notably a series of large-scale wire sculptures like the one you see here. He continued making them right the way through until the 1980s, and they’re now highly collectible.
There are few cars from Ferrari’s early history more important than the 166 MM, it won many of the major races of the time, and helped establish the still-new Italian automaker as a force to be reckoned with. Image courtesy of Ferrari.
The Ferrari 166 MM is inarguably one of the Italian marque’s most important early cars. It was named in Ferrari tradition after the displacement of one of its cylinders, 166cc, and “MM” for the Mille Miglia – Italy’s famous 1,000 mile road race.
The 166 MM was developed as a sports racing car for long distance competition where it would prove highly successful, winning the Mille Miglia, the Targa Florio, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and helping to establish Ferrari as a globally-respected manufacturer of successful sports and sports racing cars.
In total, there would be 25 examples if the Ferrari 166 MM built, they were powered by the advanced 2.0 liter Colombo V12 which sent power back through a 5-speed manual transmission to the rear wheels. The car had a steel frame onto which the alloy body was fitted, over a Superleggera frame.
“Superleggera” was a method of constructing car bodies that was pioneered by Carrozzeria Touring, the name simply means “Super Light” in English. Superleggera cars have a thin steel-tube “body frame” which is attached to the chassis, the lightweight aluminum alloy body panels are then fixed to this frame.
It’s not dissimilar to the way in which fabric was stretched over a wooden frame in early aircraft construction, resulting in a strong and lightweight structure. In fact, some believe that Carrozzeria Touring’s Superleggera system was directly influenced by aviation.
By the end of its competitive period, the Ferrari 166 MM had won a total of 35 major races, with 39 additional class wins. It announced Ferrari’s arrival on the world stage, and the company never left.
This model measures in at 7 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 22 inches tall. It was built to 1:2 scale, and it includes headlights, taillights, racing roundels, seats, and even a steering wheel.
The sculpture of the 166 MM shown here is an original Allegretti de Modène example, it’s finished in red and it features the racing number “22” in roundels on either door and the trunk lid. Inside you’ll find a pair of simple seats and a steering wheel, it also has headlights, taillights, and dual Brooklands-style windscreens.
This unusual work of art is now being offered for sale on Bring a Trailer out of Napa, California with no reserve and a bill of sale and you can visit the listing here. It’ll likely end up in the hands of a Ferrari collector for very obvious reasons, though it would also make an excellent dealership display.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
