Ferraris from the company’s early days aren’t as famous as they should be; everybody should know about cars as stunning as this 1952 Barchetta, a car built by Enzo specifically for (and to impress) Henry Ford II.
The vehicle was different to other barchetta-style Ferraris of the time, sporting a longer wheelbase, hidden exhausts whose tips were the only parts visible and a very unusual touch: the whitewall tires.
As Jay Leno explains in the video presentation of the car posted below, all of it (including the tires) is original and untouched; even the paint is the same dark military-style green that Ferrari originally applied.
Now preserved and cared for the the Petersen Automotive Museum, the car runs like a charm, featuring one of the smoothest sounding old V12 to ever soothe the ear – a 2.7-liter unit with three Webber carbs and a single overhead cam; it’s not loud but it just sounds so satisfyingly mechanic in its running.
It even lacks a fan for cooling since it was originally conceived as a racing engine; you can imagine it doesn’t do stop and go city traffic too well.
By Andrei Nedelea
VIDEO