The oldest road-going Ferrari in the world is in the last place you might expect
- The 166 Inter was the first road-going Ferrari ever created
- It was introduced in 1948
- This one, chassis no. 4, is still being driven frequently by the owner
Published on Jul 29, 2024 at 7:35 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Jul 30, 2024 at 6:20 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
This is the Ferrari 166 Inter, the oldest road-going Ferrari ever built.
The one see you here belongs to a couple residing in rural New Zealand.
Believe it or not, they actually use the car nearly every day.
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The Ferrari 166 Inter was designed by Ferrari in 1948 to commemorate the racing victories of the first Ferrari ever built, the 125 S.
Enzo Ferrari, the company’s founder, famously only really wanted to make race cars and didn’t really care about road cars.
This is a well-known fact, and one that’s often used to characterize the personality of Enzo Ferrari.
The eponymous movie Ferrari – starring Adam Driver starring as Enzo Ferrari – told this story quite well.
This also explains – in part – why Ferrari only built 37 of these.
The story behind the oldest road-going Ferrari
This example is believed to be the fourth chassis completed and the second oldest still in existence.
The other one – the oldest ever – is a permanent resident of Ferrari’s museum in Maranello.
The owners of this particular model, Amanda and Philip, are determined to put miles under its tires.
In the clip shared by Ferrari on YouTube, Amanda explained why.
“I think that cars need to be driven. They’re rolling sculptures, and it’s neat to be able to see them going down the road,” she said.
“People need to see them.”
The 166 is powered by a 2.0-liter V12 and, in this case, it is actually a right-hand drive model.
When the Ferrari 166 Inter met its ‘great-granddaughter’
In 2023, Ferrari organized an event to promote the launch of the (then) newly-born Ferrari Purosangue SUV.
Ferrari knew that Amanda owned this car and they invited her to join the parade.
“To see enthusiastic people that were not into the brand name, but they were into the actual car, and the history of it – it was fabulous,” Amanda said.
Well, we can’t disagree.
