For those whose exposure to Ferraris has mostly been to the supercars of, say, the last quarter century, it may come as a surprise that when Enzo Ferrari opened his now-legendary factory in 1947, all its products were powered by engines that were small by American standards, and modest even by the austere standards of shell-shocked, postwar Europe. Especially considering that all the first Ferraris were twelve-cylinder cars with eye-watering prices, it's instructive to reflect upon the fact that those Type 125S sports cars and the early supercharged GP cars were just under 1.5 liters in displacement...about 90 cubic inches. The Colombo-designed V12 was soon enlarged for the model 159 (1.9 liters) and the famous Touring-bodied Type 166 barchetta, in which Luigi Chinetti* won Le Mans in 1949. The 166 was a 2 liter V12; by 1951 the Colombo engines had been enlarged to 2.5 liters and that 212 series was joined by a Lampredi-designed 340, another V12 of 4.1 liters. Needless to say, it was even more expensive than the cars with the smaller Colombo engines.
Soon enough, however, Ferrari had revisited his interest in smaller-engined sports racers, partly because the Grand Prix raciing series was being run with Formula 2 cars limited to 2 liters. This development had happened after Alfa Romeo dropped out of Formula 1, and the vaunted BRMs had failed to provide any competition to Ferrari's V12s. Alberto Ascari won the Driver's Championship in 1952 and 1953 with a Ferrari 500 single seater, powered by a 4-cylinder engine designed by Lampredi. The lighweight engine had potential for endurance racing, so Ferrari released the 500 Mondial sports racer shown above, powered by the Lampredi four. Note that the red car's form is closely related to the larger 340 roadsters also designed by Pinin Farina. Soon afterward, there were a couple of 500 Mondial berlinettas, which followed the lines of PF's larger Ferrari competition coupes...
Unlike the twin-cam fours from Alfa Romeo and OSCA, the new Ferrari design featured the head in unit with the block. It was a reliable and powerful enough engine that in the 500 Mondial's first race at the 12 Hours of Casablanca in December 1953, Ascari and Villoresi took 1st in class and 2nd overall, behind a Ferrari 375 with over twice the power. You may have figured out by now that Ferrari designated these early cars after the displacements of their individual cylinders. You had to know a 500 was a 4 cylinder to realize it was less than half the displacement of a 375, which was a V12. Or look under the hood...
Ferrari tried all kinds of engine configurations in the Fifties; so many in fact that it seemed he must be paying no attention to tooling costs. In addition to the 2 liter Mondial four, he revived the trusty 2 liter V12 the same year in the 166MM53. The 166 coupe below shows how closely Pinin Farina followed the design themes he established in his bigger coupes. There were also 750 Monza 3 liter fours, and by 1955 there were inline sixes raced at Le Mans which were based on the inline fours. Some have suggested the Ferrari fours were inspired by the Offenhousers the Ferrari team had seen during some runs at Indianapolis. At Le Mans, there had been the success of the Jaguar inline sixes for Ferrari to ponder.
In addition to the PF-bodied Mondial coupes, there was also a 625 Targa Florio coupe bodied by Vignale*. This was a 2.5 liter inline four, and a one-off, though it followed the designer Michelotti's formula of alloy panels tightly wrapped around the chassis and wheels, with short overhangs front and rear. That car is shown below. Along with the two PF Mondial coupes and a 750 Monza rebodied for Monteverdi, it's part of a tiny handful of four-cylinder Ferraris with berlinetta bodywork. Early in the Sixties, there would be the ASA* coupe with 4 cylinder engine based on the Colombo V12, but neither the chassis nor the enigne for that car was built by Ferrari...
After the success of the original PF-bodied Mondials, Ferrari released a lower and sleeker Scaglietti-bodied version in 1955. This second series car featured covered headlights and about 10 more horsepower than the Series 1. The blue example below was owned for decades by a Navy officer who found it at the back of an American Motors dealer and lovingly restored it himself. Back in the late 50s and early 60s, old race cars didn't seem especially saleable, especially oddball Ferraris that had 4 cylinders instead of the famed V12.
This car was recently sold, and taken for a joy ride by its new owners. It's one of less than three dozen of the four-cylinder Mondial Ferraris, and a reminder of a fertile period in race car design.
*Footnote: Luigi Chinetti's Manhattan Ferrari dealership, and the very first Ferrari sold in the United States, are depicted in "Lost Roadside Attraction: Luigi Chinetti Motors" in these post archives for May 6, 2018. The history of the ASA is told in "The Etceterini Files Part 3: ASA, the Ferrarina" from Feb. 2, 2016, and a Vignale-bodied Corvette along with Vignale-bodied Ferrari 212 were shown in "The Italian Jobs Part 2" from Feb. 27,2016.
Photo Credits:
Top & bottom: wikimedia
2nd & 3rd: the author
4th thru 6th: en.wheelsage.org
7th: youtube.com
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