Jennie & Ferrari's 550 Barchetta

Ferrari 550 Barchetta with Fashion & Glamour model Jennie.

Thanks to F1 Sports Car Center, and our wonderful location: Ted's Garage. Makeup & Styling by Linda Thacker

Jennie & Ferrari's 550 Barchetta -- -- 9/15/2005

This Ain’t Your Father’s Little Boat
The Ferrari 550 Barchetta (“Little Boat”)
Photos and text by AdPix.Biz
Model: Jenny
Make up and Styling: Linda Thacker
Car provided by F1 Sports & Imports (www.f1scc.com)
Location: Ted’s Garage (a cool place for car parties - http://tedsgarage.org/)

Just after World War II, prescient Enzo Ferrari knew his cars were becoming quite successful. Sure, with only a few years of history under his belt at the time, Mr. Ferrari may have been a little too boastful, like company founders can be, but as we all now know in hindsight, there was good reason for his pride.

Mr. Ferrari turned to designer Carlo Felice Bianchi Anderloni (he’s got to be a great designer, a guy with a name like that does not sell insurance) and asked for a unique shape. He wanted something that would be unique and not blend into the crowd, especially since the new car would challenge LeMans. Ferrari, also a marketing genius, knew the world would be watching.

The car was the 166MM, which debuted at the Turin show in 1948. It did win LeMans, and came in first and second in the Mille Miglia (hence the moniker 166 Mille Miglia, of course), as well as winning an impressive number of lesser contemporary races. With this fantastic success the 166MM is considered by many to have put Ferrari on the map. It was one of the first dual-purpose cross-over cars anyone made, and it may have also defined the concept. The Ferrari 166MM is why you would want to pay an extra, oh, $100,000, for a car, just because of the horse on its nose.

As such, it is interesting to note that Ferrari, accused by some nay Sayers these days of being “soft” and not factory-racing anywhere but for F1, made its reputation on winning some of the toughest challenges in the world, tougher even than any race today. It would be interesting to see how many of today’s race cars could even finish the Mille Miglia, for example.

And the 166MM’s ground breaking shape was just as much of a huge success as its performance. Although its rounded fenders, so significantly unique at the time, triggered early its unfortunate knick-name “Barchetta,” for “Little Boat”, the shape actually became the basis for such huge successes later as the AC Cobra and Alfa Romeo Disco Volante, and their offspring.

In 2001, Ferrari wanted to celebrate the little boat, as well as commemorate its recent F1 successes (2000 and 2001 World Championships). This car also celebrates Ferrari’s 50th anniversary with Pininfarina, the design house that is nearly synonymous with Ferrari.

Ferrari took a very solid car, the 550 Maranello, with all of the latest sophistication and healthy horsepower of that 485bhp Ferrari V12, and added racing touches like carbon fiber interior pieces and seats, and essentially re-made it as an open-top barchetta, even lowering the strengthened windshield about 4 inches and structuring the cockpit as open as possible. It was intended for permanent open air motoring (OK, a dinky little tonneau
soft top was available, and even a weird hard top that fit over those large, functional, roll bar hoops has been seen - neither were really recommended for function, and definitely not for looks, either). It is therefore more of a roadster, as that term was originally used, a two-seater without permanent side window frames and sometimes no top at all. In Ferrari’s words, it was a car “that deliberately seeks to be more provocative and less rational than the rest of the range.”

It is most definitely not just a convertible Maranello. This 550 Barchetta was the best of modern technology married beautifully to the best of the sexy and carefree, open-air-motoring styling of the 40’s-60’s, intending to reflect the 166MM as well as 250 and 365 Spyders, and yet all done as an original creation. This was more than a Limited Edition, or a special coat of paint and a fancy badge. Yes, even better than a “King Ranch”! Ferrari only made 448 of them.

If you could get one, the 550 Barchetta was priced new at $258,000, but it is doubtful anyone paid only that much. Ferrari first announced merely that a special version of the already-popular 550 Maranello would be produced. A new 575 Maranello was being prepared for later. This Barchetta would be a special production car, not produced “alongside” either. Special A-list customers were invited to see the new car at a special reception, probably an open-air one, naturally, on the Ferrari President’s personal estate in Italy. Maybe it was something in the wine and cheese, but the entire production of Barchettas were sold out at list price, or more, before the first one had even been made. Buyers had to sign an agreement not to sell the car within a year. Some paid as much as $475,000.

Ironically, the thing which made it so special, the aspect Ferrari trumpeted the most, its deliberately provocative, permanently open top, is what may have hurt secondary market sales, certainly in Europe where its 186 mph top speed could actually be enjoyed, but not without a top! Unlike other open top Ferrari’s, the 550 Barchetta actually has slumped a bit in the used market over there. Here in the States, especially where cruising the boulevard can be more important than putting pesky Porsches in their place on the Autobahn, the prices are still quite healthy and some sell for well over $300,000. Only 23% were imported here anyway, so this could be a true investment sleeper for later. (Of course, this information was reliable at one time, but not guaranteed, and you should consult your Prospectus and Investment Advisor to be sure, yada-yada boilerplate.)

Regardless of the financials behind it, the Ferrari 550 Barchetta will always be appreciated as a true commemorative special, not just a tweak or badge, and one that was done without compromise, as a beautifully complete celebration of some of the best romantic years of Ferrari roadsters.