The Ferrari-Abarth 166 MM/53, also called Smontabile Spider, is a competition car designed in 1953 by Carlo Abarth for the driver Giulio Musitelli. Its bodywork was a design of Franco Scaglione. The car is a reworking of the Ferrari 166 MM for the driver, the only Abarth reworking of a Ferrari.

History

Giulio Musitelli during 1953 Targa Florio in Ferrari-Abarth 166 MM/53
Ferrari-Abarth 166 MM/53 at the 1953 Varese-Campo dei Fiori hillclimb driven by Musitelli

Completed on March 14, 1953, the car is a reworking of Giulio Musitelli's Ferrari 166 MM, chassis number 0262M. His first race dates back to May 14, 1953, the car competed with the number 28 in the Guastalla Scuderia at the XXXVII Targa Florio, driven by Giulio Musitelli and placed 21st out of 45 cars and 22 arrivals.[1] On 26 July of the same year he took part in the 10-hour night in Messina, where he was led by Eugenio Castellotti and Musitelli came in first place, the best position he achieved during his career.[2][3] On 3 January 1954, during the XIII Grande Prêmio da Cidade de Rio de Janeiro, the car driven by Giulio Musitelli took second place.[4] The last race carried out by the car with the Abarth body was the XXI edition of the Mille Miglia of 2 May 1954, which however was not completed, the car carried the number 608.[5] After this event, probably due to the lack of spare parts, the body was replaced with one made by Carrozzeria Scaglietti. The car was then taken to the United States of America in 1955 by Luigi Chinetti who sold it to Gary Laughlin, who led it in the Palm Springs Preliminaries on December 3, 1955, finishing in fourth place.[6] L'auto fu poi venduta nel 1956 a Lorin McMullen facendola gareggiare altre sei volte[7] The car was then sold in 1979 and in the 2000s the Scaglietti body was again replaced with the original Abarth and the car was sold in 2007 during an RM Auctions auction, now RM Sotheby's, for $850000 and today is put on display.[8][9]

References

  1. ↑ "37° Targa Florio 1953". Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  2. ↑ Marinella Placido (28 March 2017). Pasquale Placido: L'automobilismo negli anni '50. Gangemi. ISBN 9788849299182.
  3. ↑ "1953 Ferrari 166/250 MM Abarth Spyder / 0262M Chassis Information". Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  4. ↑ "XIII Grande Prêmio da Cidade de Rio de Janeiro". Archived from the original on 15 April 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  5. ↑ "21. edizione Mille Miglia". Archived from the original on 6 August 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  6. ↑ "Preliminary Palm Springs [DM+EM+FL]". Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  7. ↑ "All Results of Lorin McMullen". Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  8. ↑ Leonardo Acerbi (2006). Ferrari: A Complete Guide to All Models. MBI Publishing Company. pp. 55–56. ISBN 9780760325506.
  9. ↑ Alvise-Marco Seno venerdì (16 February 2007). "Prossimamente all'asta: Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta "Abarth"". Blogo (in Italian). Archived from the original on 21 September 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
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