RM Sotheby’s recently announced the addition of two Maranello competition cars headed to the shores of Lake Como on May 20. Taking center stage will be the 1972 Ferrari 312 PB. This car boasts an immense Scuderia Ferrari Works competition history, being one of the pivotal cars raced during the Scuderia’s landslide victory in the 1972 World Sportscar Championship.
Chassis number 0886 has an illustrious racing pedigree that includes a win at the 1972 Buenos Aires 1000 KM and the 1972 Nürburgring 1000 KM. There was also a 2nd-place finish at the 1972 12 Hours of Sebring and a 3rd-place finish at the 1972 Monza 1000 KM at the hands of Swedish Formula One driver Ronnie Peterson and co-driver Tim Schenken. The 312 PB was the final evolution of Ferrari’s celebrated prototype-class P cars and is significant for having been the last Ferrari Works Sports Prototype to compete and win the World Sportscar Championship. Underneath the aerodynamic and purposeful bodywork is a dry-sump, 3-liter flat-12 engine that revved to an astonishing 10,800 rpm and which featured many Formula One-derived engine technologies.
It was not just the engine power and reliability that made the 312 PB an effective racing car but also its spectacularly low weight for a 12-cylinder endurance machine, tipping the scales at a mere 650 KG thanks to a semi-monocoque chassis and short wheelbase. These ingredients set the stage for the car to become one of Ferrari’s most successful sports racing cars of all time in a season that has never been bettered by the Maranello marque.
Chassis number 0886 was one of only six factory-built examples to contend the 1972 Championship and, following its success on the racetrack, it passed through the hands of a number of enthusiastic custodians, occasionally campaigned in events such as the Monterey Historics, Goodwood Festival of Speed, and the Ferrari Historic Challenge. The example on offer has been with the current consignor for thirteen years and has been perfectly preserved throughout its ownership. This example retains its factory matching-numbers engine and gearbox, is offered for sale with numerous spare parts, including spare engine, gearbox, and bodywork.
The Villa Erba sale also features one of the finest competition Ferraris from the early days of the Enzo’s career as a sports racing car constructor: a model which was solely responsible for putting Ferrari on the global map with victories at the 1949 24 Hours of Le Mans as well as the 1949 and 1950 Mille Miglia. Early Barchetta Ferraris are among the loveliest of all post-war competition cars, and none more so than the 1949 Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta in the style of Touring, chassis number 0024 M. Offered with its matching-numbers engine and gearbox, this example was originally delivered in the one-off color combination of Avorio with side flanks in blue.
This example is made even more special by being the 1949 Paris Motor Show car and has a significant racing history, including success at the 1951 Mille Miglia, where, at the hands of Luigi Francesco Zaccaria Terravazzi and Aprile Palmer, this example finished 8th in its class. Underneath, chassis 0024 M is powered by its original 2-liter V-12 Colombo engine and is regarded to be the first Ferrari that blended having highly effective racing capabilities as well as refined road manners, which give the ability to drive the car home at the end of a race weekend.
The 166 MM Barchetta comes with the certainty of being welcomed into virtually all the world’s top racing, rally, and concours events, from the Mille Miglia to Pebble Beach and everything in between. Having long been among the most sought after of Ferrari’s early sports racers, the 166 MM has aged beautifully as a hand-crafted example of Ferrari’s foundational engineering. It is accompanied by history files that document its storied life.
