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www.QV500.com - Ferrari 166 Part 6: 166 Inter |
 166 Sport chassis 005 S at the 1948 Turin Salon |
With the success Ferrari were achieving on the race track, more and more wealthy customers began to pester the firm for a genuine 166 street car. For these clients, even the Luxury version of the Mille Miglia was too impractical, their appetite having been whetted by Ferrari's 166 Sport chassis 005 S that had received Coupe bodywork by Touring and been displayed during September 1948 at the Turin Salon. The first genuine 166 Inter to be seen, however, debuted at the Geneva Salon in March 1949, chassis 011 S wearing an elegant a Stabilimenti Farina Convertible design. |
| Whilst the 166 Mille Miglia ran on a shortened wheelbase chassis, Inter's generally used a 2420mm wheelbase frame similar to the Spyder Corsa. Constructed as usual from welded tubular steel, it featured independent front suspension and transverse leaf springs at the rear, this chassis remaining more or less unchanged for subsequent 195 and 212 models. Like the 166 Sport, Spyder Corsa and Mille Miglia, Inter's used the two-litre Colombo 60° V12 as developed out of the very first Ferrari 125 and 159 Sport's. A 1995cc displacement was achieved thanks to a bore and stroke of 60mm x 58.8mm respectively, 115bhp having been available at 6000rpm when compression was set at 7.5:1 and a single twin-choke Weber 32 DCF carburettor fitted. This was enough to propel the Inter passed 115mph. To much the same specification as 166 Mille Miglia motors save for the MM's triple carburettors and increased compression, these were both regularly specified by customers who wanted a hot engine with all the luxuries of a true GT. Bodies were built to special order and, as was the case with the Mille Miglia, Ferrari's most requested carrozzeria to clothe the Inter was Touring of Milan. Using Superleggera (‘Superlight’) aluminium panels fixed to a framework of thin light alloy tubes, they were able to produce much lighter bodies than was possible with steel. |
 166 Inter Touring Berlinetta |
166 Inter's bodied by Touring were predominantly four-windowed coupe's like 005 S, all quite conservative yet not without a certain elegance. They were often fitted with Gabo alloy wheels. Prominent details like the large radiator grille and curvaceous front wings dominated the nose, the side profile revealing a silhouette devoid of any stylised trimming bar aerodynamically formed door catches and the occasional belly strip. A little chubby from certain angles, there was a remarkably cohesive tail though, Touring merging the wings and cabin to a curvaceous notchback. |
| Touring also produced ten Berlinetta bodies on 166 Inter's and these were a good deal more sporting than the overly restrained Coupe's. A rakish fastback cabin transformed the Inter into a sultry looking beast and its surprising more examples weren't completed as such. The eight 166 Inter's bodied by Stabilimenti Farina all followed the same fundamental theme although inevitably with Ferrari's of this vintage, detail differences abound, most notably around the grilles, bumpers and lights. Stabilimenti Farina's bodies were typically a little more sporting than the majority of Touring’s Coupe's, these cars sitting a little lower and featuring a less heavy handed profile. A further eight 166 Inter's received bodywork from the Turinese carrozzeria of Vignale, they came in two different styles: the Coupe (two built) and the Berlinetta (six). Today Vignale's efforts appear as perhaps the most contemporary of all the designs executed on 166 Inter's and were outwardly the most dramatic of all. Just one car was clothed by the emerging Ghia outfit, a Coupe on chassis 049 S. Interiors were trimmed to varying levels, this often having been influenced by the body style. Thus Coupe's would normally be more luxurious than Berlinetta's. 37 166 Inter's were constructed between early 1949 and the middle of 1950, the chassis numbers and original configurations of which are listed below:
166 Inter Chassis Index |
| 007 S | Touring Coupe | 045 S | Vignale Berlinetta |
| 009 S | Stabilimenti Farina Coupe | 047 S | Touring Berlinetta |
| 011 S | Stabilimenti Farina Cabriolet | 049 S | Ghia Coupe |
| 013 S | Touring Coupe | 051 S | Vignale Berlinetta |
| 015 S | Touring Coupe | 053 S | Touring Berlinetta |
| 017 S | Touring Berlinetta | 055 S | Touring Coupe |
| 019 S | Touring Coupe | 057 S | Touring Berlinetta |
| 021 S | Stabilimenti Farina Coupe | 059 S | Vignale Coupe |
| 023 S | Touring Berlinetta | 061 S | Vignale Berlinetta |
| 025 S | Touring Coupe | 063 S | Stabilimenti Farina Cabriolet |
| 027 S | Touring Coupe | 065 S | Vignale Berlinetta |
| 029 S | Touring Coupe | 067 S | Touring Barchetta |
| 031 S | Stabilimenti Farina Coupe | 069 S | Vignale Berlinetta |
| 033 S | Stabilimenti Farina Cabriolet | 071 S | Vignale Berlinetta |
| 035 S | Touring Coupe | 073 S | Touring Berlinetta |
| 037 S | Stabilimenti Farina Coupe | 075 S | Touring Berlinetta |
| 039 S | Vignale Coupe | 077 S | Touring Berlinetta |
| 041 S | Stabilimenti Farina Coupe | 079 S | Touring Berlinetta |
| 043 S | Touring Berlinetta |
 From left: 166 Mille Miglia Touring Barchetta, 166 Sport Allemano Coupe, 166 Sport Touring Coupe, 166 Inter Stabilimenti Farina Coupe & another 166 Mille Miglia Touring Barchetta |