Ferrari 212 Export Touring

As Ferrari initiated road car production with the 166, the first-ever Ferrari Berlinetta appeared at the 1948 Mille Miglia on chassis no. 003S, wearing coachwork by Allemano. A chance meeting between Serafino Allemano and Enzo Ferrari may have led to the Torinese company designing this car and a similar spyder, both of which featured a relatively staid approach to postwar design. At the Turin Motor Show in late 1948, however, it was Touring that presented two new Ferraris 166 examples, an open car and a closed 4-seat berlinetta that clearly raised the Allemano design to a new plateau. The closed car, chassis no. 005S, was the first Ferrari berlinetta built by Touring, and by the arrival of chassis no. 0026M the design had evolved into the Le Mans Berlinetta fastback that would characterize the coachbuilder’s closed-body design through the next several Ferrari models, ending with the 212 Export.