Hello, A friend of mine has original pictures of 001S, possibly the 1st ever Ferrari car sold, in 1947. My friend says the car had been sold by Enzo to Igor Troudetskoi (spelling?) who was it driving back to France. Igor had an incident on his way, near Salins in the west of France, were a local mechanic, totally clueless on what a "Ferrari" was, helped him out. The pictures allegedly show 001S with its original grill, subsequently modified, and are the only ones of this car in that form. The mechanic who helped Igor says the car was blue. Does anyone have any additional insight on these allegations? Thanks.
The name of the buyer was Prince Igor Trobotskey (SP) and he believed he was going to be the first private owner of a Ferrari race car. His intention was to race the car first at the Targa Florio or Giro Sicilia. The Bossano brothers beat him to the punch but he did get the first Ferrari built using the name Ferrari but he was unawre of this at the time. He purchased 01C but the car was sold on invoice with believe it or not a short warranty as 0010I. The car however did use the frame, suspension, gearbox and rear axle from 01C now numbered 0010I. The car was now fitted with the updated "Spyder Corsa" type bodywork and had a first series enigne now out to 2.0-liters and stamped to match the chassis number. He then purchased the other road Ferrari which if memory serves me right was 001S. None of this happened by chance. Somewhere a few years back, Doug Nye did a very indepth interview about these events with the Prince in Paris where he retired and was still living as of 1990. 0010I was later sold quite illegaly to the UK and was in fact the first Ferrari to go there. Later it was road-registered and an alloy slug filled over the old chassis number and it was re-stamped simply as 010I to match earlier paper work. Both 01C/0010I and 001S survive. I can not discuss here the details of 001S but 01C/0010I was restored via the Ferrari Factory and was on display at Pebble along with all of Ferrari's early documents and records on this car. Warm regards, Bill Noon
I think here is 166S #001S ? Am I right ? Thanks Seen at the Targa '48 with Biondetti/Troubetzkoy and the Mille Miglia (Sterzi-Righetti). Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Wasn't the coachwork on the spider pictured done by Allemano, the same coachbuilder that did the 1948 MM winning coupe??
It probably is from Allemano. First owner : count Sterzi - late 1947. Biondetti-Troubetzkoy won the April 1948 Targa Florio - #36. Sterzi-Righetti raced in the May 1948 Mille Miglia (or Giro di Sicilia) - #178. Note Troubetzkoy never was the owner of this car. My question was : is "166 S 001S" (or better 166 Sport), the right name of the car ? Thanks.
Not quite right. Troubetskoy and Sterzi together ran the Scuderia Inter as mutual race team with pre-war racing driver Freddy Zehender as manager. The car pool included the 166 Inter Spyder Corsa #006I and #010I, and the 166 Sport #001S as muletto and Troubetskoy's personal car. To avoid import tax in France #001S was registered on Sterzi's name at Milano with "11176MI". I have a copy of the photo "stratos" is talking about, but my source would like if I publish it.
Thanks Michaël for these interesting precisions. So, french taxes ... Do you think this 166S could be Troubetzkoy's car ? The second picture seems to have a milanese registration on the front left fender ... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Yes, that's exactly the photo I also have. The first photo below shows the car at the Giro di Sicilia in April with 6 bars in the grille, the 2nd at the Mille Miglia one month later with 7. Don't know the reason. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thanks Michaël ! Sorry, I found theses pictures on the web. I can delete if you wish. The second front grille (Mille Miglia) is more square than the one at the Giro di Sicilia. Maybe an unfortunate hayball somewhere beetwen the two races ...
No, this counted for me only. But..., I just realized something...! Can you try to find them again on the web??? If yes, it's okay. If negative, then please remove the one with Trubetskoy from December 1947...!
The difference between the two grilles is the size, the seven bar grille is much larger, note the distance from the cavallino. It may have been the result of a meeting with a hay bale as Hubert has suggested or possibly a cooling issue.
Ferrarichat never ceases to amaze me. The friend who's picture I spoke about is also the owner of the negative. He can't recall ever letting anyone have it but still Hubert1 manages to post the picture. Well...
Sorry, but I clearly asked if this picture had to be deleted of my post. I had no answer. I found this picture a long time ago on a website in netherlands, which is closed now. When Michaël asked about this picture, I tried to see again this website : and it worked ... a few minutes before closing again ! Think what you want ... Regards. I can't edit my post for deleting ...
Is someone have information on the colour of this car ? Blue ????? The first private ferrari was blue ?????
Never having seen a picture of the car (especially a color one) from when the car was first built, I have no idea....but I'm am fairly certain it was red at the 1948 Targa Florio. I haven't seen any color photos of that event either though...
this car would precede the 300sl by a few years, would it not? i rather like the ultra simple funcional look of this body. not as sexy as most ferraris though. it kindof reminds me of the "le monstre" lemans body built for briggs cunningham's 1950 cadillac effort built by the engineeers from grumman. tom w
These wheels are Borrani's, the italian Rudge-Whitworth company. They are in two parts : metal and aluminum.