One to Buy: ex-Porfirio Rubirosa / Fernand Tavano 1953 Ferrari 166 Mille Miglia / 53
Although Ferrari’s legendary Gioacchino Colombo-designed V12 started life with a displacement of 1496cc in 1948, by the end of that year it had been enlarged to 1995cc (166cc per cylinder).
In two-litre trim, the Colombo engine was capable of outright victories at the highest level, even when up against machinery with much larger capacity motors.
While Ferrari naturally followed suit and created ever bigger, more powerful engines, the company’s 166 models remained hugely sought after as the under two-litre class became popular in its own right.
Arguably the most successful of these 166 variants was the Mille Miglia built between 1948 and ‘50 which famously won the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1949.
For 1953, the 166 Mille Miglia was revived with the revamped 166 MM/53 of which 13 were completed.
Set to go under the hammer at Gooding & Company’s London sale on September 1st is one of these 13 cars: chassis 0328 M / 0308 M.
Originally sold to infamous Dominican diplomat, amateur racing driver and international playboy, Porfirio Rubirosa, Ferrari immediately re-numbered the car as chassis 0050 M (the same number as Rubirosa’s older 166 Mille Miglia) presumably as a tax dodge.
Rubirosa only raced his blue and white Ferrari on one occasion (posting a DNF at the 1953 Reims 12 Hours), after which it returned to the factory where it was re-numbered again, this time as 0308 M.
The car was subsequently raced by Fernand Tavano, Jacques Coune and Serge Orban before being acquired by the current owner, Bernard Worth, in January 1960.
Since then, chassis 0328 M / 0308 M has remained in Mr Worth’s ownership and contested myriad events around Europe to include a brace of outings on the Mille Miglia retrospective.
Reprinted below is Gooding & Company’s description for this unrestored Ferrari sports racing car fresh from 63 years with a single custodian:
Estimate: £2.5m - £3m
Chassis: 0328 M/0308 M
Engine: 0308 M
Highly Developed 166 MM Chassis with Michelotti-Designed Vignale Bodywork
Delivered New to Famed Dominican Diplomat and Racing Driver Porfirio Rubirosa
Campaigned by Fernand Tavano and Jacques Coune in European Races During 1954–1956
Offered Direct from 63 Years of Continuous, Enthusiast Ownership
A Significant Competition Ferrari Never Before Presented at Auction
Documented by Ferrari Historian Marcel Massini
It was the Tipo 166, introduced in 1948 as a replacement for the 125 S, that first established Enzo Ferrari’s Modenese workshop as a leading manufacturer of racing cars. Powered by a two-liter, Colombo-designed, V-12 engine, the 166 set forward a course of development that would define the look, sound, and inimitable character of Ferrari automobiles for years to come.
While the earliest 166 Sports and Spider Corsas were raced with success, the 166 Mille Miglia – or MM – completely dominated sports car racing during the late 1940s and early 1950s. In fact, the Ferrari 166 MM is the only car to win all three of the great European sports car races in the postwar era – the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Targa Florio, and the Mille Miglia. Between 1949 and 1951, Ferrari built approximately 33 examples of the 166 MM, the majority bodied by Carrozzeria Touring with Barchetta or Le Mans Berlinetta coachwork.
In 1953, Ferrari built a limited series of 13 chassis called the 166 MM/53. Intended for private customers to enter in the popular under-two-liter class, these cars featured various improvements to the original 166 MM chassis and running gear. The two-liter, 12-cylinder engine, which benefited from upgraded roller-cam followers and three four-choke Weber carburetors, now produced as much as 160 bhp, a gain of 10–20 hp over the original 166 MM.
Seven 166 MM/53 chassis were sent to Carrozzeria Vignale in Torino, where six received Spider bodies styled by the great Italian designer Giovanni Michelotti. Similar to the bodies that Vignale built for Ferrari’s contemporary 250 and 340 Mille Miglia models, these distinctive 166 MM/53 Spiders featured imposing eggcrate grilles, oval-shaped fender portals, raised bonnet corners, cut-down doors, and dramatic, cutaway rear fenders. Compact and purposeful, with aggressive styling, these 166 MM/53 Vignale Spiders represent the ultimate development of Ferrari’s first great sports car.
Presented here is a fascinating example of this rare Ferrari competition model, which raced throughout Europe during its earliest years and has been treasured by its current enthusiast owner since 1960.
According to the research of Ferrari historian Marcel Massini, this 166 MM/53 is the fifth of six Vignale-built Spiders and 11th of the 13 chassis built in total. Originally painted in a distinctive two-tone livery of dark blue and white, similar to other Vignale-bodied competition cars of the period, this 166 MM/53 Spider was completed in May 1953 as chassis 0328 M.
Almost immediately, Ferrari renumbered the car as 0050 M, most likely at the request of its first owner, Porfirio Rubirosa.
A Dominican diplomat and supporter of dictator Rafael Trujillo, Porfirio Rubirosa was famed for his larger-than-life, jet-setting lifestyle. A successful professional polo player and racing driver, he was an internationally renowned playboy, linked romantically to many of the era’s biggest Hollywood stars, including Zsa Zsa Gabor, Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, and Dolores del Rio. In death, Rubirosa was as glamorous as he was in life. He was killed in 1965 when his Ferrari 250 GT Cabriolet struck a tree in the Bois de Boulogne following a long night celebrating his win of the prestigious Coupe de France de Polo.
When Rubirosa acquired this Ferrari in 1953, he was between marriages to prominent American heiresses, having recently divorced his second wife Doris Duke and yet to marry his third wife, Barbara Hutton. The 166 MM/53 Vignale Spider was Rubirosa’s second Ferrari. In 1950, he had purchased chassis 0050 M, a Touring-bodied 166 MM Barchetta, which he entered at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a wealthy Frenchman named Pierre Leygonie. Presumably, Rubirosa asked Ferrari to renumber 0328 M as 0050 M in a scheme to avoid paying French import taxes on his new car, as he was then serving as a diplomat in Paris.
In June 1953, Rubirosa planned to enter his new 166 MM/53 in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but he did not arrive. In fact, his first and only race in the Vignale Spider took place that July, at the 12 Hours of Reims, a major French endurance race that attracted entries from the likes of Scuderia Ferrari, Ecurie Ecosse, and Briggs Cunningham. Wearing no. 28, Rubirosa and Leygonie ran well early in the race and recorded the 9th fastest lap, but mechanical troubles forced them to retire. Soon after Reims, Rubirosa was dismissed from his political post in Paris and his 166 MM/53 returned to the Ferrari factory to be prepared for sale.
Sometime in late 1953 or early 1954, Ferrari renumbered the Vignale Spider yet again, giving it the identity of 0308 M.
According to the research of Ferrari historian Marcel Massini, chassis 0308 M was constructed as a 166 MM/53 with Berlinetta coachwork by Vignale, which was sold new to Antoine Causse, a Frenchman living in Morocco. That car was heavily crashed in a road accident in September 1953 and was sent back to the factory to be rebuilt. Sometime later, Rubirosa’s Vignale Spider, having already changed its identity from 0328 M to 0050 M, was renumbered as 0308 M, and the damaged chassis of the original 0308 M was renumbered as 0050 M. Both Ferraris survive today and have been referred to by these updated identities ever since this exchange took place.
During summer 1954, this 166 MM/53, now known as 0308 M, was reportedly sold to Virginia Guglielmini of Vercelli, Italy. In all likelihood, the real buyer may have been Fernand Tavano, a French driver who would go on to have a long and successful career racing Ferraris. The Vignale Spider was the first Ferrari that Tavano raced; he campaigned it at several events throughout 1954 and 1955, including two French rallies and the 4 Hours of Forez.
In 1955, Ferrari S.p.A. reacquired the 166 MM/53 and sold it to Jacques Swaters’ Garage Francorchamps, the official concessionaire in Brussels, Belgium. From there, the Ferrari was sold to Jacques Coune, a local sports car enthusiast who went on to become one of the co-founders of the Équipe Nationale Belge racing team and established a successful, small-scale coachbuilding firm. During his ownership, the Ferrari participated in the Grand Prix de Sport at Spa and finished 2nd in Class at the Côte d’Andenne Hillclimb. M. Coune also loaned his Ferrari for the production of Le Circuit de Minuit (The Midnight Racetrack), a 1956 feature film starring Yves Vincent.
In early 1957, a Parisian named Serge Orban purchased the 166 MM/53 and entered it in several French hill climbs, followed by the Grand Prix de Sport in May, the Grand Prix des Frontières in June, and the Grand Prix of Copenhagen in August. Later that year, the Ferrari was sold to Pierre Berchon, who raced it once, at the Montlhéry Autodrome near Paris. In 1958, Graham Warner, owner of London-based dealer The Chequered Flag, acquired the Ferrari, imported it to the UK, and sold it to John Vivian Stanbury, an aircraft engineer who had recently been appointed chief designer for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
Since January 1960, this 166 MM/53 Vignale Spider has been owned, raced, and cherished by its current owner, Bernard Worth. Always registered as “72 SMK,” it has participated in a remarkable variety of events throughout the past 63 years, including various club races during the mid-1960s, the Ferrari Owners’ Club of Great Britain Inaugural Meeting in 1967, the Le Mans Cinquantenaire Festival in 1973, two editions of the 1000 Miglia Storica during the 1980s, and the Le Mans Legend race in 2001. In more recent years, it has been a regular attendee of the FOC of Great Britain annual meeting and other prestigious shows including the 2013 St. James’s Concours of Elegance in London.
Always attentively maintained, recently serviced by marque specialist Bob Houghton, and presented today in lovely condition with an inviting patina, this 166 MM/53 Vignale Spider has greatly benefited from Mr. Worth’s decades-long ownership, appearing very much the same as it did when he first acquired it in 1960. Remarkably, this early, even-serial-numbered competition car has never been the subject of a comprehensive restoration. As such, it bears tangible evidence of its three Ferrari-assigned identities: 0328 M, 0050 M, and 0308 M. Further supporting its superb presentation is a well-researched file that includes period images, correspondence, and a detailed history report compiled by Swiss Ferrari historian Marcel Massini.
Among the last and most developed of the great 166 MM Ferraris, built for the legendary Porfirio Rubirosa and then campaigned by several notable drivers in a variety of European races through the late 1950s, this remarkable machine is now available for the first time in over six decades. For the sophisticated collector who possesses a deep appreciation of early-competition Ferraris and their often fascinating, intertwined, and nuanced histories, the appearance of this car at auction represents a tremendous – and utterly unique – opportunity.
