Mr. Wolf is no stranger to rare and beautiful automobiles but even he sounds a little impressed by one of his recent jobs.
1949 Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta. 1 of 10 short hood Barchettas, I believe it is roughly the 30th Ferrari built, though I could be off by a large margin – Ferrari information is notoriously cloudy. Serious race history, driven extensively by Biondetti.
The gravity of this thing is incredible, just having it around to appreciate in person, in private… I spent some time each day sitting next to it while having my espresso.
A bit of tinkering, rewiring a few things, fiddling with the exhaust and carburetors, and – the best part – designing and fabricating a battery hold down. The original went missing some time ago.
I asked him what he was doing to a car “now worth something like $10,000,000.”
It’s an odd, push-down-from-above battery hold down, and all of the parts are gone, and no reference photos exist. So I got to spend a couple days thinking, sketching, welding… What would a bunch of scrappy Italians have done in 1949?
Basically, a lot of time and effort to make something simple, unimpressive, and invisible once the battery cover goes on, and I’m thrilled!
He describes the owner as “a very cool old fellow, and a longtime Ferrari historian. Very knowledgeable, really knows his stuff. I once re-jetted the triple Weber carbs with him at 11pm outside a hotel in 45 degree weather, preparing to climb the Sierras the next morning.”
