Any time an automobile museum showcases a vintage sports car, car buffs take notice. But when it's a classic ride that still has pretty much all of its parts years after it rolled off the assembly line, that attention spikes even higher. Such is the case with Wednesday's video reveal of a rare Ferrari: namely a 1952 Barchetta 225 at the Petersen Automobile Museum in Los Angeles.

The Ferrari Barchetta Inspired The Ford Thunderbird

The Petersen video didn't indicate how much this Barchetta is worth, but needless to say, it very likely costs as much as other rare Ferraris valued at more than $1 million. And in terms of scarcity, this Barchetta beats the roughly 2oo examples of the 2017 LaFerrari still around or the handful of Testarossa Spiders still dotting the planet. Nope, this model is the only one of its kind ever built.

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This Barchetta was built with the steering wheel on the left-hand side of the cockpit since it was created for the Ford Motor Company, around the time the American automaker was dreaming up plans to launch a brand new model: the 1955 Thunderbird. To that end, Ford's T-Bird adopted a lot of features from the Barchetta, such as the oval-grid grille, the aerodynamic hood scoop for better airflow, and a proportionately longer wheelbase chassis than what most U.S. cars sported.

Sports A 225 Engine With Three Carbs

Ferrari 1952 225 Barchetta V12 engine with 3 carburetors
Petersen Automobile Museum

While Ferrari probably didn't anticipate that its Barchetta would spark the development of the Thunderbird, one thing they had in mind for this one-of-a-kind four-wheeler was the race track. it boasted a 225 V-12 engine with three carburetors for openers, almost all of the parts hand-crafted—save for the bores that had to be drilled into the block.

Ferrari engineers didn't put on any weather-resistant features such as a car roof. To minimize air resistance, the windshield was so tiny that builders didn't even bother with wipers since all a driver had to do was look over the glass if visibility was an issue during heavy rain.

Slightly Used With Only 12,000 Miles On It

Ferrari 1952 225 Barchetta dashboard dials
Petersen Automobile Museum

There's no telling whether any of the Ford engineers or higher-ups took this Barchetta to the track. It must have been carefully treated since after all these years, the odometer registers at only 12,000 miles. The original paint is still on this Ferrari, while the luxurious interior leather and the shag floor in the trunk hardly show any wear.

One visible exception to original parts, however, are the tires. When tire magnate Harvey Firestone saw the vehicle, he absolutely insisted that the Barchetta be outfitted with whitewalls, a huge craze at the time.

Source: Petersen Automobile Museum

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