By the early 1990s, Ferrari seriously began to reconsider the mid/rear placement of the horizontally-opposed boxer engines in its flagship 12-cylinder cars. Many enthusiasts began to long for the traditional front-engine grand touring V-12s, which provided greater boot space and were more comfortable overall.

Ferrari presented their answer to this call with the introduction of a new model at the Nürburgring in 1996. The 550 Maranello was an elegantly understated coupé with a frontally located 5.5-litre V-12 mated to a rear-mounted transaxle, in the finest tradition of the 275 GTB and the 365 GTB/4 Daytona. Entering production for 1997, the 550 stylishly revived Ferrari’s dormant V-12 grand touring heritage and proceeded to hold rank as the marque’s flagship production car for the next five years.

At the 2000 Paris Motor Show, Ferrari introduced a limited edition roofless version of the 550 that served two commemorative purposes. Nominally, the 550 Barchetta Pininfarina celebrated the coachbuilder’s 70th anniversary, beautifully evoking the permanent open-air body style that characterized so many of Maranello’s legendary early sports racers. With the introduction of the 550’s successor a year later (the 575 M), it also became clear that the Barchetta Pininfarina was a final hurrah for the 550 Maranello, an exclamation point of heritage cues that would prove to be yet another highly collectible V-12 Ferrari.

This rare 550 Barchetta is the 291st example of only 448 cars produced, and it benefits from the care of just one owner during its life. Displaying only approximately 1,800 kilometres, chassis number 124269 is accompanied by all books and tools, and it has been freshly serviced by Rossocorsa in Milan in preparation for its current availability. It is a highly collectible piece of the modern Maranello road car lineage. With only one original owner and minimal mileage since new, this Ferrari 550 Barchetta would make a wonderful counterpoint to any collection of classic Ferrari spiders or modern coupés.