Long before the McLaren F1 became famous for placing its driver in the centre of a three-seat cockpit, Ferrari experimented with exactly the same arrangement. In 1966, Pininfarina presented the Ferrari 365 P Berlinetta Speciale, an extraordinary road car prototype with a centrally positioned driver, two passenger seats and a powerful V12 engine mounted behind the cabin.
The car was unlike anything Ferrari offered to regular customers during the 1960s, combining the mechanical foundations of a racing prototype with the comfort and appearance of an exclusive grand tourer. Only two examples were created, making the 365 P Berlinetta Speciale one of the rarest Ferrari designs of its period.
Photography: Gooding Christie’s & Ferrari
Origins of the 365 P
During the middle of the 1960s, Ferrari was developing increasingly advanced sports racing cars with engines positioned behind the driver. This layout had already demonstrated its advantages in competition, particularly because it allowed engineers to concentrate much of the vehicle's weight near its centre. However, Ferrari's regular twelve-cylinder road cars continued to use traditional front-engine arrangements, reflecting Enzo Ferrari's preference for established grand touring configurations.
Pininfarina recognised that the mechanical layout of Ferrari's racing prototypes could provide the foundation for a completely different type of road car. Rather than adapting an existing grand tourer, the design company used the Ferrari 365 P2 racing platform as the basis for an experimental berlinetta. The resulting vehicle combined a racing-derived chassis with an entirely new body and passenger compartment, creating a design that was significantly different from Ferrari's regular production models.
Brovarone’s Pininfarina design
The exterior design of the Ferrari 365 P Berlinetta Speciale was developed by Aldo Brovarone at Pininfarina, under the direction of Sergio Pininfarina. Brovarone was an important figure in the company's design department and also contributed to the development of the Dino, another Ferrari-related project that explored new proportions and engine layouts. His work on the 365 P demonstrated how a competition-based mechanical package could be transformed into an elegant road car.
The body featured a low front section, covered headlights and distinctive rear pillars that extended towards the back of the car. These elements helped create a shape that was both aerodynamic and visually different from contemporary Ferrari grand tourers. Although the design shared certain characteristics with the emerging Dino models, the 365 P was considerably larger and accommodated a twelve-cylinder engine rather than the smaller V6 used in the Dino range.
Why three seats?
The most unusual feature of the Ferrari 365 P Berlinetta Speciale was its passenger compartment, which placed the driver in the centre of the vehicle rather than on the left or right. Two additional seats were positioned slightly behind the driver, allowing three occupants to travel in a relatively compact cabin. This arrangement became the inspiration for the car's informal name, Tre Posti, which means three-seats in Italian.
Placing the driver in the centre offered several theoretical advantages, including a symmetrical view of the road and an equal distance to both sides of the vehicle. However, the arrangement also required a different approach to entering and leaving the car, positioning the controls and organising the passenger compartment. Pininfarina successfully incorporated these requirements into a road car interior, creating a layout that was unusual but functional rather than simply a styling exercise.
Racing V12 engine
The Ferrari 365 P Berlinetta Speciale used a 4.4-litre V12 engine derived from the company's sports racing programme. The engine was mounted longitudinally behind the passenger compartment, meaning its crankshaft ran in the same direction as the car rather than across its width. This arrangement was very different from Ferrari's contemporary front-engine road cars and allowed the body to adopt proportions more closely associated with racing prototypes.
The engine had a displacement of approximately 4,390 cubic centimetres and was connected to a five-speed manual transmission. Contemporary technical descriptions commonly quote an output of approximately 380 horsepower, although this figure should be treated as an estimate. The car also retained important competition-derived features, including independent suspension and disc brakes at all four wheels, demonstrating how closely its mechanical design remained connected to Ferrari's racing activities.
The first example appears
The first Ferrari 365 P Berlinetta Speciale, chassis 8971, was presented at the Paris Motor Show in October 1966. Displayed on the Pininfarina stand, the car attracted attention because of its unusual proportions and distinctive passenger compartment. Its appearance was particularly remarkable at a time when most Ferrari road cars still followed the traditional formula of a long bonnet with a twelve-cylinder engine positioned ahead of the driver.
The prototype was finished in Gardenia White and featured an interior with three-seats arranged around the central driving position. Pininfarina subsequently displayed the car at several international motor shows, including events in London, Brussels and Los Angeles. These appearances helped demonstrate the company's design capabilities while introducing audiences to an alternative interpretation of the Ferrari grand touring car.
Agnelli’s second example
One of the people impressed by the Ferrari 365 P Berlinetta Speciale was Gianni Agnelli, the influential Italian industrialist and chairman of Fiat. Agnelli had a long association with Ferrari and was known for commissioning unusual versions of important Italian sports cars. After seeing the original Pininfarina design, he requested a second example, creating one of the most distinctive vehicles in his personal collection.
Agnelli's car, chassis 8815, was finished in metallic grey and featured several differences from the original show car. Its exterior included a distinctive rear spoiler and a contrasting dark line running along the body, giving it an appearance that reflected the owner's personal preferences. Ferrari's historical archive confirms that the second example was delivered to Agnelli in Turin during 1967.
The American connection
The original Ferrari 365 P Berlinetta Speciale eventually became closely associated with Luigi Chinetti, the influential Ferrari importer and racing team owner who played an important role in establishing the brand in the United States. Chinetti had extensive experience with Ferrari's racing cars and understood the appeal of unusual road-going models among wealthy American customers. His involvement gave the experimental Pininfarina design a direct connection to one of Ferrari's most important international markets.
Chinetti acquired chassis 8971 in 1967, following its appearances at international motor shows. Although the car was subsequently sold to customers on two occasions, it eventually returned to the Chinetti family, where it remained for decades. This long association helped preserve an important example of Ferrari's experimental design history.
Why production never followed
Despite its unusual design and impressive mechanical specification, the Ferrari 365 P Berlinetta Speciale remained an experimental project rather than the beginning of a new production range. Ferrari already offered successful front-engine V12 grand tourers, while the company was continuing to develop its racing activities and smaller sports cars. Introducing a completely new twelve-cylinder road car with a central driving position would have required significant additional development and manufacturing investment.
There is no reliable evidence that Ferrari approved the 365 P Berlinetta Speciale for regular series-production, making it important to distinguish the prototype from a cancelled production programme. The car demonstrated what was technically possible, but it did not establish a new commercial model line. Ferrari would eventually introduce its first series-production twelve-cylinder road car with a rear mid-engine layout through the Berlinetta Boxer family, which was presented several years later.
The Ferrari 365 P and the McLaren F1
The Ferrari 365 P Berlinetta Speciale is frequently compared with the McLaren F1, introduced in the 1990s, because both cars used a central driving position with two passenger seats arranged slightly behind the driver. The similarity is particularly interesting because the Ferrari appeared more than 25 years before the McLaren. However, the two vehicles were developed in very different circumstances and should not be regarded as direct relatives.
The Ferrari was an experimental coachbuilt design created around an existing racing platform, while the McLaren F1 was developed as a complete production supercar with its own engineering programme. Nevertheless, the concept demonstrates that the idea of placing the driver in the centre of a high-performance road car existed long before it became associated with McLaren. Pininfarina had already explored the arrangement successfully during one of Ferrari's most important periods of technical development.
The lasting importance
The Ferrari 365 P Berlinetta Speciale remains one of the most unusual road car projects associated with the Maranello manufacturer. Its combination of racing technology, distinctive Pininfarina styling and an unconventional passenger compartment makes it different from the company's regular production models. The fact that only two examples were constructed also gives the car an important place within Ferrari's history of special projects and experimental designs.
More importantly, the 365 P demonstrates that Ferrari's development history included ideas that extended beyond the models eventually offered to customers. Its central driving position and rear-mounted V12 engine anticipated design arrangements that would become more familiar in later decades, while its distinctive appearance reflected Pininfarina's willingness to experiment. The result was a Ferrari that challenged established conventions without losing its connection to the company's racing heritage.
What’s your favourite part of the Ferrari 365 P Berlinetta Speciale?
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