ASA 1000 GT

 

The ASA was born out of a need to generate some income for Ferrari, and with Enzo Ferrari, Giotto Bizzarrini, Gioacchino Colombo, and Giorgetto Giugiaro of Bertone having input, its predicted annual sales of 3000 to 5000 cars should have been achievable.

The Houtkamp Collection sold this stunning "Ferrarina" to a fortunate American client, following the majority of period sales to the states, although they went through Luigi Chinetti's dealership.

Autocostruzioni SpA of Milan took on manufacture of this 'Ferrarina' or 'little Ferrari' in 1962. It was in fact Ferrari at Maranello who had as early as 1958 produced the twin overhead-camshaft 4-cylinder power unit used by ASA, originally displacing just 850cc. In 1961 the engine was installed in a chassis designed by Giotto Bizzarrini himself the prime design engineer involved with Ferrari's legendary 250 GTO programme and the result was in effect a scaled-down GTO, suitably bodied by Carrozzeria Bertone. Ferrari opted not to proceed with the project, which was then acquired by a group of enthusiastic industrialists.

ASA then launched the Mille model in both Coupe and Cabriolet versions, offering disc brakes front and rear while the engine which has been described as effectively "two-thirds of a Ferrari V12 cylinder bank" was enlarged to 1032cc. Producing some 84bhp it gave the ASA an impressive 115mph performance.