by Wallace Wyss –
I’ll admit it, I didn’t think with all the safety laws regarding car design it would be possible to build as beautiful a car as some Ferraris of the Sixties before bumper laws existed.
But now that I had an opportunity to see an SP1 (the single seater version, the two seater is the SP2) I think it is a very significant design in that it brought back the romance of cars like the early Testa Rossas, D-type Jaguars and Mercedes 300 SLR in a car that’s street legal. The cars have a carbon fiber body. Ferrari calls it a virtual windshield, an aerodynamic passage where the upper part of the side aero windscreen acts as an airfoil generating what they call an “upwash” that creates a low speed bubble around the cockpit.
I question the safety of the car without a helmet because I can’t quite believe the upsweep of the cowl and a helmet will prevent collisions with low flying birds. But no mater, there is the two seater SR2 and that has a windscreen and only loses some of the basic design’s appeal. Classic Driver feels that about 30% of the 499 examples are the single seater, which is surprising since you know how many wives would fight the husband having a car only he could ride in.
The engine is a V12 with 810 horsepower. It will do 0 to 100 kph in 2.9 seconds.
Here’s my critique:
FRONT Extremely clever on how low the nose is, and how small an opening is needed. Oh it looks regular size at a distance but when you up close you see it’s smaller and more exactly calling for the amount of air it needs. The front spoiler is not as wrap around as some racing spoilers, but does the job as well as can expected considering the obstacles on the road. The “split” between the top and bottom of the headlight had to be there to stop it looking like a genuine ’60s road car.
SIDE Bulbous where it needs to be bulbous (for large wheels and tires) and slim where it needs to be slim. This is a car whose mission defines its shape. They mechanically perfected it before the body was finalized so the body’s shape achieves the mechanical objectives. The vertical air vent on the side is old fashioned, even 1950-ish, and shows how chrome trim is only superfluous and irrelevant to a performance car.
REAR At first the full width tail lamp at first seems too modern, too Buick, but then you realize how it does its job without subtracting much from the body shape itself. The vertical lens must be only an inch at most but conveys enough light to be meeting the letter of the law. The painting of the headrest “blister” a different color behind the driver’s seat allows for tasteful re-styling. Many of the cars have had custom paintwork.
In terms of the dashboard it is not innovative in any way with only a few gauges, a round steering wheel with flat bottom. There’s a console next to it that has some switchgear. Interestingly the tach is redline at 9000 rpm.
THE SUM-UP It is really to Ferrari’s credit that when they started the Icona program to make some modern models that recalled the greatness of Fifties and Sixties design, they accomplished it well with this car that went on sale in 2019. Jaguar did it with the D-type Jag, re-naming it the XKSS but Detroit has promised so many times and always held back from the full race look. The Dodge Viper ACR was one closest to the concept, a street legal racer. Mercedes came closer to the Ferrari with the 75 unit SLR McLaren Stirling Moss model.
VALUE Unlike a lot of new sports cars the SP1 and SP2 has held their own original price or even gone up as a used car. One has sold used for as high as $3.8 million, a big jump in what it cost new. Admittedly the two seater is more practical which might explain how some went for over $4 million as used cars.
The limited edition of 499 of the SP1 and SP2 together has a lot to do with preserving its value as a used car. So those who bought it new got to drive it for years and sell it at a profit.
I thank the Ferrari Club of America for making an SP1 available for all to see at their annual Ferrari Concours on Colorado Street in Pasadena in May 2026. It gave the spectators a hint of what it must have been like in the Fifties when you could buy a Ferrari Testa Rossa and drive it on the street.
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR Fine artist Wallace Wyss will be picking the best photo he was able to shoot in Pasadena and making an oil painting. Glicee prints on canvas will be available. If interested, write photojournalistpro2@gmail.com
Ferrari Monza SP1 – Art by Wallace Wyss
Photos compliments of Ferrari.
With due respect, Mr Wyss:
The Jaguar XKSS was basically a detuned D Type ,with some road comforts, that was created after the Browns Lane fire and ran concurrently with the D.
Not quite the same as the ICONA program to make some modern models that recalled the greatness of ’50s-’60s design decades latter.
Unfortunately, Ferrari decided to use a name previously applied to a rather slow — but still exciting and good looking — sports car built by VW do Brasil called the SP1 and SP2 (SP for “Sao Paulo”). The SP1 had a smaller displacement engine and was dropped the first year of production. The car was completely conceived, designed and produced in Brasil and production ran for 5 years.
The Ferrari SP, however, is a really good looking car, recalling design elements from the late 1950s-early1960s without looking too retro, yet modern without looking weird.
Very hard to do! Alas, the price tag will keep me in my vintage Corvette…