Ferrari introduced the 550 Maranello in 1996 as a replacement for the Testarossa and 512 TR models, and it was a new revolution for the Italian carmaker; it moved the engine back to the front.
Enzo Ferrari had a saying: “The horse pulls the carriage, not push it”. He never liked the idea of a mid- or rear-engine sports car. Yet, he had to agree with that since it was a better technical solution for the weight distribution. But the Italian engineers didn’t forget its saying and tried to do it both ways. They installed the engine in front of the cabin, behind the front axle. Thus, it resulted in a mid-front engined supercar. The 550 Maranello was the last Ferrari that featured a V-12 engine paired with a manual transmission.

Its design was signed by Pininfarina Studios, who was already a respected partner for most of the Ferrari vehicles. Its curved lines started at the front with a smiling grille on the front apron and a set of fog-lights. Its glass-covered headlights replaced the idea of the pop-up headlights from the ’80s and led to a better design language, either if the car was with the driving lights on or off. The long hood with an air-scoop in the middle was typical for the 550 Maranello.

Inside, Ferrari extensively used the carbon-fiber details for the seats, center stack, door panels or dashboard. Even the instrument panel featured a carbon-fiber background. Another interesting feature of the interior was the seat belt system, which showed the belt crossing through a cut inside the sport-bucket seat’s upper side.

Under the hood, Ferrari installed a 5.5-liter V12 engine paired to a six-speed manual transmission. It was fast. Sometimes it proved to be too fast for public roads.