‘It looked like a spaceship, drove like a Ferrari, and had the interior layout of a cinema.’
The Ferrari 365P Tre Posti wasn’t built to make sense; it was built to make jaws drop.
‘Middle seat driving, a borrowed V12, and styling from the gods.’
McLaren may have made the F1 famous, but Ferrari did it first.
This is the captivating story of the prototype that Enzo Ferrari initially resisted, only to embrace later.
1966: The Birth of a Legend
1966. Enzo Ferrari didn’t like mid-engined road cars. ‘The horse should pull the cart,’ he said.
However, the game changed when Sergio Pininfarina and Luigi Chinetti presented a radical prototype and a blank cheque that Enzo Ferrari didn’t need to sign.
The Ferrari 365P Berlinetta Speciale Tre Posti was a mid-engined, 4.4-litre V12 with three seats side by side.
The seat was slightly forward in a Centre-Seat Supercar in the Sixties, where the driver sat in the middle.
It was ridiculous and perfect.
McLaren fans, sit down. Ferrari did it 27 years earlier.
At the 1967 LA Motor Show, the Tre Posti was unveiled to shocked Californians.
The only thing more confusing than the seating was that it might be road-legal.
Everyone loved it. But Enzo didn’t budge—no production run.
Gianni Agnelli Enters the Chat:
The Fiat boss saw it in Paris and said, ‘I’ll have one.’
And so, Ferrari built another ‘one-off.’
Because when you’re Agnelli, Ferrari says yes.
Summary:
Two one-offs. Three seats. Zero compromises.
The 365P Tre Posti wasn’t built to be practical; it was built to be unforgettable.
‘It has more centre stage presence than Pavarotti at La Scala.’
