You certainly can’t say that we don’t get a diverse range of vehicles here on Barn Finds, and this one is something a little bit different. Listed for sale here on eBay is this 1960’s pedal car. The seller has listed it with a BIN of £995 which would make it one of the most affordable Ferraris for sale that doesn’t fit on a bookshelf.
This Ferrari 156 was manufactured in around 1961 under license by a French company called Morellet Guerineau, and was sold as the “Ferrari Spa”. The 156 was one of a number of different pedal cars manufactured by the company, and all were manufactured out of pressed steel. They do come on the market every now and then, and usually seem to sell for around the BIN price of this particular one.
This particular car looks like it may have been the subject of a re-paint at some stage in its life. Most were produced in red with a pair of white stripes running up the hood (although there were some exceptions to this), and racing numbers on either side of the hood. They also featured a Ferrari sign on the front of the hood and a prancing horse on either side of the hood just in front of the cockpit. The wheels and tires look to be original, but the steering wheel definitely isn’t. These were produced with either a white or a black wheel. The distinctive shark-nose is also missing its grille inserts and the padding is missing off the seat. The fluted finish at the back is also supposed to be silver, and there should also be a Ferrari emblem near the center of the rear deck.
This may seem like a long list of faults, but like any collectible car, the devil is in the detail. Any missing or non-original features will have an impact on value. I guess that the big question would be what to do with it if you bought it. It is a reasonably rare little item, and metal pedal cars are certainly becoming surprisingly valuable. There would be some justification in doing a full restoration, because it would definitely be something that you could tackle in the average home workshop. It also may be more appropriate to source the correct steering wheel and seat padding, give it a polish and leave it exactly how it is. Different collectors will give you different answers to that. At the price, I suspect that its days as a play-thing of a child are probably long gone.
IIRC the shark nose Ferrari F1 car debuted in 1961. The nose was supposed to penetrate air better and reduce aero drag. I don’t think Ferrari had a wind tunnel of its own or used another wind tunnel to test the design, so the shark nose seemed to be empirical, or maybe educated guesswork.
Anyway, the car went well and American Phil Hill won the F1 championship—the first American to do so—so it could be that the shark nose made a contribution.
This needs an SBC….lol….sorry I just couldn’t resist..haha..
Can we get a horse within the unit to have one horsepower please👍
I guess we could get an a@@ to sit in it for another kind of power👀🤠😆
Actually for the buy it now price, it is remarkably cheap, I’ve seen these things go for much, much more.
Finally! Something on Barn Finds you can actually drive.
I’m sure it will be bought, restored and placed in someone’s personal Ferrari collection as a conversation starter at a party.
Keep the original lines, new paint,, throw away the pedals, grab a new 1000 watt electric bike motor system then give it to a grandkid. .
Great pedal-car…🚶
While you guys were deciding how to modify the pedal car, I hired someone to push it for me. Y’all need to start thinking out of the box.
Looks like high cost maintenance.
Worth every Euro.