The Ferrari 212 Inter replaced Ferrari

Ferrari

Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...

's successful 166

Ferrari 166 Inter

The Ferrari 166 Inter was Ferrari's first true grand tourer. An evolution of the 125 S and 166 S racing cars, it was a sports car for the street with coachbuilt bodies. The Inter name commemorated the victories claimed in 166 S models by Scuderia Inter. 37 166 Inters were built from 1948 through...

 and 195

Ferrari 195 Inter

The 195 Inter is a grand tourer produced by Ferrari in 1950. Introduced at the 1950 Paris Motor Show, it was similar to the 166 Inter shown a year earlier and was aimed at the same affluent clientele. Like the last of the 166 Inters, the wheelbase was stretched by to , but the larger 2.3 L ...

 Inter grand tourer

Grand tourer

A grand tourer is a high-performance luxury automobile designed for long-distance driving. The most common format is a two-door coupé with either a two-seat or a 2+2 arrangement....

s in 1951. Unveiled at the Brussels Motor Show that year, the 212 was an evolution of the 166 — a sports car

Sports car

A sports car is a small, usually two seat, two door automobile designed for high speed driving and maneuverability....

 for the road that could also win international races.

The chassis was similar to the 125

Ferrari 125 S

The Ferrari 125 S was the first vehicle produced and built by automaker Ferrari of Modena, Italy. Although preceded by Enzo Ferrari's Auto Avio Costruzioni 815 of 1940, the 125 S was the first vehicle to bear the Ferrari name when it debuted on May 11, 1947 at the Piacenza racing circuit...

 with double wishbones in front and live axle

Live axle

A live axle, sometimes called a solid axle, is a type of beam axle suspension system that uses the driveshafts that transmit power to the wheels to connect the wheels laterally so that they move together as a unit....

s in back. Coachbuilder

Coachbuilder

A coachbuilder is a manufacturer of bodies for carriages or automobiles.The trade dates back several centuries. Rippon was active in the time of Queen Elizabeth I, Barker founded in 1710 by an officer in Queen Anne's Guards, Brewster a relative newcomer , formed in 1810. Others in Britain included...

s included Carrozzeria Touring

Carrozzeria Touring

Carrozzeria Touring is an automobile coachbuilder established on March 25, 1926 in Milan, Italy by Felice Bianchi Anderloni and Gaetano Ponzoni...

, Ghia, Vignale

Vignale

Vignale was an Italian automobile coachbuilder company. Carrozzeria Alfredo Vignale was established in 1948 at Via Cigliano, Turin by Alfredo Vignale in Grugliasco, near Turin ....

, and now Pinin Farina. The latter was an important move for the company, as Farina was already well-known and adding his styling skills would be a tremendous boost for Maranello. However, Pinin Farina was as proud as Enzo Ferrari

Enzo Ferrari

Enzo Anselmo Ferrari Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian race car driver and entrepreneur, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari car manufacturer...

, and neither would go to the other to request business up to this point. A mutual meeting halfway between Maranello and Turin

Turin

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

 was the negotiated solution

Both 2500 mm (98.4 in) and 2600 mm (102.4 in) versions were built (Export and Inter models, respectively), both with a larger 2.6 L (2563 cc/156 in³) version of Ferrari's Colombo

Ferrari Colombo engine

Ferrari's earliest cars used engines designed by Gioacchino Colombo, who had formerly designed Alfa Romeos for Enzo Ferrari. These V12 powerplants ranged from the diminutive 1.5 L unit fitted to the 125S to the 3.3 L unit in the 1966 275.Enzo Ferrari had long admired the V12 engines of...

V12 engine

V12 engine

A V12 engine is a V engine with 12 cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of six cylinders, usually but not always at a 60° angle to each other, with all 12 pistons driving a common crankshaft....

. Like the 195, the additional displacement over the 166 was achieved with a larger bore, this time to 68 mm. Output was 150 to 165 hp (111 to 123 kW) with one or three Weber

Weber carburetor

Weber is an Italian company producing carburetors, currently owned by Magneti Marelli Powertrain S.p.A., in turn part of the Fiat Group.The company was established as...

 36DCF carburetor

Carburetor

A carburetor , carburettor, or carburetter is a device that blends air and fuel for an internal combustion engine. It is sometimes shortened to carb in North America and the United Kingdom....

s. The short-wheelbase Export model got the more-powerful engine. 5 hp (3.7 kW) more was on the table for 1952 thanks to better cylinder heads.

A single 212 Inter, Chassis# 0223EL2, was fitted with the available "225" or 2.7 L Colombo V12, creating a unique model that would be properly referred to as a 225 Inter. This one-off model was given a fetching Giovanni Michelotti penned berlinetta

Berlinetta

Berlinetta is an especially sporty form of coupé. Typically a two-seater, the type may include 2+2s.The real meaning for berlinetta in Italian is "little saloon".Introduced in the 1930s, the term was popularized by Ferrari in the 1950s...

 body by Vignale

Vignale

Vignale was an Italian automobile coachbuilder company. Carrozzeria Alfredo Vignale was established in 1948 at Via Cigliano, Turin by Alfredo Vignale in Grugliasco, near Turin ....

.