Ferrari 550

When Ferrari unveiled the 550 Maranello in 1996, it reversed a design philosophy the company had held for more than two decades. The car returned the marque to a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout for its two-seat V12 flagship, 23 years after the front-engined Daytona had given way to mid-engine berlinettas. Named for its 5.5-litre displacement, the 550 wore a Pininfarina body whose long hood and short deck consciously echoed Ferrari's grand-touring past while meeting modern expectations for civility and speed.

Beneath that long bonnet sat a naturally aspirated 5.5-litre V12, producing 485 PS at 7,000 rpm and driving the rear wheels through a rear-mounted six-speed manual transaxle. The layout gave near-even weight distribution and a top speed close to 199 mph, with the sprint to sixty falling into the low four-second range. The engine was well enough regarded to take the International Engine of the Year award in both 2000 and 2001.

Ferrari built 3,083 examples of the 550 Maranello between 1996 and 2001, every one fitted with the manual gearbox, before the revised 575M succeeded it. An open Barchetta roadster followed late in the run, and the model has since been credited with re-establishing the front-engine V12 as the template for Ferrari's flagship grand tourers in the decades that followed. Conceived as a comfortable long-distance Ferrari rather than a track weapon, the 550 has proved unusually durable in reputation among the marque's front-engined twelve-cylinder cars.