Behold, the Wonderful and Terrible Ferrari 328 Conciso by Michalak

Design studios like Zagato and Carrozzeria have become synonymous with forward-thinking automotive design thanks to years of building attractive, one-off versions of Ferraris, Alfa Romeos and more. Once upon a time, though, a man named Bernd Rudiger Michalak tried his hand a rebodying an Italian exotic, and the results were..erm, different.

Bernd believed that sports cars should be athletic and light, and followed that philosophy when designing a special show car for the 1993 Frankfurt Motor Show. His studio started out with a regular Ferrari 328 GTS, which it turned into an ultra lightweight Barchetta-style track car that it called the Conciso. The car retained the 328’s 270 hp V8 engine and five-speed manual transmission, but it weighed almost 800 lbs less than the standard car thanks to a new alloy body.

SEE ALSO: Ferrari 488 Pista Lands With 710 HP Race Derived V8

The front and rear ends of the Conciso have a clamshell design, lifting up to reveal the car’s inner workings. There are no doors, with passengers forced to step over the body work to get into the vehicle. The side bodywork where the doors would typically be also feature integrated pockets for crash helmets – which you’d probably want to wear on a track considering the Conciso’s limited safety features.
RM Sotheby’s will auction off the Ferrari 328 GTS Conciso by Michalak at its upcoming Monaco auction in May. The car was sold at a Bonhams’ auction last year for 115,000 euros, according to CoachBuild.com, which is equivalent to about $141,000 USD. That seems like a steal for a 1 of 1 coachbuilt Ferrari, but then again, Michalak is no Bertone or Zagato.

Photos by Peter Singhof 2018 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
[Source: RM Sotheby’s]