Taking performance-focused minimalism to its extreme hasn’t always simply involved manufacturing with lighter materials or designing spartan, no-frills cockpits. Ferrari’s weight-saving efforts back in the immediate post-war years went to extremes, such as dispensing with the roof. After all, when you’re going fast in the rain, won’t the water droplets simply fly overhead anyway?
Back in the late-1940s, Ferrari conjured up the barchetta; an open-topped racer that did away with trivial accessories like a foldable cloth roof for weather protection. The timelessly beautiful 1948 Ferrari 166 MM didn’t even give the driver a decent windscreen, jettisoning a full windshield in favour of a low-rise screen – more a wind deflector than anything – so as to save further on kilograms and keep the car’s streamlined silhouette in check.