*Ferrari origins *Rare and desirable *Uniquely presented at the Maranello Rosso Collection Autocostruzioni SpA of Milan took on manufacture of this ' Ferrarina ' or 'little Ferrari' in 1962.

It was in fact Ferrari at Maranello who had – as early as 1958 – produced the twin overhead-camshaft 4-cylinder power unit used by ASA, originally displacing just 850cc.

In 1961 the engine was installed in a chassis designed by Giotto Bizzarrini – himself the prime design engineer involved with Ferrari's legendary 250 GTO programme – and the result was in effect a scaled-down GTO, suitably bodied by Carrozzeria Bertone.

Ferrari opted not to proceed with the project, which was then acquired by a group of enthusiastic industrialists.

ASA then launched the Mille model in both Coupe and Cabriolet versions, offering disc brakes front and rear while the engine – which has been described as effectively "two-thirds of a Ferrari V12 cylinder bank" – was enlarged to 1032cc.

Producing some 84bhp it gave ...