Ferrari’s 412MI was purpose-built to compete with American cars at the Indianpolis 500 and the Race of Two Worlds at Monza. It used a unique version of Ferraris current sports car V12, infact bored-out version of from #0676, the 335S which tragically crashed at the 1957 Mille Miglia.

To cope with the near 450 bhp, an old 375 F1 was used since the more modern chassis were developed for smaller inline-4 and v6 engines. Ferrari modified suspension, which converted the transverse leaf springs to coil units.

Two very peculiar aspects of the 412MI was a three-speed transaxle and its a rear mounted differential starter.

At the 1958 Race of Two worlds, Mike Hawthorn and Juan Manuel Fangio completed three grueling heats, and placed third overall behind two American Indy cars.