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Into the mid-1950s Ferrari created race cars with all manner of engines, inline designs with four or six cylinders (there was even an experimental 2-cylinder) and, of course the famous V-12s.

There were two basic Ferrari V-12s in the company's early years. Gioacchino Colombo designed the first, what you might call the small-block V-12. His successor, Aurelio Lampredi, penned the second, larger V-12. This began as a 3.3-liter, but was increased in steps to the 4.5-liter 375 MM in 1953. Then, in 1954, it was "stroked" to 4.9 liters and Ferrari varied from its usual naming system, calling it a 375 Plus. Horsepower was now at a claimed 330.

It's a robust-looking engine, a big single-cam-per-head powerplant with a rank of three Weber 46 DCF3 carburetors down its center.

And the cars looked powerful, a strength somehow emphasized by rows of rivets. Pinin Farina (then written as two words) did the 375 MM design, including a version meant for everyday touring. One appeared on the cover of Road & Track, looking as though the husband was about to drive it to work. With the 4.9-liter engine, the body shape remained the same, but now with a larger and louvered hump on the trunklid to accommodate the fuel tank.

The interior is also a work of sporting art, a wood-rimmed steering wheel through which you read the small panel of five no-nonsense gauges, the center of attention being the big tachometer.

Proudest moment for the big Ferrari came in June 1954, when Froilan Gonzalez and Maurice Trintignant won the 24 Hours of Le Mans by a lap over a D-Type Jaguar. The other major win for one of the big "4.9s" came the following November when Umberto Maglioli hustled one through the eight stages and 1907 miles of the Carrera Panamericana, which ran from near the border with Guatemala to just south of Texas.

Ferrari built five 375 Pluses and the example in the Ralph Lauren collection is the fifth, chassis number 0398. Enrique Saenz Valiente from Argentina bought the car new and raced it in his home country. It won many times, but its more important victory was in the 1955 Buenos Aires 1000-kilometer race. Held in January, it was the first round of the World Sports Car Championship, so Valiente's win with co-driver Jose-Maria Ibanez brought Ferrari valuable championship points.

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