Ferrari Conciso Turns the 328 GTS Into a Doorless Wedge

Ferrari’s mythology is usually written in elegant coupés, open spiders and the long shadow of Pininfarina. The Conciso sits somewhere else entirely. Created by Michalak Design around a 1989 Ferrari 328 GTS, this one-off barchetta strips the idea of a Ferrari down to a low aluminium wedge with no roof, no doors and very little patience for convention.

At a glance

A 328 GTS stripped to its essentials

The Ferrari 328 GTS is hardly a bulky car, but the Conciso makes it look almost formal by comparison.

The 328 was the evolutionary step after the 308, carrying the familiar mid-mounted V8 layout into a slightly smoother and more aerodynamically refined shape.

In GTS form, it used a targa roof, while its 3.2-litre 90-degree Dino V8 produced around 270 bhp.

The Conciso keeps that mechanical heart, along with the chassis and drivetrain, but almost everything the eye reads as a 328 has been discarded.

Instead of the usual Ferrari silhouette, it presents a single low gesture, a compact wedge with exposed wheel-cover detailing, a very low horizontal grille and a tail that feels closer to a design study than a road car.

Michalak’s doorless Ferrari experiment

Michalak Design was founded by Bernd Michalak and Jutta Michalak in 1979, and its work has often sat outside the mainstream of the Italian coachbuilding houses most commonly linked with Maranello.

The company’s automotive projects included a soft-top cover for the Ferrari 550 Barchetta and the Michalak C7, a kit car using Smart ForTwo underpinnings.

The Conciso remains its most arresting statement.

First shown publicly at the 1993 Frankfurt Motor Show, the car takes the Italian meaning of its name seriously.

Conciso translates to concise or compact, and the car has the visual discipline of something reduced until only the wildest idea remains.

There are no doors, so occupants climb over the side into the cockpit.

There is no roof, and the windshield is so low that it functions more as a gesture than conventional weather protection.

The result is less grand touring romance and more speedboat-for-the-road, which is exactly why it still feels so unusual.

Aluminium bodywork and an uncompromising cabin

The aluminium body was made by Bacchelli & Villa, specialists known for their Ferrari Classiche work, and the lightweight approach is central to the car’s character.

With no roof structure, no conventional doors and less hardware to carry, the Conciso is around 330 kg lighter than the 328 GTS that gave it its fundamentals.

The front and rear sections use a clamshell arrangement, with the rear bodywork lifting back to expose the powertrain, gearbox and rear suspension.

That makes the car feel theatrical even before it moves, but the details are more functional than they first appear.

A deep cut along the side channels air toward the rear-mounted V8, while the vented black engine cover visually anchors the otherwise silver, blade-like body.

Inside, the Conciso is just as stripped back.

The seats are largely integrated into the bodywork and fitted with racing harnesses, while compartments in the side panels provide space for helmets.

The dashboard retains the essential 328 GTS instruments and switchgear, with the rev counter angled toward the driver.

A classic three-spoke MOMO steering wheel carries the Cavallino badge, and between the seats sits the detail many Ferrari drivers still romanticise most, the gated manual shifter.

A one-off Ferrari with difficult market logic

The Conciso returned to the collector market through RM Sotheby’s Sealed June sales, a format that allowed interested buyers to place sealed bids over a three-day window.

Assigning a neat value to a car like this is almost impossible.

It is not a regular 328 GTS, not a factory-series limited edition and not a concept car confined to static display.

It is a road-legal one-off with Ferrari mechanicals, an independent design story and a shape that divides opinion immediately.

The car last appeared publicly at auction in 2018, also through RM Sotheby’s, where it sold for just under €110,000.

Since then, the appetite for unusual modern-classic Ferraris and coachbuilt outliers has only become more serious.

For the collector who already owns the predictable icons, the Conciso offers something rarer than another pristine red berlinetta.

Details & Specifications

The Ferrari Conciso is fascinating because it refuses to behave like a conventional collector car.

It has recognisable Maranello hardware, but its appeal lies in the moment someone decided a 328 GTS could become a compact, doorless, roofless aluminium provocation and still be driven on the road.