Start with what the Ferrari 159 S is: a car with 1.9 , built from 1947, in a decade split by war, when civilian production stopped and restarted. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Gioacchino Colombo.
The story
The Ferrari 159 S (1947) was the second Ferrari vehicle, succeeding the Ferrari 125 S that had won six of 14 races earlier in 1947. Only two 159 S were built, one of these rebuilt as a Ferrari 166 Spyder Corsa, and as of 2012, the oldest remaining Ferrari.
What is underneath
The engine is 1.9 . On the scales it comes to 750 kg. Drive goes through a 5-speed manual. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 2420 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
In the Ferrari line-up the Ferrari 159 S has a clear place: it replaced the Ferrari 125 S; it handed the line to the Ferrari 166 S. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Citroën 2CV, the Porsche 356, the Chevrolet Bel Air. Nearby in the Ferrari catalogue sit the 250 GTE and the 328 GTS.
Owning one today
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Ferrari 159 S has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.