Some Ferraris are preserved. Others are restored. And a very small number are reimagined into something so left-field that even Maranello would probably do a double take. The latter is where the Michalak Design “Conciso” lands—an almost unrecognisable reinterpretation of a Ferrari 328 GTS that trades weight, complexity, and convention for a sharper, leaner kind of exoticism.
Built in the early 1990s by German design house Michalak Design, the Conciso started life as a standard 328 GTS before being stripped back and re-bodied into something closer to a design study than a traditional restomod. Ferrari itself had no involvement in the project. The mechanical backbone—the chassis and 3.2-litre V8 drivetrain of the original Ferrari 328 GTS—remains, but everything wrapped around it was re-engineered with one obsession in mind: mass reduction.
The result is a car that looks like a parallel-universe Ferrari. The proportions are familiar, but the surfaces are tighter, the bodywork more experimental, and the overall aesthetic far more industrial than sensual. It debuted publicly at the 1993 Frankfurt Motor Show, where it stood less as a Ferrari derivative and more as a design thesis on what happens when you aggressively strip a mid-engine sports car down to its essence.
Diet of Aluminium, Gains in Everything Else
The headline number is the weight. At just 1,900 pounds (889 kg), the Conciso sheds roughly 780 pounds (363 kg) compared to the standard Ferrari 328 GTS. That puts it not only well below its donor car but even beneath modern lightweight benchmarks like the Mazda MX-5.
That kind of reduction changes the character of the drivetrain entirely. With the same 3.2-litre V8 doing the work but far less mass to move, performance tightens up dramatically. The Conciso is said to reach 62 mph in around five seconds and continue on to roughly 170 mph (274 km/h)—numbers that push it closer to early-2000s supercar territory than late-’80s Ferrari grand touring.
It’s not about outright power. It never was. It’s about what happens when you remove everything that doesn’t absolutely need to be there.
A Collector’s Odyssey
After its Frankfurt debut, the Conciso entered a quieter, more nomadic phase. Michalak Design sold it to a North American collector, where it remained until 1998, before passing to a Belgian owner. In 2018, it returned to the United States, continuing its slow evolution from show car curiosity to bona fide collector oddity.
Between 2022 and 2023, the car underwent a comprehensive restoration by Italian specialists Bacchelli & Villa. More than €50,000 was spent returning it to its original specification, including a full respray in Rosso Corsa with Gunmetal Grey accents. The paintwork alone reportedly accounted for over €23,000—a reminder that when low-volume coachbuilt Ferraris are involved, even cosmetics operate in a different financial universe.
Now on the Market—Quietly
Today, the Conciso is being offered for sale in the United States through RM Sotheby’s Sealed platform, meaning no public price tag is attached. The last recorded auction result in 2018 placed it at $109,250, but given its rarity, restoration work, and renewed collector interest, that figure now feels more like a historical footnote than a benchmark.
RM Sotheby’s is keeping expectations discreet, which is fitting. Cars like this don’t really price themselves against standard Ferrari market logic. They exist in a narrower lane where design provenance, engineering curiosity, and sheer individuality matter as much as badge value.
The Conciso isn’t trying to be a better Ferrari 328 GTS. It’s trying to be a lighter, stranger, more focused interpretation of one. And in doing so, it has become something arguably rarer than performance alone: a Ferrari-based machine that feels genuinely unrepeatable.
In a market increasingly dominated by escalating horsepower wars and digital excess, the Conciso’s appeal is almost rebellious in its simplicity. Strip weight. Keep the engine. Redefine everything else.
Source: RM Sotheby’s