Designed specifically for the great Carrera PanAmericana road race, the 410 S featured the largest Ferrari engine yet; 4962cc V12. It was a newly designed unit developed for the 410 SuperAmerica road cars. There were two versions of the engine available; a single plug 340 bhp engine fitted in the first two cars and a twin plug 380 bhp unit fitted in the two works cars. Scaglietti was responsible for the lightweight body for the works racers. The first of the customer cars was custom bodied by Scaglietti as a road racer, complete with the potato chipper side fender grilles that were typical for his cars. The fourth car was also custom bodied by Scaglietti, but as a coupe. For the works cars the 'S' in the type indication is believed to be short for 'Sport' and 'Speciale' for the other two. Ferrari campaigned the works racers just once, in the 1956 Buenos Aires Grand Prix where both cars failed to finish. One was sold to a Swedish privateer who had little luck with his 410 S. The second racer was purchased by American John Edgar whose drivers, Carroll Shelby in particular, recorded many victories in North American events.