The 375 MM was named according to Ferrari's convention of the era: "375" denoting the unitary displacement of each cylinder in the 4.5-litre V12 engine, and "MM" standing for the Mille Miglia road race, the car's primary target. The model evolved directly from the 340 MM, inheriting its welded steel tubular chassis and suspension geometry while receiving the enlarged V12.
Ferrari offered two engine variants. Factory entries used the tipo 102, a straight derivative of the 375 F1 Formula One unit with a total capacity of 4,493.73 cc from bore and stroke dimensions of 80 by 74.5 mm, producing 340 PS at 7,000 rpm. Customer cars received the tipo 108, a revised unit of 4,522.68 cc using enlarged bore and reduced stroke of 84 by 68 mm; this same engine was fitted to the 375 America road car. Both versions used three Weber 40IF/4C or 42DCZ carburettors. The chassis wheelbase was 2,600 mm, marginally longer than the 340 MM's 2,500 mm, and front and rear suspension retained Houdaille-type hydraulic shock absorbers.
Body styles were largely supplied by Pinin Farina in spider configuration, though notable exceptions included Vignale Spyders among the early converted examples, a Carrozzeria Ghia coupe to a Giovanni Michelotti design, and later bespoke commissions.
In the 1953 season the 375 MM achieved multiple significant victories in international sports car racing. Giuseppe Farina and Mike Hawthorn won the Spa 24 Hours; Hawthorn and Umberto Maglioli took the 12 Hours of Pescara; and Farina and Piero Scotti won the 12 Hours of Casablanca. Farina and Alberto Ascari won the 1000 km Nürburgring, a World Sportscar Championship round. Alberto Ascari and Luigi Villoresi entered the 1953 24 Hours of Le Mans in a 375 MM but retired with clutch problems.
These results, spread across the Spa 24 Hours and the Nürburgring 1000 km — both counting towards the championship — contributed materially to Ferrari winning the 1953 World Sportscar Championship.
In 1954 the 375 MM continued to perform. Giuseppe Farina and Umberto Maglioli won the 1000 km Buenos Aires, a championship round, and Piero Scotti won the Coppa della Toscana. The car raced across Europe and the Americas throughout this period, winning numerous non-championship events.
In the Carrera Panamericana, the 375 MM scored a fourth place in 1953 and a second place in 1954, demonstrating competitiveness in the long-distance Mexican road race.
The 375 MM's World Sportscar Championship campaign ended as it was superseded by the larger displacement 375 Plus.
Perhaps the most famous individual 375 MM is chassis 0456AM, a Pinin Farina coupe commissioned in 1954 by Italian film director Roberto Rossellini as a gift for his wife, actress Ingrid Bergman. Rossellini also owned a second 375 MM spyder, chassis 0402AM, which was involved in a crash and subsequently rebodied as a coupe by Scaglietti. This car was later purchased by Microsoft executive Jon Shirley, restored by Ferrari specialist Butch Dennison, and became the first postwar Ferrari to win Best of Show at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
Another notable example was the Carrozzeria Ghia coupe — the last Ferrari ever bodied by that Turinese coachbuilder — presented at both the Torino Motor Show and New York Auto Show in 1955.
The 375 MM stands as one of Ferrari's most successful early sports racing platforms, its V12 lineage bridging the company's Formula One programme with its endurance racing efforts. The 1953 World Sportscar Championship title, won in part through the 375 MM's victories at Spa and the Nürburgring, confirmed Ferrari's pre-eminence in the new international series. The car's cultural resonance extended beyond the circuit through the Bergman-Rossellini commission, which remains one of the most storied individual racing Ferraris of the period.