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Home , Alfa Romeo, Enzo Ferrari, Ferrari, Ferrari Testarossa, Modena (racing team), Piero Ferrari

n z o An s e l m o Fe r r a r i was admired by the outside world. This was posted to the mountain regiment born on February 18, 1898, seems certainly true for Enzo , where he spent the rest of the war Eand grew up surrounded by whose childhood ended abruptly. shoeing mules. craftsmen who were artists in metal - people like Weber and , Enzo’s father died of pneumonia His first brush with the motor in- names still famous in the world of in 1916, and Enzo’s older brother, dustry was in immediately after motoring. , died in a military hospital the war when he unsuccessfully applied soon after. The family business went for a job at .While working as a The Ferrari family were pros- bankrupt. Enzo joined the army and vehicle delivery man in , Enzo perous metalwork- met racing driver Ugo ers in , Sivocci, who hired him – a c i t y f a m o u s as an assistant. Although for its craftsmen. They Enzo was to participate were among the first in a of races over in the district to own a the following years, his motor . career as a driver never amounted to much. In the public mind, was a bril- It was Enzo’s asso- liant designer who pro- ciation with duced generations of that established him as a classic racing and sports key player in the interna- which carried his tional racing circuit. His name to victory all over initial relationship with the world. Nothing Alfa Romeo was as an could be further from exclusive dealer for the the truth. As Enzo region around Modena. himself once said “I Gradually his motoring have never considered myself a de- interests grew, both as a dealer and rac- signer or an inventor, but only the FERRARI ing promoter, until he travelled almost one who gets things moving and keeps continuously. them running.” Official name:Ferrari Enzo was married in 1923, but S.p.A. Enzo Ferrari was as much a co- as Enzo’s biographer Brock Yates put ordinator and manipulator as a it: “It is reasonable to assume that Owned by: Fiat (85%) Enzo was brought up in a relatively developer. All of his company’s most • (10%) normal Italian household, with Papa brilliant designs were the work of • Mubadala Development Ferrari operating as the undisputed others. Enzo’s work of genius was to Co (5%). keep his organisation functioning despot, demanding respect from his over nearly five decades, through a children and silent, grovelling sub- Current situation: servience from [his wife]....Mothers mixture of intrigue, persuasion and Ferrari is currently a were worshipped, wives tolerated and sheer determination. marginally profitable arm other women treated as objects of of the financially shaky either scorn or lust, or both. Women, Fiat group. However, to men like Ferrari and his forebears, a global economic fell into two simplistic categories: the downturn is likely to see chaste females who produced them Ferrari’s sales slashed. and lustful, low-life harlots from Economic depressions are whom they selected their mistresses always tough for luxury and concubines.” carmakers. ENZO FERRARI Although Enzo had only one le- Chances of survival: gitimate child – his son Dino – there Okay. Regardless of Sir Winston Churchill once said were almost certainly unknown others what happens to Fiat, it’s that all great men have unhappy child- (Ferrari’s mistress, Lina Lardi, gave inconceivable that Italy hoods – in reaction to the poverty birth to Enzo’s other known son, Piero, would let Ferrari go • and powerlessness of their personal in 1945). lives, they seek to build rich empires

All content © The Dog & Lemon Guide 2011. All rights reserved Enzo’s career took off when he Although Enzo was no slug when it worked; Alfa Romeo, using one of formed a racing company - Scuderia came to manipulating business relation- Enzo’s drivers, sped to victory, while (meaning ‘racing stable’) Ferrari - ships to his own advantage, Alfa Romeo Ferrari team members came second. with Alfa Romeo and several rich was never innocent either. Ferrari was Just one year later, however, Alfa’s local noblemen in 1929. The new often given unproven machines to management initially declined to pass partnership produced high-perform- race, in order to save face if the new over the new P3 models, leaving the ance Alfas raced by the company’s machines broke down. Supply of new team trying to race hired drivers. As a sideline, Enzo & racing equipment that looked like win- with dated racing technology. his wife produced equivalent road ning, however, was often kept for Alfa’s cars for wealthy amateurs. own team. Despite this handicap, the Scuderia team put on a brave showing at the Ferrari’s return to Modena was , and might easily something of a triumphant return, have won had the engine of the out- and carried with it the strong element dated 8C not disintegrated on of ‘payback’. To quote Brock Yates: the last lap. Enzo’s drivers persevered, “...vendetta was a theme that ran but they lost because they were driv- throughout his life, the notion that ing old cars. One by one they quit. no slight would go unforgotten, Ferrari desperately hired replacement that no insult would go unpaid, and drivers, and eventually got his P3 rac- that honour in such situations tran- ing cars from Alfa Romeo, which had scended all practical needs... This previously simply stored them after ENZO FERRARI same refusal to forget would cause withdrawing from racing. him to patiently wait fifty years – half a century – before he believed Tragically, Enzo lost three of his Fiat’s debt to him, incurred by their drivers to road crashes in a single year, refusal to hire him in 1918, was fully Most of Ferrari’s yet he kept racing. With his new cars, repaid.” myth was a he was successful. Scuderia Ferrari was distortion or often now the official Alfa Romeo racing There were problems with the Alfa completely untrue. department. relationship from the start. However much the Alfa management valued The purpose of the Enzo joined the Fascist Party in its relationship with Enzo, Scuderia myth was partly 1934. Given his total non-involve- Ferrari was in direct competition to sell cars, but ment in politics up to this point it with its own racing department, both is probably safe to say that this was a on and off the racetrack, for they mostly to boost matter of good business; fascists con- were also competing for the same the seemingly trolled much of Italy’s business world sponsorship money from companies insatiable ego and especially Alfa Romeo. However, like Champion Spark Plugs. of a man whose he freely used his company’s newslet- ter for Fascist promotions over the The Scuderia Ferrari team did childhood had next few years. moderately well, considering the suddenly ended times. There were several successes, in death and From 1933 till 1938, The Scuderia although major victories were few. bankruptcy. Ferrari team with Nuvolari fought an That’s hardly surprising when you increasingly uneven battle against the consider what the team was up German teams of Daimler-Benz and against. First, Alfa Romeo was . Two things brought sometimes racing in competition this event about. One was a French with Ferrari. Further, Ferrari had rule designed to limit the seemingly- to struggle to keep his own racing out-of-control of many racing operation working; the fascist dicta- In 1932, Enzo’s son Alfredo (almost cars by limiting them to a maximum tor Mussolini was pressuring all car always known by the nickname Dino) weight of 750kg. This was quickly companies to go into production of was born. The other important event in noted as a golden opportunity by military hardware instead. Racing Enzo’s life was the (thou- German designers Ferdinand drivers died frequently. The world’s sand mile) race. Alfa & Ferrari worked and Dr. Hans Nibel, of Daimler-Benz. economy was in serious depression. together to snatch back this all-impor- Instead of the clumsy old designs The fact that Scuderia Ferrari kept tant prize from Mercedes, which had which were dominating European going, let alone won anything, was won the previous year. The cooperation motor racing at the time, why not put a considerable feat.

All content © The Dog & Lemon Guide 2011. All rights reserved hugely powerful engines into super- before the war. From the death of the However, it would be a big mistake lightweight cars? Auto Avia 815, the 125 Ferrari Sport to assume that Ferrari’s success was was born, lovingly brought into the due to superior technology. That’s Hitler backed these good ideas world by master craftsmen Gioachino simply not true. Despite a public with Deutschmarks. He had decided Colombo and Luigi Bazzi, while Enzo image of Ferrari the wizard technolo- that the honour of the German na- himself indulged his passions for in- gist, the opposite was probably more tion was at stake, and therefore the trigue, manipulation and women. accurate. Until Fiat took over many Germans had to win all races; with years later, Ferrari racing cars only won massive state and private funding, The 125 was the first vehicle to when there was no serious opposition that’s more or less what happened. carry the name Ferrari and the legen- – for example, after the war when Although Hitler’s money was no- dary logo. The 125 was the Germans were banned and Alfa where near enough to cover the cost built at Ferrari’s new plant among the Romeo was too broke to compete. of the new racing machines, both orchards at (he moved there companies enjoyed hugely profit- in 1943, partly to escape the Allied As soon as the Germans returned able relationships with the German bombing raids on Modena). to racing they wiped the floor with government, notably in the produc- Ferrari, as did the tiny British rac- tion of war equipment and loans on ing teams, whose individual budgets warmly generous terms. wouldn’t have paid for Enzo’s electric- ity bill. A weary Ferrari gave up the uneven contest in 1938 and driver The early Ferrari road cars were few Nuvolari went off to race for Auto Papa Ferrari and far between, and no two were the Union. Enzo decided to move to a operated as the same. This changed with the 250GT different class of racing – the smaller in 1954. With a body designed by the voiturette (small car) class. The re- undisputed despot, noted designer , the 250 sultant car, the Alfa 158, was a great demanding has a timeless elegance combined with success both before and after the war. respect from his power that still impresses today. The car was still an Alfa Romeo, children and and Enzo’s long rivalry with the Alfa Enzo Ferrari’s legendary status in engineers, notably Wilfredo Ricart, silent, grovelling Italy (he was nicknamed ‘the pope’) came to a head in 1939; Enzo lost. subservience from had as much to do with Italy’s own Alfa’s arrangement with Ferrari was his wife inferiority complex as it had to do soon dead and buried. with his cars. The simple fact is, after World War II, no one took Italy seri- Enzo then set about producing his ously. Italian society was a shambles, own racing cars. His contract with its politics a joke while its engineering Alfa stopped him from racing under was laughed at by the rest of Europe. his own name for four years, so he Yet, of course, the had talent, formed a new company – Auto Avio pride and a strong nationalism. It was Costruzione. Enzo’s first customer The new car was powered by a tiny this sense of Italian machismo that was one , who wanted , with a capacity of just 1.5 Enzo exploited so freely. A victory for a car to race in the 1940 Mille Miglia. litres – less than many modern small Ferrari was a victory for Italy. Ferrari’s new designer, Alberto cars. The bodies of the new Ferrari may Massimino, reworked a Fiat saloon to have lacked the elegance of later models, The early 1950s were sweet years become the Auto Avia 815. Two were but after failing to finish in its first race, for Ferrari; his cars achieved the produced, but both retired from the the 125, in the hands of 54-year-old never-beaten record of nine consecu- race with engine failure. , flew to victory at Forli tive grand prix victories. However, & Parma.* the return of Mercedes in 1954 left Before further development could Ferrari high and dry – a disaster that take place, the war intervened and Ferrari’s next car, the 166, used the hurt two ways. First, won no until 1943 Ferrari’s company survived same engine design but with a two– significant races for two years, then by producing cheap knock-offs of a litre capacity, and brought victory at this humiliation hurt the sales of range of German machine tools. Le Mans in 1949. Out of the racing Ferrari road cars. cars sprung the Ferrari road cars. This With the war lost for Italy, Enzo process of building racing cars and For the first of several times, Ferrari and team did a post-mortem then building street-legal versions has Ferrari was rescued by Fiat owner on the car which had failed them just characterised Ferrari ever since. , who took over the

All content © The Dog & Lemon Guide 2011. All rights reserved production of Ferrari road cars and when the opposite has more often been people attending Grand Prix races came donated seven grand prix cars the case. solely to watch the Ferraris. which Agnelli had acquired as part of his takeover of the bankrupt Lancia Enzo Ferarri built himself an in- Ferrari needed his street cars, but company. The were raced to ternational image as the quintessential they held almost no interest for him. victory as Lancia-Ferraris, despite the Italian craftsman, driver and builder of Ferrari’s street cars have always held fact that Ferrari’s only contribution successful precision racing machines. an extraordinary mystique, despite the was the badge on the front. Most of Ferrari’s myth was a distor- fact that many pre-Fiat examples were tion or often completely untrue. The shoddily put together and suffered from Enzo also made good use of purpose of the myth was partly to sell numerous problems, not the least of the $100,000 or so per year he got cars, but mostly to boost the seemingly which was bad rust. from Agnelli, and set about design- insatiable ego of a man whose child- ing the cars that kept Ferrari in the hood had suddenly ended in death and Part of the reason for the shoddiness limelight. bankruptcy. of the Ferrari street cars was simply that Enzo didn’t give a toss about his custom- Ferrari’s son, Dino, died of an ers. He regarded his clients as rich fools unidentified neurological disease in who were there simply to finance his 1956. motor racing efforts, and therefore the glory of (Enzo) Ferrari’s name. Despite winning world cham- pionships in 1956, 1958, 1961 & Speaking of the early-’60s 330GT 1964, Ferrari racing cars were notable In classic Italian models, Brock said “Beneath the flash not for their sophistication, but for style, Ferrari and glamour of the engines and the their crudity compared to their op- maintained order Prancing Horse label lay machines position. Enzo Ferrari believed, in by a combination made up of simple welded tube chassis an extraordinarily naive fashion, that and components often cheaply or badly power alone would win him races. of manipulation, fabricated. The bodies were inclined to tantrums & rust and leak and no-one, not even the Virtually every popular racing bullying. Most of best mechanics, could figure out the improvement was added to Ferrari electrical wiring that had apparently racing cars years after Ferrari’s rivals his best friends been improvised on each automobile. had used them successfully. When and employees improvements were finally added, left in disgust, “The clutches were the true Achilles’ they were usually agreed to only after wearied by the heel, and the [Ferarri dealer] Chinettis Ferrari had been wiped out in yet were lucky to escape a major lawsuit another race. endless succession when one exploded and tore off a of intrigues and woman’s foot. Somehow they avoided Englishman Harvey Postle­thwaite, tantrums that litigation by replacing the automobile who came to work for Ferrari in characterised and selling the damaged machine to 1981, discovered the strange para- another unwitting customer.” dox of a highly efficient design team Enzo’s reign. working at computers while the After discussions with, among oth- Ferarri boss, Enzo himself, resisted ers, the Ford Motor Co, Ferrari ended most attempts at improving the cars. up selling out to Fiat in 1969 for far less To quote Postlethwaite: “There was than the $20 million or so that Ford had no interest on Ferrari’s part in chassis, offered. The reason: Ford would not let aerodynamics or brakes. He lived in In classic Italian style, Ferrari Ferrari run the racing department. the past, totally distracted by horse- maintained order by a combination of power to the exclusion of all else.” manipulation, tantrums & bullying. For the next 20 years Enzo ran an Most of his best friends and employees often-unsuccessful and staggeringly One of the most extraordinary left in disgust, wearied by the endless expensive racing department while Fiat things about Enzo Ferrari, however, succession of intrigues and tantrums did a better job of running his road car is that he almost always managed to that characterised Enzo’s reign. factory (the agreement allowed Fiat to win the public relations race with the take a 90% holding in Ferrari, but only rest of the motoring world. To this Most extraordinary of all was how after Enzo’s death). day most people believe that Ferrari well Ferrari kept the world conned. A racing cars have usually been winners, survey in 1980 showed that 30% of all

All content © The Dog & Lemon Guide 2011. All rights reserved Ferrari fell into decline as its but on the other hand I was comfort- Ferarri’s racing cars are winning founder aged. The quality control able because I knew that Mr Ferrari was races again, although they face heavy slipped in the road car factories. The 100% behind me.” competition and future victories are racing victories fell away. Most of by no means certain. Ferrari’s best drivers left in disgust. One of Di Montezemolo’s first acts Enzo continually wasted precious as President was to hire Fiat expert The interesting thing about the energy trying to blacken the names of Franco Canna and two production Ferrari organisation is that its inter- his ex-drivers and other enemies. His gurus from Toyota. national image as a maker of quality death in 1988 left an organisation on high-performance machines remains the point of collapse. In classic Japanese style, production largely untarnished. Why? Because at the factory was radically changed. people want to believe the Ferrari Gordon Murray, the designer The factory now worked as three teams myth. of the world’s fastest road car, the – the design team, the improvement McLaren F1, was once asked if the F1 team and the assembly-line team. Look at a Ferrari. No other car would resemble a . “I don’t stirs the passions so easily, no other car think so,” he replied, “there’s no one at conveys such effortless status, no other McLaren who can weld that badly.” car offers such a promise of unbridled power. And it’s sadly true that models like the and 348 failed The secret lies in the private pas- to deliver a car that was anything like sions of sensible men and women who what the customers had the right to labour as stockbrokers and merchant expect. Build quality & reliability bankers by day, but dream of another were shocking on some cars. Things life by night – a world of power and like dashboard switches were simply Build quality & sensuality that Ferraris promise to pinched from budget Fiat models. The reliability were fulfil. Testarossa, for all its power, handled shocking on some poorly for a car of its price, while the Ferraris. Things So old man Ferrari was an ego- 348 was sometimes dangerously dif- tistical old charlatan? Big deal. His ficult to control at speed. like dashboard cars are art objects, and he effortlessly switches were sold the world his vision of Italian Worse, the Japs were baying at simply pinched lust & splendour. In a world increas- Ferrari’s heels both on and off the from budget Fiat ingly fixated with practicality, Ferrari racetrack. Honda-powered racing cars passed to us his emperor’s garland of cruised comfortably to victory, while models. self-indulgence. the Honda emulation of the Ferrari – the NSX – terrified In an ocean of faceless, mass- Ferrari. It was as fast, handled beauti- produced vehicles, Ferrari cars say that fully, was comfortable and yet had that you are a worthwhile, effective individ- spunky look of power that people ual. That was something Enzo always had grown to associate exclusively with wanted to believe about himself • Ferrari. The Yanks loved it.

Ferrari’s rescue in 1991 came from Fiat & Toyota. Fiat head Gianni Each team was responsible as a Agnelli appointed a lawyer to run whole for ensuring the quality of the Ferrari – but not just any lawyer. Luca products they produced. Team leaders Cordero Di Montezemolo started with were also expected to consult, coordi- Ferarri in 1973 as its nate decisions and make sure they were race team manager. He worked closely carried out effectively. with old man Enzo himself, and like Enzo he is an organiser & motivator. The results speak for themselves: the Ferrari range, while still tempera- “Enzo Ferrari was like a grandfa- mental in a typically Italian way, at ther to me... Can you imagine being least offers supercar quality for its team manager for Ferrari at the age of supercar price. 25? ....I worked with a lot of pressure..

All content © The Dog & Lemon Guide 2011. All rights reserved