Great Cars: Ferrari

A name that evokes images of fast, sexy and often red cars. They're at home tearing up the track or turning heads in town. These are cars that were born to race. These legendary machines were the dream of Enzo Ferrari, who turned his adolescent fantasy into reality. Ferraris are at the top of the automotive food chain. They occupy a rare realm of exotic cars that are built in small quantities. Like fine art, they're purchased by people who can afford to satisfy their passions. These are cars with racing pedigrees that sound as good as they look. It all began with a vision of one man, Enzo Ferrari. Ferrari fell in love with racing when he was just a young boy. It was an exciting sport that captured his imagination. It was thrilling being a spectator in the early days of the 20th century. People would line the roads to watch a race with no barriers between them and the cars. Whatever happened, you were right there. Ferrari was determined to remain at the center of this excitement throughout his life. But in 1914, the excitement of racing was pushed aside by war. The European continent exploded as the new technologies of the century were turned into killing machines. The simple joy of competition grew deadly. Enzo's brother Dino joined the military and went to work as part of the support crew for an Italian flying ace, Francesco Baracca. This aviation hero symbol was a prancing horse. Ferrari would later use this as the logo for his cars. The war had a devastating effect on young Ferrari. He lost his father to pneumonia and then his brother. Enzo was drafted when he turned 19 and ironically, for someone who had become famous for building exotic motorcars, he was assigned the duty of shooing mules. He contracted pleurisy and as the war ended, he was discharged. He joined the thousands of other former soldiers who are now looking for work. He was ready to find a way to take part in racing. The popularity of racing was starting to grow again and Ferrari looked for an opportunity to become a driver. A small company gave this enthusiastic young man a chance to drive one of their cars. His career was launched. The little car that he drove was no match for the machines of the major manufacturers. He was gaining experience but he wasn't winning. He needed to move to another racing team to get a better car. In 1920, Alfa Romeo asked Ferrari to join its roster of drivers. He wasn't destined to be a great driver but he had the skill and desire to make a race team a success. He knew what made a good driver, how to get publicity, what makes a good car and how it all fitted together so that races were won. Under Enzo's guidance, the Alfa Romeo team was built. These were some of the greatest drivers in the world. The team drove the crowds wild as they battled on the tracks of Europe. They won victory after victory. Unfortunately, Alfa Romeo's management decided that it had nothing more to prove. It withdrew from racing in 1932. Ferrari used this setback as an opportunity to grow his own racing team, the Scuderia Ferrari. Enzo took the stable of Alfa team drivers with him. Antonio Ascari, Achille Bazzi, Giuseppe Campari and Tazio Nuvolari started to win under Ferrari's prancing horse banner. One driver stood out among the rest, Tazio Nuvolari. He was the most talented and famous. He had an unorthodox driving style and his pit stops turned into an emotional opera. His wild driving and charm endeared him to the fans. Winning endeared him to Ferrari. This team seemed to be unbeatable. Even though they weren't officially racing, Alfa kept providing the cars and the drivers kept winning. By 1934, Alfa's motorsport reign was under attack. Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union launched an all-out effort to dominate Grand Prix racing. These two German teams fielded an array of stunningly fast new cars that were way ahead of the competition. Ferrari wasn't convinced that the Germans couldn't be beaten. Alfa had some new cars in the pipeline and he believed he had the world's best drivers. But the Germans kept winning. The showdown would come at the 1935 German Grand Prix. The new Alfas weren't quite ready, but Ferrari had made some modifications to his three-year-old cars that gave them more power. He pinned his hopes on Nuvolari to take on the Germans. Nuvolari drove flat out around the Nürburgring. He relentlessly pursued the leader lap after lap. In the last moments of the race, he pulled ahead to take the chequered flag. This was a major embarrassment for the Germans. An indication that their dreams of dominating the sporting world might not turn out. Hitler didn't heed the subtle warning that people could prevail over machines and plunged the world into war in 1939. Needless to say, motor racing came to a halt as the sounds of bombs and cannons replaced the cheers of fans across Europe. After the war, the European auto industry was in ruins. Ferrari retreated to a shop in Maranello and began to build his own cars. Finally, he had the opportunity to realize his dreams. He was free to make cars that incorporated everything he'd learned about racing. It would take two years of hard work to fashion the first Ferrari. The 125 rolled out in 1947 and the world took notice. Only three of these lightweight and fast cars were built. They were elegant and distinctive. The interior was bare bones. Just the essentials necessary for competition driving were included. Bucket seats, a five-speed gearbox and a steering wheel. Their most outstanding feature was a jewel-like V12 engine that turned out 72 brake horsepower with its 125cc displacement per cylinder. Thus the name, the 125. The roar of the V12 became a Ferrari signature. The three cars started to win races. They won at the Rome Grand Prix and in Palma. Two had sports car bodies and one was a tight cigar shape with cycle fenders. This car won the Turin Grand Prix. The cars were modified by boring out the engines to 166cc per cylinder. The Turin winner became known as a Type 166. The first car is thought to have disappeared but the second car eventually ended up in the garage of a proud California collector. This is considered to be the oldest surviving Ferrari. It was raced in Argentina but eventually made it back to Italy. After many years of racing, it was brought to America and restored. It set the stage for all Ferraris that followed. By 1950, Italian motorsports had fully recovered from the war. Ferrari was not the only racing team. His former benefactor, Alfa Romeo, was heating up the competition. They took a page from Ferrari's playbook and pursued the world's best drivers. Top of their list was Argentinian Juan Manuel Fangio. Fangio and his Alfa seemed unstoppable. Ferrari didn't give up. In 1951, he took on Alfa at the British Grand Prix. His new cars beat Fangio and the Alfa Romeos. By 1953, Ferrari was on his way. He was producing an array of cars. This one, a 250MM with a body by the designer Vignale, was specifically built to compete in the thousand mile road race, the Mille Miglia. Thus the designation MM. Only 18 Vignale Spiders were built. These 12-cylinder cars were more advanced than almost anything else on the road. Not all Ferraris were red. This 1953 375MM was painted in the pale blue and yellow colors of Argentina, where it was successfully raced from 1954 until 1957. Its four and a half liter engine produced over 300 horsepower. It was capable of speeds in excess of 160 miles per hour. If you have a spare three million dollars, this is the perfect car for historic racing. Ferrari constantly experimented. He was never satisfied. He thought he needed a lighter engine and tried four-cylinder engines. Like the one in this 1953 500 Mondial. The cars came in different shapes and sizes. Stylists like Pininfarina made Ferrari's cars so beautiful that people stopped just to stare at them. While interested in beauty, Ferrari was driven and determined to win. He produced road cars only to make money so he could be successful at racing. His passion and determination paid off. Ferrari was winning. In 1952 and 53, Alberto Ascari took the team to the winner's circle in every race they entered. Ferrari had become bigger than life. A giant legend to go after. But his old nemesis, Mercedes, had revived its racing efforts and was poised to topple Ferrari. They hired Fangio away to pilot their powerful machines. Fangio could average 120 miles per hour in a race and demolish the competition. Mercedes and Ferrari were pushing the limits of what could safely be driven on the tracks of that era. A string of accidents horrified the public. Alfa alone lost three drivers. Then in 1955, a Mercedes veered off the course at Le Mans and tore through the crowd. Over 80 spectators died. This series of tragedies prompted Alfa Romeo, Lancia and Mercedes-Benz to withdraw from Grand Prix racing. This left the field wide open for Ferrari. He continued to create race cars and also sports cars for the streets. These kept the factory doors open and gave enthusiasts around the world cars that were fun to drive. Even though some of these cars are worth over a million dollars, many owners still love to take them out and push them to the limit. The Ferrari company recognized this and launched the Ferrari Historic Challenge. A series of races for semi-professional and gentleman drivers. The cars are divided into three categories. Single-seaters, drum brakes and discs. Initially, races were just for the rarest Ferraris with a competition past. But in 1999, the series was expanded to include Maseratis as well. This not only increased the number of entrants, it added a little taste of historic rivalry. The challenges offer a chance for owners to experience what it was like to race these cars as they compete against fellow enthusiasts. By 1960, Ferraris were the uncrowned kings of automotive style and fashion. They screamed sex appeal. But these glamorous models were falling behind the technology curve. While the cars looked sexy, they had to change to remain competitive. Other Grand Prix teams were fielding mid-engine cars and Ferrari soon followed with the 250 LM. This was Ferrari's first mid-engine model. He had to produce a hundred of these in order to compete in the production sports car class. He only built 40, but he convinced the sponsoring organization, the FIA, that the 250 LM was just the latest variation of another car series. As a result, he qualified. Ford and others, like Carroll Shelby, protested. Ferrari was forced to race the 250 LM against bigger and more powerful cars. Henry Ford II was taken with the audacious Enzo Ferrari and his cars. Ford wanted to compete in European racing and decided the easiest way to do this was to buy Ferrari. He wanted the expertise of the drivers, engineers, and the racing crews that came in number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 at Le Mans in 1963. Ferrari was interested in having Ford's enormous resources at his disposal. Negotiations proceeded. Ford flew to Italy to sign the contract, but Ferrari had one question. Who would make the final decisions? When Ford said it would be him, Ferrari showed the visitors the door. Ferrari just couldn't give up control of his company, especially racing. Ford was outraged and vowed revenge. He ordered the start of a massive racing effort with one purpose, beat Ferrari. Work started on the Ferrari Hunter, the GT40. The goal was to build a car with a top speed in excess of 200 miles per hour. It had to sustain an average speed of 120 miles per hour over 24 hours. This is what it would take to beat Ferrari at Le Mans. The sleek and aerodynamic Mark I GT40 used an engine from Ford's Indianapolis race cars. It looked good, but there wasn't time to sufficiently test it before Le Mans. In June of 1964, it was time for the first face-off. Three GT40s arrived to race, but none finished. Ferrari came in first, second, third, and fifth. Ford came back the next year with two modified Mark II GT40s. Both cars dropped out. Ferrari took first and second in the 250 LM that Ford had protested, and third in another car. Ford hoped Carroll Shelby could lead them to victory. He was told to do whatever it took to beat Ferrari. It's rumored that Ford had spent almost a billion dollars on the GT40 program. He let Shelby know that money was not a problem. In 1966, he came back to Le Mans determined to win. The cloudy weather and rain showers were ominous portents for Ferrari. His cars failed to finish. And Ford finally swept Le Mans and eventually won the world championship for prototype cars. Ford finally knocked Ferrari off the podium. Enzo Ferrari knew that he would need the deep pockets of a major manufacturer to continue to compete. In 1969, he made a deal with Fiat that allowed him to retain control of his racing efforts and gave him the money to race. He had to relinquish total control of the road car side of his business, but it was well worth it to stay in the game. Fiat invested in modernizing the manufacturing and development of the cars. They were still largely hand-built, but Fiat wasn't in business to win races and sell cars as a sideline. The focus shifted to increasing the volume of sales. It was a time of fervent development. When a television show, Magnum P.I., featured a red Ferrari 308, the cars became even more famous. They couldn't stand still. In 1985, new cars like the 12-cylinder Testarossa and the 8-cylinder 288 GTO won over Ferrari fans around the world. A top speed of 180 mph made the Testarossa, or redhead, a must-have for anyone born with a speed gene. It became the most popular model ever offered. The company sold 7,200 Testarossas between 1985 and 1990 in North America alone. While Fiat worked on the road cars, Enzo Ferrari continued to do what he did best, build racing teams. He attracted Mario Andretti, Niki Lauda, and other drivers who became gods to Formula One fans. Racing wins helped the Ferrari legend grow. It's been said that in Italy, Ferrari was more famous than the Pope. 1987 marked the 40th anniversary of Ferrari's first car, and the company celebrated with the release of the F40. This mid-engine car was reminiscent of the 250 LM and gave customers the feeling of what it was like to drive a race car. The F40 incorporated many features perfected in Formula One racing. The body was made of composite materials reinforced by carbon fiber and Kevlar. The doors only weighed three and a half pounds each. The F40 was the culmination of everything that was Ferrari. Sadly, this would be the last new car that the 90-year-old Enzo Ferrari would see. He died in 1988. While Ferrari had died, his memory lived on. In 2002, the company revealed a tribute to its founder, the Enzo. Ferrari was coming off a remarkable string of victories, and they wanted to celebrate with a car that was like a Formula One racer. The result, the Enzo, looks like it was made for the track. Its six-liter V12 engine and carbon fiber interior are evidence that it was built to race. This ultra-high-performance car doesn't come with a stereo, cruise control, or GPS, but its 218 miles per hour top speed is pretty entertaining. But only 349 people will have the privilege of owning one. Limited production became a mantra at Ferrari. Trying to build as many cars as possible could affect quality and tarnish the company's reputation. They'd build only as many cars as they could do well. Since there were more potential buyers than vehicles, this would also help to keep the prices up. People craved the hand-built touches, the painstaking attention to detail, and the stunning performance. All Ferrari hallmarks. From the first Ferrari and straight through every model since, there has been a desire to blend racing with style. They produced beautiful pieces of sculpture that look fabulous, go fast, and make an unforgettable sight. Enzo Ferrari captured the Italian passion for automobiles and became a giant legend around the world.