Ferrari: 60 glorious years
The following part of the company's history, however, bears the stamp of Luca di Montezemolo, who arrived at the end of 1991. Taking Enzo Ferrari's principles of innovation and courage as his starting point, Montezemolo proved himself the man to take Ferrari to previously undreamed of and apparently unattainable heights of success. Enzo Ferrari was born in Modena on February 18, 1898, and he died on August 14, 1988, at the age of ninety. From an early age he had an interest in motor racing, and was driving the family car by 1911. In 1919 he was turned down for a job with Fiat, instead going to work for a Bolognese engineer called Giovanni who was converting small trucks to saloons and sports cars. He got a job test driving for Construzions Meccaniche Nazionali in Milan, which led to his first race, competing for CMN at the Parma Poggio hill climb in 1919. In 1920 Enzo joined Alfa Romeo as a test driver, finishing second in the Targa Florio.
In 1929 he founded the Scuderia Ferrari, in viale Trento Trieste in Modena, to help his partners compete in motor racing. The Scuderia raced Alfa Romeos until 1938, the year in which Enzo Ferrari became racing manager of Alfa Corse. In September 1939, however, he split from Alfa Romeo and founded Auto Avio Costruzioni Ferrari, in the old Scuderia Ferrari headquarters. While the new company did some work for the Compagnia Nazionale Aeronautica di Roma, Piaggio and RIV, it mostly manufactured machine tools, specifically dynamic grinding machines.
In spite of agreeing to a non-competition clause which prevented him from building cars under his name for a period of four years after the split from Alfa, Ferrari soon began work on two examples of a racing car, an 8-cylinder 1500cc Spyder known as the 815 which went on to take part in the 1940 Mille Miglia. The outbreak of World War II brought all motor racing to a halt and in 1943 the workshops moved from Modena to Maranello, where it continued manufacturing grinding machines despite the fact the premises were bombed in both November 1944 and February 1945.
At the end of the war, work began on designing and building the first 'true' Ferrari, the 125 Sport, a 1500cc 12-cylinder car which Franco Cortese debuted on the Piacenza Circuit on May 11, 1947 and two weeks later drove to victory in the Rome Grand Prix. Since then, the prancing horse cars have racked up over 5,000 successes in track and road races all over the world, creating the legend that is Ferrari today. In order to cope with growing market demand, Enzo Ferrari sold 50% of his share capital to the Fiat Group in 1969, an investment that increased to 90% in 1988.
In spite of this, however, Ferrari has always remained resolutely independent, thanks to a highly specialised output. In 1977, the Carrozzeria Scaglietti, the famous Modena coachworks which had created Ferrari's GT chassis'- and bodies since the 1950's - joined Ferrari. In 1977 Fiat gave Ferrari a 50% share in Maserati, the legendary Modena marque, which it had acquired in 1993. In 1999, Ferrari took over 100% of Maserati, the historic Modenese sports car manufacturer - long a symbol of excellence and elegance - and one of Ferrari's oldest rivals on the track.
Its relaunch was carried out under Prancing Horse management, with both the Trident model range and factory complex undergoing a complete overhaul. With the relaunch complete, Maserati has returned to being under the direct control of Ferrari in April 2005. By the end of 2004, Ferrari's count of championship titles reads as follows: 14 F1 Drivers' World titles, 14 F1 Constructors World Championships, 14 Manufacturers World titles, nine wins at the Le Mans 24 hours, eight at the Mille Miglia, seven at the Targa Florio, and no fewer than 182 F1 Grand Prix victories.
The legendary Prancing Horse symbol used by Ferrari has heroic origins. A highly decorated Italian World War I pilot, Francesco Baracca first adopted it as a personal emblem, painting it on the fuselage of his aircraft. At the end of the war, Baracca's parents entrusted the Prancing Horse symbol to Enzo Ferrari, who put it on a yellow shield (the colour of Ferrari's home town of Modena) and used it as the symbol of his racing team. The legendary Ferrari red was initially simply the colour assigned to all Italian-made cars competing in Grand Prix races by the International Automobile Federation in the early years of the century. Following the success of the 815 built in 1939, Enzo announced he would build road and racing cars - which would be called Ferraris.
The first was the 125C racing sports car (1946), followed by the larger-engined 159 and 166. The latter being the basis of the first road car, the 166 Inter of 1947. It was followed by the 195 Inter of 1951 and by the later 212 model. Ferrari sold over 240 Inters, plus the bigger engined 342s and 375s for the American market. Capital provided by Franco Cornacchia and Luigi Chinetti enabled Ferrari to establish a long standing connection with America, with the 400 and 410 Superamerica types of the mid-1950s, the lightweight 410 Superfast and ultimately the 4.9-litre 500 Superfast. Ferrari's success was based on racing and in September 1948 the marque had made its first Formula 1 appearance - finishing third. Its first F1 win came later in the same year at Lake Garda. Ferrari won its first Grand Prix in Britain in 1951, with the cars going from strength to strength. Ferrari's son Dino was a talented engineer, and played a prominent part in developing the V16 racing engine which bore his name.
Tragically, he died in 1956, at the age of 24. Ford of America tried to buy out Ferrari in the early sixties to boost its sporting image, but rather than lose control of his own racing operation, Ferrari instead took over the struggling Lancia GP Team, with Fiat agreeing to support Ferrari's racing team for five years. In 1969 Fiat took a 50% stake in the company. The last front engined V12 Ferrari was the 280 kph Pinin Farina styled 365 GT B4 Daytona, introduced in 1968 and the 365 GTS4. At the other end of the market saw the launch of the Dino 206 GT, developed from the 1965 206 GTS racing sports car.
Ferrari introduced his first road going V8 engine in the Bertone styled 308 GT4 in 1973, but reverted to Pinin Farina for the 1975 308 GTB. Grand Prix racing had a major influence on the Ferrari 365 GT4BB, which used a 4.4-litre mid-engined layout. In 1976 the Boxer was given a 5.0-litre engine as the 512BB, keeping Ferrari among the fastest cars in the world. In the eighties there followed the 290 kph Testarossa and in 1987 the F40 was regarded as one of the finest Ferrari's ever. In 1990 Ferrari won its 100th GP race and in 1992 the 456 GT was unveiled, followed by the F50 in 1995. The Enzo Ferrari was unveiled in Paris in 2002 - a memorial to its founder - and the legend that is Ferrari.
Brian Tanner
FERRARI: MODEL BY MODEL
Spyder (Barchetta) Touring
Production period: 1948-1953
Total produced: 41
Coupe Ghia
Production period: 1950-1952
Total produced: 26
Spider Vignale
Production period: 1951-1953
Total produced: 60
250 MM Coupe Pinin Farina
Production period: 1953-1954
Total produced: 18
250 GT Europa Pinin Farina
Production period: 1953-1956
Total produced: 41
375 MM Spyder, 775 Plus
Production period: 1953-1954
Total produced: 6
750 Monza
Production period: 1954-1955
Total produced: 30
410 S Spyder & Coupe
Production period: 1955
Total produced: 4
410 Superamerica Series I-III
Production period: 1956-1959
Total produced: 37
250 GT Boano/Ellena
Production period: 1956-1958
Total produced: 75 & 49
250 GT Tour de France
Production period: 1956-1959
Total produced: 84
500 Test Rossa - Tri 62
Production period: 1956-1962
Total produced: 70
290 S, 315 S, 335 S
Production period: 1957
Total produced: 7
250 GT Cabriolet Series I & II
Production period: 1957-1962
Total produced: 242
250 GT California Spyder Series I & II
Production period: 1957-1962
Total produced: 108
250 GT Coupe Pinin Farina
Production period: 1958-1960
Total produced: 343
250 GT Berlinetta SWB
Production period: 1959-1962
Total produced: 167
400 Superamerica
Production period: 1959-1963
Total produced: 45
250 GTE Coupe 2+2
Production period: 1960-1963
Total produced: 955 + 49 of 330
Dino 246 Sp, 196 SP, 286 SP, 248 Sp, 268 SP
Production period: -
Total produced: Unknown
250 GTO Series I & II
Production period: 1962-1964
Total produced: 36/13 series II
250 GT Lusso
Production period: 1962-1964
Total produced: 354
250 LM
Production period: 1963-1965
Total produced: 32
330 GT 2+2
Production period: 1964-1967
Total produced: 1057
500 Superfast
Production period: 1964-1966
Total produced: 37
275 GTB, 275 GTS, 275 GTB/4, Spyder NART
Production period: 1964-1968
Total produced: 1007
275/330 P. 275/330 P2, 330 P3. 330 P4
Production period: 1965-1967
Total produced: 12
330 GTC, 330 GTS, 356 GTC, 365 GTS
Production period: 1966-1970
Total produced: 874
365 California
Production period: 1966-1967
Total produced: 14
Dino 206S
Production period: 1966
Total produced: 16
350 Can Am, 612 Can Am, 712 Can Am
Production period: 1967-1971
Total produced: 2 P4 modified, 1 512 M modified,
365 GT 2+2
Production period: 1967-1971
Total produced: 800
Dino 206 GT, 246 GT, 246 GTS
Production period: 1967-1974
Total produced: 3913
365 GTB/4 Daytona, GTS/4 Daytona
Production period: 1968-1973
Total produced: 1395
312P
Production period: 1968-1969
Total produced: 2
512 S, 512 M
Production period: 1969-1970
Total produced: 25
312 PB
Production period: 1970-1973
Total produced: 12
365 GTC/4
Production period: 1971-1972
Total produced: 493
365 GT4 BB, BB 512, BB 512i
Production period: 1971-1984
Total produced: 2323
365 GT4 2+2, 400i, 412
Production period: 1972-1989
Total produced: 2911
Dino 308 GT4
Production period: 1973-1980
Total produced: 3656
308 GTB, 308 GTS, 328 GTB, 328 GTS
Production period: 1975-1989
Total produced: 21,678
Mondial 8, 3.2, T, Cabriolet
Production period: 1980-1993
Total produced: 6156
288 GTO
Production period: 1984-1986
Total produced: 272
Testarossa, 512 TR, F512 M
Production period: 1984-1996
Total produced: 9937
F40
Production period: 1987-1992
Total produced: 1311
348 GTB, 348 GTS, Speciala, 348 Spyder
Production period: 1989-1994
Total produced: 9485
456 GT, 456M, 456M GTA
Production period: 1992-2002
Total produced: 3287
F333 SP
Production period: 1994-1995
Total produced: 12
F355 Berlinetta/GTS/Spider/Challenge
Production period: 1994-1998
Total produced: 11,258
F50
Production period: 1995-1997
Total produced: 349
550, 575M
Production period: From 1996
Total produced: Unknown
550
Production period: 2001-2002
Total produced: 448
360
Production period: 1999-2000
Total produced: -
360
Production period: From 2000-2002
Total produced: -
Ferrari Enzo
Production period: 2002-2004
Total produced: 399
360
Production period: 2003-2004
Total produced: -
612 Scaglietti
Production period: From 2004
Total produced: -
