Enzo Ferrari

Italian automobile designer

• Born: February 18, 1898
• Birthplace: Modena, Italy
• Died: August 14, 1988
• Place of death: Modena, Italy

Ferrari was a designer and builder of sports cars and is among the most significant forces of the twentieth century in the manufacturing and racing of sophisticated, high-speed autos. He revolutionized the industry and sport, and for much of the 1950’s and 1960’s his cars dominated the high-performance racing circuits.

Early Life

Enzo Ferrari (FAYR-rah-ree) was born into a family with a tradition of metalworking. His father, Alfredo Ferrari, ran a small foundry that produced equipment for the Italian railroad. Enzo lived with his father and mother, Adalgisa, and his elder brother in quarters above the factory. Sharing his father’s and brother’s interest in cars, Ferrari attended his first race, the Targa Bologna, in 1908 when he was ten, and he was duly impressed. His father wanted him to go into engineering, but Enzo had little interest in school. He completed his studies at the Modena technical high school in 1916 when he was eighteen, but, in the same year, both his father and brother died in World War I. The next year, Ferrari was drafted into the Italian army, but, never as healthy as his robust six-foot, three-inch frame might indicate, he became ill after a few months, underwent surgery at the military hospital at Brescia, and was later discharged from service.

In despair and needing work, Ferrari went to Turin, where he hoped to get a job with the Fiat autoworks. Unsuccessful, he took a mechanics job until one day, while he was in Milan, he met and befriended Ugo Sivocci. Sivocci was a test driver for the company that would later produce the popular Vespa motor scooter, Costruzioni Meccaniche Nazionali (CMN), and he helped Enzo get a racing job with the company. In 1919, Ferrari initiated his driving career in a race from Parma to Berceto. He quickly attracted the attention of the Alfa Romeo Company and became a driver for the firm in 1920. He would be at Alfa Romeo for the next twenty years.

In 1923, Ferrari married Laura Gorello. The following year, he won his first major race, at Pescara. His interests, however, were now focusing more on the cars themselves and their engines. Working in close collaboration with Alfa Romeo, Ferrari established his own stable, the Scuderia Ferrari, of drivers and mechanics in Modena. He chose from among the best drivers of the day for his racing team and lured expert mechanics away from Fiat and other auto manufacturers. Eventually, the Scuderia would become a subsidiary of Alfa Romeo and, in 1933, Ferrari took over the management of the firm’s participation in races. The birth of his son, Dino, in 1932 contributed to his decision that he would no longer participate in the driving part of the business. Already by this time, he had established himself as a major figure in the world of Italian sport, for, in 1928, the Italian government had rewarded his contributions with the title “Commendatore” (stripped after World War II). His reputation would only continue to grow. He also had begun editing a sports magazine in 1929.

Life’s Work

In 1937, Ferrari designed and built his first racing car, the 158 Alfa. (Alfa Romeo would later rename the car the Alfetta, and it would win two world championships in the postwar period.) Until 1937, Enzo had been the president and director of Scuderia Ferrari and also the Alfa Romeo commercial manager of the district of Italy that included his hometown of Modena. When he was formally appointed head of Alfa Romeo’s racing division, he had to dissolve Scuderia Ferrari and agree not to race independently for four years. Frictions finally ended his association with Alfa Romeo in 1939, but Ferrari retained fond memories of his years with the company.

Already a household name in racing, Ferrari resurrected the old Scuderia at Modena in 1940 as the Auto-Avio Costruzioni Ferrari. With World War II raging, however, building and racing cars was secondary to the Italian war effort, and Ferrari’s factory was used for military production. The factory was bombed by the Allies, then looted by the withdrawing Germans. When the war ended, the factory was rebuilt at Maranello, outside Modena, and, even with the difficulties of the immediate postwar period, Ferrari motivated himself and his employees to produce the first Ferrari racing car in 1946. He began racing his cars in 1947, won at Le Mans in 1949, and won his first world championship in 1952, when Ferraris won every Grand Prix in which they were entered. The same year, he was honored by his country when he was named Cavaliere del Lavoro. The legend had begun. The blood-red cars with the famed Ferrari trademark, the black prancing horse on a canary yellow background, now became emblematic of the finest in racing machines.

Ferrari was embroiled in controversy during most of the 1950’s because of the many accidents and deaths, not only of drivers but also of spectators, in which his cars were involved. He was even put on trial for manslaughter although acquitted when one of his cars went out of control during the 1958 Mille Miglia, killing the driver and several spectators. The press, including the Osservatore Romano, supported by the Vatican, denounced Ferrari (whose attitude toward the Church was no secret), and the protests were so great that the race itself, a major event that ran over a large part of Italy, was discontinued.

Two years earlier, Ferrari had been devastated by the death of his son Dino, who died of muscular dystrophy when he was twenty-four. He had been an engineering student at the University of Bologna. The young Ferrari had already become involved in his father’s operation, and his loss was not only a personal blow for his father but also one for the future of the Ferrari company. It certainly contributed to Enzo’s pessimistic attitude and grim outlook on life and made him even more dedicated to his machines. A bitter separation from his wife would cap his miseries at this time in his life.

Having become successful and wealthy, Ferrari nevertheless frequently struggled with monetary difficulties in producing his expensive race cars. In 1960, the same year he was given an honorary degree in engineering by the University of Bologna, he was forced to sell stock and incorporate his firm, which was now called SEFAC-Automobili Ferrari. He also received yearly subsidies from Fabbrica Italiano Automobili Torino. In 1963, he negotiated with Ford to form two new companies. Ferrari-Ford would make racing cars, and Ferrari himself would be president and hold 90 percent of the stock. Ford-Ferrari would basically capitalize on his name, and Ferrari’s interest would be 10 percent. The deal fell through when Ferrari learned that Detroit would have the final say on everything, but Ferrari also remarked that he refused because he was afraid he would lose his identity and reason for living. Ford certainly realized what they had lost when Ferraris won every competition the following year. (Ford would get some measure of satisfaction in 1966 when its Mark II finally bested a Ferrari at Le Mans.) Ferrari’s cash flow had not improved, and, in 1965, Fiat made him a sizable loan in return for the production rights of the Dino Ferrari. The same year, his mother, with whom he had lived in Modena, died at ninety-three. In 1969, Ferrari became a subsidiary of Fiat.

Always concerned about his cars and more about his drivers in later years and dogged by past criticism, Ferrari had realized that the speed technology of his racing cars was fast outstripping drivers’ ability to control them. Deaths were occurring regularly on the Grand Prix circuit and elsewhere. In 1967 (too late for many critics), he publicly recommended that better measures be taken to protect drivers and spectators, and, through his urging and those of others, high-speed racing is much safer today than it was during the heyday of Ferrari.

Ferrari’s wife, like his son, died of muscular dystrophy, in 1978. He contributed much to the fight against that disease before his own death. All that remained to him was his illegitimate son, Piero. Isolated, Ferrari lived in a two-story house in Modena, where he was indeed “king,” though he owned several villas. Eschewing vacations, he continued to dedicate himself exclusively to his cars, more with an artist’s passion than that of an executive. The tall, hawkish man with white hair and blue eyes always covered with dark glasses fit well the romantic image that the world had formed of him. In 1977, when he was almost eighty, he resigned as president of Ferrari. He had already stopped attending races about twenty years earlier. He continued to supervise the racing operations until his death on August 14, 1988, at age ninety.

Significance

Ferrari was one of the giants in the design and production of precision-crafted, high-performance racing cars. In the process, he revolutionized sports-car driving, dominating racing circles in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Passionately devoted to his cars (which he viewed as if they were his children), he drove himself, his employees, and his drivers to the extreme to produce the fastest, finest racing machines in existence. The Ferrari symbol, the prancing black horse on the yellow background, became synonymous with quality and continues to demand reverence. It is doubtful, considering the expense and labor demands, that the classic Ferraris produced during Enzo’s tenure will ever be equaled. Since his death, the prices of vintage Ferraris have soared.

Ferrari was also instrumental in the improvement of safety measures in the sport of race car driving. Undoubtedly the quality of the machines that he produced and the myth surrounding him added to enthusiasm for the sport.

Bibliography

Adler, Dennis. Ferrari: The Road to Maranello. New York: Random House, 2006. A history of the car company, illustrated with numerous photos of the automobiles.

Daley, Robert. “That Blood-Red Ferrari Mystique.” The New York Times Magazine, July 25, 1965. A brief, contemporary look at Ferrari, his outlook, and his cars.

Ferrari, Enzo. The Enzo Ferrari Story. Translated by Ivan Scott, with a foreword by Stirling Moss. New York: Macmillan, 1964. Translation of Ferrari’s 1942 autobiography Le Mie gioie terribili (my terrible joys). Omits a significant portion of his long life.

Grayson, Stan, ed. Ferrari: The Man, the Machines. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1971. A collection of essays about Ferrari, his designs, and his cars the “machines.”

Hicks, Roger, and Keith Bluemel. The Complete Ferrari. St. Paul, Minn.: Crestline, 2002. A history of the car company, including a biography and archival photographs of Ferrari, information tracing the design and evolution of the company’s automobiles, and nearly four hundred photos of Ferrari cars.

Pritchard, Anthony. Grand Prix Ferrari. New York: W. W. Norton, 1974. A detailed look at the legacy of the Ferrari racing car told through description of the racing seasons. Discussion of Ferrari himself is interspersed throughout. Contains photographs, an index, and detailed descriptive tables of the cars.

Rancati, Gino. Ferrari, the Man. Rev. ed. Translated by Angelo Wallace. Toledo, Ohio: A. Wallace, 1983. Translation of Rancati’s 1977 biography Ferrari, lui. A substantial biography of Ferrari.

Rogliati, Gianni. The Ferrari. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1973. Includes a chapter entitled “History of the Firm” that discusses Ferrari’s life from his early years to the date of publication. The rest of the book is a detailed look at the cars themselves and includes numerous color and black-and-white illustrations and photographs.

Sargeant, Winthrop. “The Terrible Joys.” TheNew Yorker, January 15, 1966. A substantial article detailing Ferrari’s life and career to 1966.

Thompson, Jonathon, Innes Ireland, and Phil Hill. “Enzo Ferrari: 1898-1988.” Road and Track, December, 1988. A section on Ferrari composed of an obituary and two remembrances by those who knew him.