Brief History About Ferrari
Ferrari (Ferrari Scuderia) was founded in 1929 in Italy by Enzo Ferrari. Enzo was into race cars and as such setup the company to build and sponsor drivers, with much work coming from Alfa Romeo.
After the war Enzo decided to build road cars and in 1947 Ferrari SpA was created in Marenello and built its first road car, the 125 S with a small 1.5 litre V12 engine. And also during the 40’s and 50’s Ferrari continued and was very successful in motorsport and was seen in most major events.
In 1961, Ferrari suffered the loss of some of its top managers, engineers and developers, due to tension between the management and interference from Enzo’s wife. The leavers then setup their own automotive company called ATS to compete against Ferrari. However Enzo managed to recruit some great automotive talent and came back stronger than ever.
A slight hiccup did occur however in the mid 60’s with strong challenges and wins from Carroll Shelby’s Cobra and Ford’s GT40. Ford even tried to buy Ferrari, unsuccessfully before building the GT40.
In 1969 Fiat bought a 50% stake in Ferrari, which had grown to 85% by 2008 and 90% by 2014. The investment from Fiat allowed Ferrari to grow and expand, producing some of the most iconic supercars the world has seen. Also in 1969, Porsche began to compete and be successful against Ferrari on the race circuit and so prompted new development in Ferrari race cars.
Much motor racing success was had by Ferrari during the 70’s, along with a few more iconic cars from them with many seemingly appearing on TV during the 80’s, such as a Testarossa and a Daytona (mostly a replica) in Miami Vice, a 308 in Magnum PI and a 250 GT California in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (however, again a replica).
In 1988 Enzo Ferrari dies at the age of 90, but did see in the production of the outstanding F40.
During the 90’s and into the new millennium, Ferrari again have much success with racing and have produced some amazing cars.
In 2014 Fiat announced it would separate Ferrari from the FCA and sell its shares in the brand and this will probably take place by the end of 2015.
Daytona 365 GTB/4 & GTS/4 1968-1974
512 TR 1992-1995 & F512 M 1995-1999
812 Superfast 2017 & 812 GTS 2019
