This may be the wrong category for this, but today is the anniversary of Enzo's passing. He will never be forgotten.
Unfortunately, Ferrari is not Ferrari without Enzo Ferrari. Nowadays, it's just the luxury brand in the Chrysler-Fiat Group. It's a real pity ...
We heard the same clap trap when FIAT bought the production side of Ferrari way back yonder! - It was no longer going to be the same company and the death-knell was sounded. Then the death-knell for the company was sounded again when Enzo Ferrari passed away and FIAT took a bigger control over the company! Funnily enough though, since Enzo Ferrari's passing the company have done pretty well, both on the racing side of things and on the production side of things. They're still one of the most coveted and sought after cars in the World, they're the most supported team/company of any car manufacturer in the World, they sell every car they make, they make Millions in merchandising every year, and to this day kids still grow up dreaming of driving/owning/racing Ferraris. So pray tell: How would Ferrari be more Ferrari or so much better if Enzo Ferrari were still alive? (Oh, and by the way, the FIAT/Chrysler group are about to sell off Ferrari so you can save your pity! Now, where did I leave that death-knell? )
I am not really interested in the commercial success of Ferrari post-Enzo, nor how the new management decided to pollute the market with cheap merchandise to cash on the name; that doesn't interest me one bit. It just happens that sometimes a company and its products are strongly associated with the character and methods of its founder. Case of Ettore Bugati, Colin Chapman, Enzo Ferrari, Ferrucio Lamborghini, Caroll Shelby, etc... Years later, their companies may survive and even produce better cars than the originals (and cash on cheap trinkets for the gullibles), but the spirit is gone. Now, the companies are run by accountants and marketing gurus, producing highly efficient vehicles with incredible performances and no soul. That's my opinion anyway ...
So a 400i has soul but a 458 Speciale doesn't? A Mondial 8 has soul but a 355 doesn't? Please explain!
You are comparing cars from different eras; some have been inspired and signed off by the great man himself, others came about through committe decisions. Ferrari was a small artisan producing a few hundred cars every year, each hand made, but with flaws and character. Each car represented months of labour by a bunch of dedicated craftmen. Now, it's panel gaps, paint quality and perfectly stitched leather that seems to be so important. The engineering side is computer designed, CNC machined and cars come out of assembly lines. Look at Mazzanti Automobili to see how Ferrari were made in the past. They are still small artisans.
I'm merely comparing cars from the era when Enzo Ferrari was alive (an era that you claim was when the cars had soul), to the more recent era long after his death (an era that you claim the cars no longer have soul!). Ferrari were producing far more than "few hundred cars every year", long before Enzo Ferrari sold the company to FIAT in 1969, let alone by the time of his death in 1988! That's called progress! - Without it Ferrari would have gone under years ago! Oh dear! - I can see why they're still small artisans! I seriously doubt that they're ever going to sell more than a handful of cars per year (and then quietly go out of business without anyone even noticing, just like so many other companies of it's ilk!) Ferrari unveil a new car and the whole World takes notice! Mazzanti Automobili and the whole World says: "Who?"
You don't seem to understand that when a manufacturer starts to produce cars in quantity, he has to abandon the hand-made methods and adopt mass-production methods like the large carmakers; that's what FIAT has done with Ferrari. It maybe progress, but it's not so special anymore. Gone is the craftmanship, replaced by the clinical quality of precision engineering. Also, when luxury cars are produced in numbers, they loose their exclusivity. A Ferrari nowadays is not more special than a Porsche, or a Lamborghini, or an AUDI R8, or a Bentley, etc... Right now, a Morgan, a Koenigswegg, a Bugati, or a McLaren is more exclusive than a Ferrari! Some do not have the ambition of mass production. Yes, some may go under, and become even rarer to the collectors: Spyker, for example. About production, in the early 60s, before FIAT acquisition, Ferrari was producing between 400 and 600 cars a year.
Well, i think there would be a few things different... and better: 1. he would have kept the Pinninfarina tie in especially with the 360 ... not a beautiful car in the Ferrari Tradition 2. The use of the Ferrari logo in merchandizing would have been Much, Much less... tee sirts ok, theme park no. 3. F-1 team most likely would not have had as much success- sad but true .. the old man did it his way 100% and that did not mean he always was spot on. - but he did hire the best he could so there could be hope. 5. Volume production would be way lower than 7000 cars per year... more like 3-4000 max. perhaps the models would stay in production longer, but there would be less of them = greater rarity. 6. Ferrari may have gone back to Sports Car racing - prototype and or Indy... given F-1's trajectory in the last 30 years... i think Ferrari would have been a bit more archane and perhaps less successful, but in the end the cachet and exclusivity would be enhanced. even if Piero was in charge today - it lends to the legend if the guy running things has his name on the cars...
I agree with most of what you said. " it lends to the legend if the guy running things has his name on the cars.". Ferrari made during Enzo's lifetime have more soul that anything produced since. Same for Bugati, etc...
Well, Mr. Ferrari was not going to live forever anyway, so the show must go on. And despite his stubbornness, he always acknowledged that things must change to stay the same. I think he wouldn't be too much displeased with what they have today.
There's a "Design by Pininfarina" badge on the 360's rocker panels. To me anyway (& I guess I'm biased), the 360, both coupe & spider versions, are among the most beautiful they've ever done. I beg to differ. My understanding is the Old Man was much more "lenient" where licensing was concerned - Pay me, and you can use my logo etc. I don't think he'd have a problem with theme parks as long as he got paid - He'd laugh all the way to the bank! Can't really comment on the production numbers beyond they're still pretty "rare" cars. I also don't think he was really interested in anything outside of F1 - That's where his soul is/was. Indy & LMP1, not so much IMO. Does it? I get what you're saying, and it's a neat concept, but I for one believe the "cachet & exclusivity" remains firmly in place. Just nowadays "quality" matters; There's nothing wrong with high tech manufacturing methods if quality is improved. Any $250K car really should have consistent panel gaps, decent paint & wonderfully finished leather etc. I think he'd approve of the current lineup. Cheers, Ian
I think the 360's - 430's are not as good looking as the car's that preceeded them nor the cars that came after... 458 & 488... while the 360's are great every day cars and are much easier to live with, as for looks - not so much. ( I dont mean to disparge owners ) ... but there is no way to compare the look of a 308 gtb with any 360... the 308 is a bonifide classic... and if you go further back - Dino, 365 treposto, etc... they are so much better looking that anything mid engined produced by Ferrari... as for the other comments about Enzo and the use of the logo... that is not at all accurate. Enzo was especially protective of his Marque... there was a local Modenese butcher who made Salami ( Zampone) to be exact, who had a very similar shield with yellow background with italian flag and a prancing Pig as the logo... he had them sued to stop using the logo.. that was in 1974. He was ok with the Rectangular badge showing up on some products as endorsed by Ferrari but nothing like today. However - he may have buckled under the stress of all the money on offer... but I doubt the Scudetto would be alowed to be used as it is today.... I He was a man of his generation and could not live for ever. I think he would have loved all the success during the Schumacher years... but probabbly could not have helped meddle in it ... buckling to the Italian Press...
Fair enough. As always, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"..... OK, thanks for the comments. I agree he was very protective of his marque, right up to the point there were enough $ on the table..... Cheers, Ian
Yep - remember ( if the rumors are true from Leo Bebe) that he scotched the Ford Ferrari deal becuase he could only spend up to $100K on his own... ( that was in 65 ) ... dumb he was not! he had that street smarts that only people of his generation could obtain. today street smarts is a whole different thing. in the late 20's he was calle "Crazy Ferrari" - because he took his inheretence and spent it on a racing car ... that he drove like a maniac all over!.... and today he is one of the most Famous Italians ever.
In the "old days" - and I'm not sure exactly when this changed - U.S. Ferrari dealers tended to be small, out-of-the-way, non-descript places that passers-by would hardly notice. When I was on Long Island, the official dealer was in Setauket, a small, fairly remote village on Suffolk County's north shore. Consider where FAF was here in the Atlanta area - at the end of a dead-end industrial road on the outskirts of town. Today, the dealerships are fancy, glass-fronted stores that scream "Ferrari!" on busy roads in major communities. I wonder if Enzo would have approved the change?
This is where I beg to differ too. I think Enzo Ferrari was very much interested in sports cars and road racing, and supported endurance racing wholehearedly until GP racing became more organised and took prominence in motor racing. Early 70s, seems to have been the watershed. If you read Ferrari's biography ("Mes joies terribles" in French), Ferrari was very much for supporting Le Mans, the Targa Florio, the Mille Miglia, the Panamerican Race, and sports cars races at the Nurburgring, Buenos Aires, Sebring, etc... Ferrari's early success after the war, came with sports cars, and his first F1 title only came with Fangio back in 1956. Ascari had taken his 2 titles on Ferrari F2; by then Ferrari had built an enormous reputation on the endurance scene. The Le Mans victory in 1949, is really what put Ferrari on the map, sort of speak. Nobody had heard of Ferrari before that. John Surtees also mentioned several time his frustration that whilst the Scuderia divided its activities between endurance and F1, priority was given to endurance until after Le Mans when Forghieri was allowed to develop the single seaters. Before that, the Scuderia concentrated its efforts on sorting and developing the sports cars for Daytona, Sebring, the Nurburg, Spa and the Targa Florio in preparation for Le Mans. The reason, Surtees discovered, was each sport cars used at the begining of the season could be offered for sale to a private team, with a premium if it had taken a win. Selling sports cars to Col. Hoare (Maranello Concessionaires), Luigi Chinetti (NART), Jack Swaters (Ecuire Francorchamps), Georges Filipinetti for his Scuderia, plus MECOM, Team Bear, etc... was what supported the Scuderia. Ferrari couldn't sell F1s!!! It's first Le Mans imposing a 3L limit in 1966 on engine after the Ford victories that broke Ferrari's effort; he couldn't take his immediate revenge after the Yanks pulled out. It took him a few years for the Scuderia to field again a 3L boxer sports cars team in the endurance championship in early 70s. It had some success, of course (but never Le Mans again), but by then, F1 had become a world event, and Ferrari must have realised that's where his effort should be. The arrival of Lauda and de Montezemolo coincided with the shelving of what was a very interesting endurance programme. Unlike previous Ferrari GP drivers, Lauda had indicated that he wouldn't race sports cars. Montezemolo supported him, and Ferrari agreed to put all the Scuderia resources in F1. I think you should reconsider your statement.
