The "soul" of a Ferrari

That man needs to drive a 512, with an OPEN mind. (Yes, both the BB512 and the 512TR)

 

My entirely unqualified opinion: This guy is trippin off the nostalgia drug pretty hard.

Not that there's anything wrong with that - everything from the 250TR to the 575M are freakin excellent cars, but to say that one configuration has more soul than another ... I have a hard time accepting that as a objective report.

 

The flat 12s came directly from competition in to street use!

You cannot be any more Fcar "soulful" than THAT!

 

"Soul" is "personal preference for unreliable cars". (No reliable car has much of a soul!). Old MG's, Triumphs etc. have a soul. ALL Ferraris have a soul except *maybe* a 456 with automatic, and the 400A. But even then...you get the Ferrari mystique. If you don't like the 8 cylinder Ferraris then fine, but you can't tell me a carb 308 is not dripping with soul (as well as other fluids).

Ken

 

Which is easy to do; they're fantastic cars.

But then again, so are any Ferrari 12 cylinders. Or 8s. (Or 6s.) Whether modern, classic or vintage. Arguing which is better is a little silly; they're just different.

 

Interesting. So you say that until Fiat, Ferraris weren't considered to be more unreliable than average cars? They must still have had more shop time though for maintainence. Chains not withstanding, high revving engines need more TLC. But I'd be curious to read contemporary "reviews" from the 50's on living with a Ferrari as a driver and not a club racer. They were such low production then there probably isn't a lot out there on them from the era.

Ken

 

I don't know, Frank, I've followed behind your BBi and I can hear plenty of "soul" coming out of your exhaust pipes!

 

Ken, an excellent resource is an article written in the 1960s by Ken Purdy on Ferrari. It gives a great perspective on how much all things Ferrari have changed.

First of all, Purdy describes the compeition Ferraris as being crudely finished--which is certainly not what you find on those same cars today!

Second, Purdy describes Ferraris as being extraordinarily reliable, especially for competitive cars.

The 1960s were also a completely different time for maintanence. All cars, whether Chevrolet, Ford or Ferrari, required much more attention. Lubrication was much more frequent and involved, and ordinary wear items like distributor points needed to be changed on every car. Ferraris, however, really didn't need any more attention than any other car. (My 330 is a 1967 and, touch wood, is extremely reliable.) Replacement parts, however, were (and are) more difficult to source.

Here's a collection of reviews of 330 GTs.
http://www.parrotbyte.com/330GTRegistry/Articles.htm
Some are modern, and some are contemporary, and some are in between. You won't, however, find much worries about reliability in any of them.

--Matt

 

Matt,

Thanks! It will make good reading. I'm 45 and have forgotten as a kid how often my Dad would take his car in for a tune up. My Honda only has had 2 maintainece trips in 10 years and 75k miles, not counting oil changes.

My 72 Lotus, of course, gets almost weekly tweaking by me in my garage but has proven reliable over the last year.

Ken

 

the aretha franklin of sports cars!

that's spelled R E S P E C T !!!!

 

Theyre just different these days. The older F1 cars ie pre 70 had completly different characterists and "soul" compared to the latest F1 cars. The can am type cars ie boxers are very different to moderns which ape the F1 experience. Each one is intense but in a different way. Its kinda like elvis vs the beatles vs clapton vs snoop. Its all dynamic music jut from different era to cater to different times and tastes. No ferrari though could be compared to elevator or lobby music, toyota and Gm have that end of the automotive spectrum wrapped up for themselvs.

What all ferraris have in common, except maybee a 400i is a ersatz race car experience and road durabilty that synthesises for the street what we imagine the race car experience is. In the past ie untill 1960 the cars had actual dual use but with specialisation we now haver cars that replicate the feel and experience of what we imagine the race cars to have.

Some people like f1 and go for 355's etc others go for classic racing and like their 550's Neither car lacks soul its just a different type of soul. That being said, by definition the newer less compromised cars sacrifice form to ease of use and looses a little someting. But then so does a modern racer with padlle shift and all manner of aerodynamics where the driver has a different job and skill set to a Fangio.