History of the Ferrari car brand

Ferrari is renowned for stylish sports cars with elegant shapes. Moreover, this concept can be traced in all models of the brand. Throughout the development of motor sports, it was this Italian company that set the tone for most races.

What contributed to such a rapid growth in the brand's popularity in the world of motorsport? Here is the story.

Founder

The firm owes its fame to its founder, who for two decades has worked in factories of various Italian car manufacturers, thanks to which he has absorbed the experience of most of them.

Enzo Ferrari was born in 98 of the 19th century. The young specialist gets a job at the Alfa Romeo company, for which he plays for some time in car competitions. Auto racing allows you to test the strength of cars in extreme operating conditions, so the rider was able to better understand what a car needs so that it can drive fast without crumpling.

This little experience helped Enzo to move to the post of a specialist in preparing cars for competitions, and to be quite successful, as he was convinced from personal experience which modernization would be more successful.

On the basis of the same Italian plant, the racing division Scuderia Ferrari (1929) was founded. This group controlled the entire racing program of Alfa Romeo until the late 1930s. In 1939, a newcomer was added to the register of manufacturers in the city of Modena, who would later become one of the most exclusive sports car brands in the history of the automotive industry.

The company was named Auto-Avio Construzioni Enzo Ferrari. The main idea of ​​the founder was the development of motor sports, but he needed to get funds from somewhere to create sports cars. He was skeptical about road cars, and considered them an inevitable and necessary evil that allowed the brand to remain in motorsport. This was the only reason why new road models periodically rolled off the assembly line.

The brand is renowned for the unique and elegant body silhouettes of most models. This was facilitated by cooperation with various tuning studios. The company was a frequent client of Touring from Milan, but the main "supplier" of exclusive ideas for the bodywork was the PininFarina studio (you can read about this studio in a separate review).

Emblem

The rearing stallion logo has been around since the founding of the sports division of Alfa Romeo, in the 29th year. But each car that the group modernized had a different emblem - an automobile manufacturer, under whose leadership a team led by Enzo worked.

The history of the emblem begins even when Ferrari acted as a factory racer. As Enzo himself recalled, after another race, he met his father Francesco Baracca (a fighter pilot who used the image of a rearing horse on his plane). His wife suggested using the logo of her son, who died during the battle. Since then, the label of the famous brand has not changed, and it was even considered a heirloom that the automaker kept.

Vehicle history in models

The first road car that Ferrari produced came under the AA Construzioni company name. It was a model 815, under the hood of which was an 8-cylinder power unit with a volume of one and a half liters.

• 1946 - the beginning of the history of Ferrari cars. The first car with the famous rearing stallion on a yellow background is released. The 125 received a 12-cylinder aluminum engine. It embodied the idea of ​​the founder of the company - to make the road car very fast, without sacrificing comfort.
• 1947 - the model already had two types of engines. Initially, it was a 1,5-liter unit, but version 166 is already receiving a two-liter modification.
• 1948 - A limited number of special Spyder Corsa cars are produced, which easily turned from road cars into Formula 2 cars. It was enough to simply remove the fenders and headlights.
• 1948 Ferrari sports team wins Mille-Mile and Targa-Florio.
• 1949 - First victory in the most important race for manufacturers - 24 Le-Mann. From this moment, an incredibly interesting story of the confrontation between two automotive giants - Ford and Ferrari begins, which repeatedly appears in the scripts of various directors of feature films.
• 1951 - the production of the 340 America model with a 4,1 liter engine begins, which two years later received a more powerful 4,5 liter power unit.
• 1953 - the world of motorists gets acquainted with the Europa 250 model, under the hood of which there was a three-liter internal combustion engine.
• 1954 - starting with the 250 GT, a close collaboration with the Pininfarin design studio starts.
• 1956 - Limited edition 410 Super America appears. In total, 14 units of an exclusive car rolled off the assembly line. Only a few rich people could afford it.
• 1958 - motorists get the opportunity to purchase 250 Testa Rossa;
• 1959 - The stylized 250 GT California, custom made. It was one of the most successful open modifications of the F250.
• 1960 - The original GTE 250 fastback is based on the popular 250 model.
• 1962 - The Berlinetta Lusso, a sleek model that is also popular with auto collectors, is launched. The maximum speed of the road car was just over 225 km / h.
• 1964 - The 330 GT is introduced. At the same time, the homologation of the popular 250 series - GTO was released. The car received a three-liter V-shaped engine with 12 cylinders, the power of which reached 300 horsepower. The 5-speed gearbox allowed the car to accelerate to 283 kilometers per hour. In 2013, one of 39 copies went under the hammer for $ 52 million.
• 1966 - A new V-shaped 12-cylinder engine appears. The gas distribution mechanism now consisted of four camshafts (two for each head). This unit received dry sump system.
• 1968 - One of the most iconic Daytona models was introduced. Outwardly, the car did not look like its predecessors, it was distinguished by restraint. But if the driver decides to demonstrate its functionality, then with a top speed of 282 km / h. very few people will be able to cope.
• 1970 - The already familiar volumetric fenders and round headlights with an oblique cut appear in the design of sports cars of the popular automaker. One of these representatives is the Dino model. For some time, the Dino car was produced as a separate brand. Often, non-standard motors were used under the hood of these cars, such as the V-6 2,0 for 180 horses, which were achieved at 8 thousand rpm.
• 1971 - the appearance of the sports version of the Berlinetta Boxer. The peculiarity of this machine was motor boxer, and also that the gearbox was under it. The chassis was based on a tubular frame with steel body panels similar to the racing versions. Until the early 1980s, buyers were offered various modifications of the 308GT4 car, which passed through the Pininfarin design studio.
• 1980s - Another legendary model appears - Testarossa. The road sports car received a five-liter internal combustion engine with two intake and exhaust valves for each of the 12 cylinders, the power of which was 390 horsepower. The car accelerated to 274 km / h.
• 1987 - Enzo Ferrari participates in the development of a new model, the F40. The reason for this is to highlight the company's efforts throughout its history. The jubilee car received a longitudinally located 8-cylinder engine, which was fixed on a tubular frame, which was reinforced with Kevlar plates. The car was devoid of any comfort - it didn't even have seat adjustment. The suspension transmitted every bump on the road to the body. It was a real racing car, reflecting the main idea of ​​the owner of the company - the world needs only sports cars: this is the purpose of mechanical means.
• 1988 - the company loses its founder, after which it passes into the possession of Fiat, which up to this point already owned half of the brand's shares.
• 1992 - Geneva Motor Show introduces the 456 GT RWD Coupé and GTA from Pininfarina studio.
• 1994 - the budget sports car F355 appears, also passed through an Italian design studio.
• 1996 Ferrari 550 Maranello debuts
• 1999 - the end of the second millennium was marked by the release of another design model - 360 Modena, which was presented at the Geneva Motor Show.
• 2003 - another thematic model - Ferrari Enzo, which was released in honor of the famous designer, is presented to the automaker. The car received the shape of a Formula 1 car. A 12-cylinder internal combustion engine with 6 liters and 660 hp was chosen as the power unit. The car accelerates to 100 km / h in 3,6 seconds, and the speed limit is at around 350. In total, 400 rolled off the assembly line without one copy. But the car could be ordered only by a true fan of the brand, since it was necessary to pay about 500 thousand euros for it. and then by prior order.
• 2018 - The CEO of the company announces that development is underway on an electric supercar.

Throughout the history of the brand, there have been many incredibly beautiful sports cars that are still coveted by many collectors. In addition to beauty, these cars had great power. For example, the F1 cars, on which the famous Michael Schumacher won victories, were from Ferrari.

Here is a video review of one of the latest models from the company - LaFerrari:

This is why LaFerrari is the coolest Ferrari at $ 3,5 million

Questions and answers:

Who came up with the Ferrari logo? The founder of the brand, Enzo Ferrari, invented and developed the logo of the Italian sports car brand. During the existence of the company, the logo has undergone several modernizations.

What is the Ferrari logo? The key element of the emblem is the rearing stallion. In most variants, it is painted on a yellow background with national flag stripes at the top.