Enzo Anselmo Ferrari | FerrariChat

Enzo Anselmo Ferrari

Discussion in 'Who's Who in Ferrari Universe' started by agup48, Jan 5, 2010.

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  1. agup48

    agup48 Two Time F1 World Champ

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    #1 agup48, Jan 5, 2010
    Last edited: Jan 5, 2010
    Enzo Anselmo Ferrari (February 18, 1898 - August 14, 1988)
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    Was the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari racing team and subsequently of the Ferrari car manufacturer.

    Born in Modena, Italy, Ferrari he grew up with little formal education but a strong desire to race cars. During World War I he was a mule-skinner, his father Alfredo and brother Dino died in 1916. Leaving the army, the family firm had collapsed and Ferrari sought work with Fiat but could only find it with the small firm CMN. He took up racing in 1919, initially with little success.

    He left CMN in 1920 to work at Alfa Romeo, racing their cars in local races he had more success. In 1923, racing in Ravenna, he acquired a Prancing Horse badge (a WWI pilot symbol), although this did not make it onto a car until 1932. In 1924 he won the Coppa Acerbo at Pescara. His successes in local races encouraged Alfa to offer him a chance of much more prestigious competition and he was lauded by Mussolini. Ferrari turned this opportunity down and in something of a funk he did not race again until 1927 and even then his racing career was mostly over. He continued to work directly for Alfa Romeo until 1929 before starting Scuderia Ferrari as the racing team for Alfa.


    Ferrari managed the development of the factory Alfa cars, and built up a team of over forty drivers, including Giuseppe Campari and Tazio Nuvolari. Ferrari himself continued racing until the birth of his first son in 1932 (Alfredo, known as Dino, who died in 1956). The support of Alfa Romeo lasted until 1933 when financial constraints made Alfa withdraw, it required the intervention of Pirelli for Ferrari to receive any cars at all. Despite the quality of the Scuderia drivers the company won few victories (1935 in Germany by Nuvolari was an exception), Auto Union and Mercedes dominated. In 1937 Alfa took control of its racing efforts again, reducing Ferrari to Director of Sports under Alfa's engineering director. Ferrari soon left, but a contract clause restricted him from racing or designing for four years.

    He set up Auto-Avio Costruzioni, a company supplying parts to other racing teams. But in the Mille Miglia of 1940 the company manufactured two cars to compete, driven by Alberto Ascari and Lothario Rangoni. during WW II he firm was involved in war production and following bombing relocated from Modena to Maranello. It was not until after WW II that Ferrari sought to shed his fascist reputation and make cars bearing his name, founding Ferrari in 1947.


    The first race was in Monaco in 1947, but the first victory was not until the British Grand Prix of 1951. The first championship came in 1952-53, when the Formula 1 season was raced with Formula 2 cars. The company also sold production sports cars in order to finance the racing endeavours not only in Grand Prix but also in events such as the Mille Miglia and Le Mans. Indeed many of the firm's greatest victories came at Le Mans (14 victories, including six in a row 1960-65) rather than in Grand Prix, certainly the company was more involed there than in Formula 1 during the 1950s and 1960s despite the successes of Juan-Manuel Fangio (1956), Mike Hawthorn (1958), Phil Hill (1961) and John Surtees (1964).

    In the 1960s the problems of reduced demand and inadequate financing forced Ferrari to allow Fiat to take a stake in the company, Ford had tried to buy the firm in 1963 for $18m but had been rejected. The company became joint-stock and Fiat took a small share in 1965 and then in 1969 they increased their holding to 50% of the company (In 1988 Fiat's holding was increased to 90%). Ferrari remained managing director until 1971. Despite stepping down he remained an influence over the firm until his death. The input of Fiat took some time to come through however, it was not until 1975 with Niki Lauda that the firm won any championships - the skill of the driver and the ability of the engine overcoming the deficiencies of the chassis and aerodynamics. But after those successes and the promise of Jody Scheckter in 1979 and Gilles Villeneuve in 1981 the company's Formula 1 championship hopes fell into the doldrums from 1983. Ferrari did not live to see the resurgence of his team, dying in Modena in 1988.

    Together with his honours of Cavaliere and Commendatore in the 1920s, he was made a Cavaliere del Lavoro in 1952 received a number of honorary degrees, the Hammarskjöld Prize in 1962, the Columbus Prize in 1965, and the De Gasperi Award in 1987.

    Celebrating its first World Championship of the new Millennium, in Formula One, Ferrari built the Enzo to celebrate this achievement and the company named the car after its founder, Enzo Ferrari, who died in 1988.

    [size=-5]
    Book:
    Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races, the Machine by Brock Yates (Doubleday 1991)
    Enzo Ferrari Resources[/size]

    Feel free to add more or post corrections! :)
     
    Patricia2020 likes this.
  2. krasnavian

    krasnavian Formula 3

    Dec 24, 2003
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    I met him in the paddock at Monza and we talked about my GTO. Fangio walked up and joined us in the conversation. They were both very gracious. It was an encounter I'll never forget.
     
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  3. RP

    RP F1 World Champ

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    Whoa, glad you caught this, surprised he was listed first.
     
  4. Carbonero

    Carbonero Formula Junior

    Sep 2, 2009
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    Found more information of interest.

    http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Ferrari-SpA-Company-History.html

    Excerpt:

    "330GTs, 275GTBs - downright ugly"? Hmmmm... SOMEBODY needs new glasses!
     
  5. pamparius

    pamparius Formula Junior

    May 16, 2007
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    germany
    today it is 22 years since enzo passed away.

    [​IMG]


    rip
     
  6. AceMaster

    AceMaster Three Time F1 World Champ

    Feb 6, 2009
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    RIP Enzo Anselmo Ferrari
     
  7. GT Abarth

    GT Abarth Rookie

    Oct 31, 2010
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    Pinto de Almeida
    Enzo is in Heaven near God.
     
  8. texasmr2

    texasmr2 Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Enzo is Gods 'right hand man'!!!
     
  9. ferrarist

    ferrarist Formula Junior

    Mar 16, 2001
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    R.I.P. "Il Commendatore"
     
  10. El Wayne

    El Wayne F1 World Champ
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    #10 El Wayne, Aug 13, 2011
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  11. RaymarkSen

    RaymarkSen Rookie
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    I am glad to know about the great person. Thanks for the rare photo u shared..
     
  12. Sig. Roma

    Sig. Roma Formula 3
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    #12 Sig. Roma, Oct 13, 2011
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  13. prd575

    prd575 Formula Junior
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    Thanks for the great picture!
     
  14. El Wayne

    El Wayne F1 World Champ
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    #14 El Wayne, Feb 18, 2013
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  15. Borzacchini Jr

    Jun 7, 2013
    23
    Just to clear the facts. Ferrari was not a fascist. He had not any interest in politics (considered it useless for his final aims) and he maintained good (if possible) rapports with right, left or center, with no distinction. The truth is that he despised any political involvement and derided those that exhibited publicly their opinions in working ambient (for example Wifredo Ricart, “imported” at Alfa Romeo from Spain, convinced Fascist, sincerely hated by Enzo, and described privately as “little black shirt”). There was Enzo Ferrari, important Fascist leader at Milano, and sometimes confused with “our” Ferrari, but it is only a case of coincidence of names. The best description of Ferrari's political faith is “every govern is good if gives you possibility to work in peace”. From the other side, he was healthy nationalist deep in love with “his” Italy and it is well known story about President Pertini's visit to the factory, when he mocked with Ferrari saying that he will enter the factory yard in Maserati (official presidential car at that period), and Ferrari answered him that only thing that counts, was that the car was an Italian product. He was certainly “The Boss”, and used to decide just everything personally, but he was also very careful about his workers (not so with managers) and was beloved by his workers. The perfect old fashioned self made Comendatore. He was really the giant...
     
  16. Borzacchini Jr

    Jun 7, 2013
    23
    Commendatore with single "m" above is a joke of my automatic corrector for English...(without it my English is even worse)
     
  17. modena1967

    modena1967 Formula Junior

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    #17 modena1967, Aug 13, 2013
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  18. TheMayor

    TheMayor Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    Few people on this planet do not know his name. And they know it not for doing something dubious or illegal or immoral-- but for simply making a product.

    I imagine more people know the name Ferrari and what it stands for than Steve Jobs.

    That says something about a man's greatness.
     
  19. Ferrari 360 CS

    Ferrari 360 CS F1 Veteran

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    +1 Great post and so true. If one thinks how Enzo rose up against adversity its quite amazing what he created.
     
  20. bluedot45

    bluedot45 Rookie

    Aug 10, 2013
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    A great man from a time when you were proud to stand behind your product and put your name on it.

    Something there is far too little of these days.

    RIP Sir.
     
  21. DeSoto

    DeSoto F1 Veteran

    Nov 26, 2003
    7,481
    Enzo IS God.
     
  22. DeSoto

    DeSoto F1 Veteran

    Nov 26, 2003
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    Regarding this, I read in the Corriere Della Sera a lot of years ago a quite interesting article about Ferrari´s interest in politics. Sadly I haven´t kept it and my memory is not that good, so maybe I can´t recall it very accurately.

    The article was about the publication of the memories of an anarchist that back in the day was involved in extortion and terrorist practices. The article actually didn´t care about this and concentrated in an anecdote about Ferrari (Viva Italia, where car makers are more important than terrorists).

    It was well known that Ferrari had deals with the guys of Mussolini, but ít´s said that also helped the partisans during the war and had a good relationship with the communist mayor of Maranello, so it was not very clear where his loyalty laid. The bosses of the terrorist instructed him to meet Ferrari: if he really was a fascist, he had to be killed. If not, he "just" would be extorted to get some money for the "cause".

    After the meeting, the terrorist wrote to his bosses: "he´s not interested in politics, he´s just a man with an ambition". Of course, Ferrari had to pay a considerable sum to not get killed.
     
  23. modena1967

    modena1967 Formula Junior

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    #23 modena1967, Aug 14, 2013
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  24. modena1967

    modena1967 Formula Junior

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    #24 modena1967, Aug 14, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Gazetta di Modena 14/08/2013 :

    Venticinque anni fa moriva Enzo Ferrari, l’omaggio di Modena

    Montezemolo: "Ferrari mi guida nelle decisioni"

    Un omaggio di Modena alla memoria di Enzo Ferrari in occasione dei 25 anni della sua scomparsa avvenuta il 14 agosto del 1988. E’ il significato della breve cerimonia che si è svolta oggi al cimitero cittadino di San Cataldo dove l’assessore Gabriele Giacobazzi, in rappresentanza dell’amministrazione comunale, ha deposto sulla tomba del Drake un cesto di fiori con la scritta “Città di Modena”.

    Alla cerimonia hanno partecipato, Alessandro Albiero in rappresentanza della famiglia, Carlo Benzi, per lunghi anni a fianco di Ferrari, Stefano Prampolini assessore del comune di Modena, amici ed estimatori.

    Nei giorni scorsi il sindaco Giorgio Pighi aveva inviato un telegramma al figlio Piero sottolineando come Enzo Ferrari rappresenti “un grande protagonista della storia di Modena, a cui tutta la comunità modenese è legata, oggi come ieri, da profondi sentimenti di affetto, stima e riconoscenza”.
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  25. Albert-LP

    Albert-LP F1 Veteran
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    Sep 1, 2010
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    this man is the reason why we Italians are not known worldwide just for our pizza.

    ciao
     
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