"Fiat Era" Ferraris

1955 500 Mondial. One of nine. Won its class at the ‘55 GP of Venezuela and the 12 Hours of Sebring

 

I would agree except for the Late Enzo era... this was really the "Fiat era.

so the deal with Enzo and Fiat was in 69 Fiat leased the factory and grounds from Ferrari and he remained President ... technically reporting to Angelli, but as a "partner". ... in the mid 70's Enzo actually sold out the facilities to Fiat for more subsidy... which is when the FIAT Logo showed up on the sides of the car... I think it was Romiti who was running the factory at that time... but was a Fiat guy who knew Ferrari.

so technically up to 1988 - could be the Ferrari era, but really I would say its no more than 1971-72.

 

Actually that isn’t it. The article I referred to was about the coming difficulty of keeping “digital era” (my term) Ferraris running when electronic management systems begin to break down, malfunction, etc. It was a detailed amplification of the comment made in post 18 above.

But I may have been mistaken about the source. I might have read it in Sheehan’s blog, not his SCM column.

 

this is a worry. look at McLaren F-1's ... they use 286 laptops that have not been produced in 25 years.. its going to be an issue.. .maybe not so much the computers but the hardware that connects to the engine and sensors etc... I do worry a bit about that.

 

Thanks @spirot for the background. I've read many times the old man was still involved. For example, Enzo Ferrari gave Bertone the job for the GT4 and was active in the design. This article I dug up shows he went on a drive along in 1979 in the Mondial 8 to provide feedback. Who can forget the F40, which is lauded as the 'last approved' Ferrari by the namesake?

Is this just marketing? I don't know.

 

I think some of it is marketing... Enzo was obviously concerned that the road cars made money...so he got his share, I think in reality from about 1960 on he looked at the road cars as a price for him to go racing... he normally liked larger road cars like the 250 GTE or Super America types... he liked power and comfort.

as for the cars in the 70's I think up to about 1974 - 75 ish.. they needed to get his "sign off " on production but once Fiat bought the actual factory I don't think he cared at all. There is an interesting Pod Cast on you can find on youtube - Motorsports with Designers - listen to the one with John Barnard... he complained to a reporter about his company car being kind of useless - Mondial 3.5 ... and I guess it was all over the place in Italy, so Enzo was told he had to fix this.. so he calls in Barnard and Barnard had to apologize and say that is not what he meant etc... but Barnard also says that Enzo had a little smirk when he was talking about it like he'd pulled a fast one on FIAT and that he knew that road cars were not that much any more, old fashioned poor quality etc... It's also true however that he did finally get a bit fed up with poor press reports on the new mid 80's cars... so he said I want to make a really super fast car... F-40 is what it came out to be. He did like the 288GTO - mostly because everyone wanted one for huge money...

I think we all like to think of Enzo taking pride in all his cars... but the truth was more like he liked taking money from really rich people - because he "had it over them"... they call came to him vice versa.... poor uneducated Enzo dictating to wealthy crowned heads etc... I think a lot of Car company owners who started off big companies like Ferrari were just like him... Colin Chapman, Delorean, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche the 1st.... ( Ferry Porsche was really about quality).....Henry Ford, Charles Rolls etc... a lot of them liked the thrill of the gamble.

 

Also - the Bertone job was to recompense Bertone for the Limited run of Fiat / Ferrari engined Dino cars. Pinninfarina got the job for the Fiat Dino Spyder and also for the 206-246 Dino... Fiat cancled the Bertone coupe ... so to honor the Dino commitment they gave the 308 GT4 to Bertone.. I think it was Gandini who did the intial sketch? I'll have to look it up. I think the deal was something like Fiat wanted Bertone for the job, for Dino engined cars.. and Lancia, but when Ferrari saw the 206 prototipo for dino... he said no and went with Pinninfarina. ( who at the time was a share holder of Ferrari ) ... Bertone also did the Rainbow as a two seater version of the gt4... I think they made 2-3 cars sold 2? not sure.

 

Interesting article. Enzo would have been 81 - 82 in either 1980 or 81 when that article was done... you can tell because the F -1 car is a CK with Villeneuve and I think that was in 80 or the 81 race car.... Personally I think it would be a rare thing for Enzo to go out like that... but it could happen. I do know that he drove his Peugeot up to about 1978 -79 and then it was Dino Taziluchi ( sp? ) who drove him every day there after. Dino was part driver, confidant, body guard and procurer of things...

in the Mid 80's Goodyear paid a fortune for him to appear in tire commercials... all he did was stand next to several cars for about 20 Min....

 

A 500 Mondial is quite a different car than a Dino. One was a cut-budget street car the other a full on race car.

Mondial has a 2 liter inline 4 cylinder engine. Dino has a v6.

Old Ferrari race cars had no value for a long time. Your dad bought that one when they were giving them away. How much did he spend to restore it??

 

I would also add the LDM significantly increased production and Ferrari’s became much more utilitarian. I’m a great admirer of his, but it should be noted that many who think he walks on water often neglect to mention these facts. Regardless, different eras call for different objectives and solutions. LDM did a remarkable job, but so did his successors, in developing the modern company and brand that it is today.

 

I don't think I made any Dino references in my posts? I definitely know the differences - my father and I wrote the first research articles on the 500 Mondials and 750 Monzas, published in 1991 in Cavallinos 61 and 62. And I am in the market for a 2.0 Fiat Dino Spider . . . fantastic engines all. It is mind-blowing to consider all of the various engine types this very tiny factory was cranking out in the '50s and '60s.

While $2,250 is certainly cheap, I guess it's all relative to the value of the dollar the time - as my Dad is fond of saying, $2,250 was 1/3 of his annual Navy salary in 1960 - and that he could have bought two and a half MGAs instead of a non-running race car! We did all of the resto work ourselves between 2000 and 2008; David Carte did all the chassis and body work.

Next time you have a spare 20 minutes , here is the comprehensive thread I started 12 years ago:
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/500-mondial-s-ii-0556-0446-md.195295/

Here she is - first pic at the '55 GP of Venezuela - Castellotti at the wheel. second shot, me at RoadAmerica about 10 years ago; third shot, my father and Piero Ferrari at Pebble '08.
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Really enjoyed your spot on Leno's garage. Awsome car.