Another reason how analog Enzo-era Ferraris are different.

Can anyone imagine how bizarre F-Car videos might be in 50 years if Ferrari ever made self-driving cars?

 

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I agree with the premise but I wouldn't consider the 355 or the 550 Enzo era or analog.

 

I think the 355 is about the cut off point for analogue...but only the 1995 first year version. the 355 is also the model where the paddle shifts started as well.

In reality I think there are now 4 distinct eras of Ferrari:

1. Original Enzo Ferrari owned production cars - where he was the sole owner of the company
2. 1968 1988- Enzo / Fiat era, where he sold 50% to FIAT... but still kinda remained involved.. and ran the racing department 100%... his contribution on the road car side is generally minimal, but he was the President and Chairman for most of the time.
3 1988 - 2015 The Interregnum... Post Enzo - Montezemolo years... this is where Ferrari was modernized and returned to F-1 champion status...
4. 2016 - current era... Public company - still owned by Exor ( FIAT / Angelli) & Piero Ferrari family.

 

How big is a yacht?


My boat and everything bigger.

 

I'd say the Enzo-era analog era ended more with the 348/512TR/F40 models, respectively sports/gt/supercar, but then again I'm a bit biased.

 

Ferrari hasn't owned 50% of itself since right after Enzo's passing. Piero Ferrari has, and continues to own 10% of Ferrari, that was his deal in selling the remaining 40% to Fiat Group/Fiat Sp.a around that same time, and survives the Chrysler merger.

The influence of being publicly traded first, has only been a reality in recent years (post 2014), and the modern Ferrari build characteristics were well established before that. The absolute irretrievable change as per models of car, was mostly likely the 430, witnessed in both low to no gated models as well as a return to chain cam belts, as well as driving nannies. Whether that represents some terrible abandonment of tradition is certainly questionable as the cars are more successful now than ever. Personal preferences hardly spell doom.

Gated shifter is just a piece of technology, whereas the DNA of Ferrari has more to do with race technology making it to road cars. The Ferraris of today have for more in common with the F1 cars today than they do with the Ferraris of yesterday. All Ferraris reflect race-bred technology far more than any other car manufacturer, period. If there is a DNA to Ferrari, race-breeding is it, rather than a specific piece of technology. To hang the company's fortunes on a single personally preferred arrangement is not a comprehensive analysis of what Ferraris is, or ever was, as a company. Again, being publicly traded will scarce translate into any identifiable influence reflected in the cars. The stock market will never replace the racetrack.

The classification of the model history is hardly rough and ready, let alone related to being publicly traded, as if that could be correlated to something found on a car.

Count me as a fan of the older cars, for sure.

 

The term Enzo era is one coined by Sheehan a car dealer trying to add value to a particular time segment of his trade.

We might choose to more acuratly think of cars developed while the old man was still in charge. We might even include cars devloped shortly after his death before the real montelzulmo changes for driveability took place.

In my mind the Boxer and 308s are the last of the enzo developed/inspired cars. The Tr and 355 are transitional cars, ie those having the virtues of both schools of thought, taking enzo mechanicals and making them more everyday useable and easy to live with.

The 456 and 550 are the first montelzulmo cars and are a far blander driving experience than those that came before, even if the paper specs improved and they were way more comfortable if that is a virtue to be persued at the expense of driving experince.

latterly we see ferrraris takign useability to a peverse extreme, ie totaly useable and toataly unremarkable to drive unless on track at near 10/10ths pace.

You want exciting thrilling fully tactile ferraris to drive, the last was 355 and F50. Since then they have become faster and easier in all regards, but less thrilling and exciting, with their performance being irrelevant on road, and prohibitive on track.

 

Just food for thought.

Really, just how digital is the 355 or the F1 trans in particular? Probably not much.

Getting right down to it, the 355's transmission is not "fully digital." It is "digitally controlled," to be perfectly technical about it. The computer reads and acts on data that is directly inputted from mechanical input speed and gear position, so that is more digital, but still analog in that you pull the shifter ergo mechanically triggered and electro-hydraulically actuated.

The Mondial T Valeo was digitally controlled as well. The process was actuated by sensing when the stick was moved and engaged the clutch automatically. That's at least as "digital" as pulling a flappy paddle.

A truly digital transmission would be like a "virtual shifter" in which you pressed a tactile button on a surface that requested a shift and the computer would make the final decision. So no part of the process would depend on an "analog input" save for the finger press.

The rules for what analog and digital really are are of course wildly varied.
Interesting to think about....probably already happening somewhere.

 

My F512M is more tactile than my 550, for sure. I agree to an extent with the comment that the 550 ushered in an era of blander (though better) cars. Partly, though not entirely, due to the lack of power steering (and the PAS in the 550 does lack feel). My 575 is drive by wire and the 550 has a throttle cable but in no way does the 550 feel mechanically controlled under throttle in a sense that the 575 does not. In fact the 575s throttle responses have more feel than the 550s.
I also have a 430 MT which doesn't lack for thrills or response. It's a far better and more fun car than the analogue 348. You could make a case for it being more fun and better than a 355. And a Scud is definitely more fun. But fun is subjective.
Broadly, yes, the cars, all cars, have become more boring and less sexy but there are a lot of nuances here. Is a 360 CS more fun than a 308 GTSi? I think so.

 

I too see the big difference in the cars and the changes are visible at various stages of ferraris history.

But the bigger picture is the world has changed soo much at these noticeable times too. Starting with the 355 or 550 gated cars saw the introduction of f1 transmission hitting production cars.

However this coincided just the same time as those big brick mobile phones by Motorola were becoming old and slim flip phones, and nokias were the future, here start mass production, cheap imported items and everything became accessible to everyone, cheap flights like easyjet Ryanair, vueling jet2, and fly be, and companies like these all over the world made the world a much smaller place. The same time the Internet started to create a buzz and everybody was hitting dial up and seeing how easy it was to download porn.

The same as today these cars post montezemelo are almost driving computers, and need to be plugged in when not in use otherwise they just won't work, the same as people's homes with connected fridges which reorder the milk when you run out, to turning lights on and heating up.

There is significant stages in the history of Ferrari however just the same as there has been significant changes in the world, even back to the swinging 60s with hippies and liberation from the rations and restriction brought by the ww2, and began enzos career from the make do and mend era. Today it is buy new and discard. My 2 cents.

 

I concur.

Maybe it's subjective, but compared to an early 308 the 355 is pretty computerized.

If "analog" means "has a three-pedal manual gearbox", well, then, yeah...

 

if one looks at Rolls, Bentley, Lambo as small luxury brands that were acquired by giant car companies. theres one theme that holds true. They are all plastic junk now, I know as i have owned lots of them before and after the acquisition's.

I realize that Ferrari going public(in a small way 10% I think?) is not as big as what happened to Rolls, bentley and lambo, But My F12 is not a plastic car like the other 3 brands I mentioned.

So the real question is with a small piece of Ferrari being public will that start the cost cutting mass production plastic laden disease the other cars i mentioned are all suffering from?


I hope not.

With advancements in technology its not realistic to think Ferrari will keep building relics of the past, and i'm cool with new cars, i prefer 3 peddles as well, but that's a thing of the past for now. But the plastic **** is what scares me.

 

The "sweater-era" cars?

 

Thank god and good riddance. Last of the "more time in the shop per year than in the garage" is always a good thing.

 

Is it just me or is there a bit of sexism going on with OP ...


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That's got to be be the first time I've ever heard anyone refer to the modern day Rolls Royce, Bentley and Lamborghini vehicles as "plastic junk" as though they had become modern day Ford Mondeo's!

In the case of Lamborghini especially - Their quality reputation has dramatically improved since VW/AUDI took over the operation.

Plenty of people felt that Ferrari's quality, along with it's exclusivity took a massive hit when FIAT took over the production car business and they started to increase the number of cars being made every year.

BTW, The era of the "plastic" Ferrari came in the mid to late 80's with the 328/348/Testarossa's - Plastic switchgear, cheap feeling column stalks, plastic speedometers & rev counters.

And to make matters worse, in the case of the 348/355 and even later cars, most of these plastics eventually turn to black goo that comes off on your fingers when you operated the switches!

As for the F12: Semi-auto gearbox, multi-setting trick diff, a "plastic" diffuser and automated brake ducts? - I'm sure plenty of 250 SWB/ 275 GTB & 365 GTB owners would see that as all being a bit "plastic" for their liking!

You're comparing apples with oranges here!

Ferrari have had a percentage of their stock floated on a public stock exchange, whilst Rolls Royce, Bentley and Lamborghini were all bought out completely by much larger car companies - Not the same thing at all!

I also cannot help but think that a VW/AUDI era Lamborghini is no more filled with cheap plastic than it's modern day Ferrari rival is!

Three pedal Ferrari's are "a thing of the past" for a lot longer than just "for now".

And just what is all this talk of "plastic ****"?

As I've already posted, I don't recall anyone else complaining that modern era Rolls Royce, Bentley or Lamborghini cars are suddenly poor quality pieces of "plastic junk", be they owners or car reviewers.

 

Maybe he's objecting to the unrestrained proliferation of carbon fiber?

 

Quite so.