What is the 'original' Ferrari color??

Well, yellow was always important to Enzo Ferrari; apparently it was the color associated with Modena, his hometown, which is why he put the Cavallino Rampante on a yellow background.

But most of the color photos of early Ferraris I've seen show the cars in the color now commonly known as Rosso Barchetta, the darker shade of red. Many of the pre-war Alfa Romeos (campaigned by Scuderia Ferrari) were this color, as were the AAC 815s that he built in 1940, and the 166 that won the Mille Miglia in 1949.

 

So far as I know, The RED Color stand for the Country's Racing Color and the Yellow was the original color of Ferrari in according with the town Modena.
hope this will help a bit.308ROB

 

To confuse this discussion a bit: yellow is the racing color of Belgium, so Ferrari's raced by Belgians (e.g. Jaques Swaters in the fifties) were painted yellow as well.

Early street Ferraris could be any color (some even were bi-tone) but red!

 

Rosso Barchetta - spot on!
The recent Rosso Corsa and 'Marlboro' reds were dictated by the growing importance and value of television coverage where Rosso Barchetta appeared too dark - almost black.

 

An except from the Ferrari Market Letter, Vol 29 No 11, 29 may 2004, "What color is your ferrari" helped me understand this color issue.

"...Ferraris being raced by Scudera Ferrari have been painted red from the earliest days of the factory’s racing effort, just as the Alfa Romeos raced by Scuderia Ferrari before World War II were also painted red. But then, in the "good old days," all cars raced in international competition by an Italian racing team were painted red, just as the cars from Great Britain were green (i.e. "British racing green"), the cars from France were blue, the cars from Germany were white (or silver), etc.

In the earliest days of racing the body governing international racing decreed that "the use of distinctive colors of nationality is compulsory when the supplementary regulations of the competition require it." They then set about assigning colors to every country involved. It just so happened, for reasons unknown, that Italy was assigned red.

But this did not mean that all Ferraris being raced in international competition had to be painted red. The color used was supposed to be determined by the nationality of the entrant, not the nationality of the manufacturer. Therefore it was not unusual in the early days to see Ferraris being raced by non-Italians to be painted in their national color. For instance, Ecurie Francorchamps was well known for racing Ferraris painted in the Belgian national color yellow, and Englishman David Piper, among others, often campaigned Ferraris painted green.

Along the way, though, the regulation fell into disuse and today Ferrari remains the only team in Formula One who strictly adheres to the old national color system although other teams do occasionally adopt colors that may resemble adherence to the old system . . . if it is compatible with their current sponsor’s color scheme...

The article has more information on the various colors.

The old FML articles have a bunch of information. As a newbie I am learning truckloads from these forums. Good Luck on your quest.