Ferrari vintage cars

In the galaxy of the celebrities in the automotive world, there is almost no star shining so brightly as Ferrari, the manufacturer of so many of the world-best sports cars and bearer of the probably widest-known emblem of the world. For more than half a century, the car named Ferrari has been an object of great admiration. Long before its creation, however, there was the man Ferrari, whose legend, even today, a decade after his death, has never been forgotten – this unique combination of arrogance, sentimentality, stubbornness and not least this special, enigmatic aura which Ferrari himself openly cultivated, seem very much alive even today.

The birth of an individualist

Ferrari certainly wasn’t born to lead an uneventful life. From his birth on his history developed dramatically. Ferrari was born on 18 February 1898 in Modena in North Italy, but the heavy snowstorms in this hard winter made it impossible for his father to register his birth immediately. Therefore he was inscribed in the birth register only two days later. From then on the 20 February 1898 was celebrated as Enzo Ferrari’s official birthday.
Ferrari liked to see himself as the perfect individualist. His ambition was great, and his fame as automobile constructor and giant of the racing world has created an almost aristocratic image as the years passed; however, in reality he came from a well-off middle class family. His mother came from Forli, situated south of Ravenna on the Italian Adriatic coast. His father, Alfredo senior, came from Carpi, situated about 8 km from Modena. He had opened his own modest metal workshop next to the family residence in the outskirts of Modena. A lucrative contact to the Italian state-owned railway corporation developed; as Enzo remembered, Alfredo employed up to 30 persons according to order volume. Nevertheless Alfredo handled everything himself, beginning with the design until the sales contract.
During his youth, Enzo shared a room above his father’s workshop with his brother Alfredo junior, who was two years older. There they kept carrier pigeons and participated in pigeon races, but both of them actually had other aims in life. In Enzo’s case, his plans first led into quite another direction than the one he should follow later. According to their father’s wish, both sons should become engineers; Enzo, however, would never officially reach this qualification. While Alfredo was an enthusiastic pupil, Enzo hated studying and would have liked to take a job immediately – however, not with his hands. To quote his own words: “I believe I should make it clear immediately that my aims in life during my boyhood were to become an opera-singer, sport reporter and finally racing driver; in this order.“

He could realise two of his goals ” regrettably, the fame of an opera-singer remained a dream. As a pupil, he engaged in all kinds of sport, trail running, gymnastics, fencing and ice skating. As a teenager, he wrote commentaries about the local soccer games for the Gazzetta dello Sport. Not judging his achievements in these activities, he was proud of them all his life.
The third dream of Enzo Ferrari’s youth had established itself quite early. His father had enough money to be able to afford a car as one of the first citizens of Modena ” at a time when such things were very rare in Italy. He extended his metal workshop by a car repair shop, and Enzo helped out there from time to time. While he didn’t fathom his engineer studies, he was obviously fascinated by automobiles and learnt to drive when he was only 13. In September 1908 his father took the 10-years old boy to the neighbouring Bologna, where both watched Felice Nazzaro win the road race of Coppa Floria in his Fiat. This was the moment when it became clear to Enzo that the motor sport would play a part in his life.

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