No other marque evokes the imagination as does Ferrari. The very name stirs images of great racing drivers, historic racetracks, Hollywood movie stars, and millionaires. Over the past eighteen years, many wonderful Ferraris have graced the HMF show field, but 2025 was the first year when we will honored the marque and its creator with a special curated gathering of Ferrari automobiles. To fully appreciate Ferrari cars, we must first know some things about the man.
The Legend:
On a snowy Christmas eve night in 1946, a man on a mission drove from France to Italy on slippery and dangerous roads. When Luigi Chinetti arrived at Enzo Ferrari’s shop in Modena, it was already late. Chinetti was there to convince his old friend Enzo to abandon his post-war plans to open a machine shop business……
Who was Enzo Ferrari? (1898-1988)
Son of a metal worker in Modena.
As young man he was rejected for a job at Fiat. A grudge that continued until 1969 when he sold a majority share of the Ferrari company to Fiat.
1920-1923 Racing driver for the Alfa Romeo factory team.
By late the 1920’s, after managing Alfa’s factory team, he was successfully racing Alfas independently under the Scuderia Ferrari banner. In 1933, after a management change at Alfa, the factory team was disbanded, allowing Enzo to take over the racing team under the Scuderia Ferrari banner.
Ferrari survived WWII with a small machine shop in Modena with plans to make automotive components.
Christmas Eve 1946- Enzo’s friend and former driver Luigi Chinetti convinced Enzo to build his own cars, a longtime dream of Enzo’s. It was agreed that Ferrari would build 20 cars, and Chinetti would import and sell them to wealthy Americans. This was an agreement that secretly, neither man felt confident that he could fulfill. The outcome would become legendary.
1947- the first Ferrari is produced and raced successfully.
In 1949 a Ferrari 166 MM driven by Luigi Chinetti won the Le Mans 24 endurance race. A turning point for Ferrari. Chinetti had also won the 1932 Le Mans for Enzo’s Scuderia Ferrari team.
Into the 1950’s Ferrari thrived with custom built, V-12 powered, high performance sports cars and race cars. Many private teams raced Ferraris.
Ferraris become status symbols for the rich and famous, including many Hollywood stars and royalty.
Into the sixties, even though it was a small under-capitalized manufacturer, Ferrari successfully competed and dominated in three major motorsports venues: F1 Grand Prix, FIA Manufacturers Championship, and FIA Sports Prototype endurance racing. At the same time, producing several hundred “production” cars per year.
It is often said that Enzo hated the production car business and did it only to finance the racing side of the business.
Over the years, Enzo employed the best drivers available. These names include: Nuvolari, Ascari, Fangio, Moss, Gendbien, Surtees, Graham Hill, Shelby, Bandini, Phil Hill, and many other greats.
Ford vs Ferrari- After the Academy Award winning movie- this David and Goliath story is now folk lore. In 1962 Ford Motor Co.’s attempt to purchase Ferrari was answered with Enzo insulting Henry Ford II; energizing Ford’s appetite to beat Ferrari at any cost. It took three years for Ford to win the Le Mans race and break Ferrari’s ten-year domination.
Enzo continued to have a desk on the Ferrari factory floor until 1988.
