Ferrari

Modena, Italy is known for two things: balsamic vinegar and Ferrari. It was here in 1898 that company founder Enzo Ferrari was born into a well-off family that owned a foundry making railroad parts. Both Enzo's father and uncle Dino died in the 1916 global influenza pandemic while serving in the Italian army during World War I, and Enzo was forced to leave school to run the family foundry. It collapsed amid the post-war turmoil, and Enzo left to become a test driver and later race car driver.

In 1919 he established the Scuderia Ferrari race team, and ran mainly Alfa Romeos, becoming the head of Alfa's racing department less than 20 years later, and leaving when the automaker attempted to take over the Scuderia. Just prior to World War II, the first Ferrari race car, the Type 815, was built, but it saw little action. The same couldn't be said of the factory, however, which moved to its current home in Maranello and was bombed in 1944. Rebuilt and expanded in 1946, the plant built the first Ferrari road car, the 125 S, which was powered by a 1.5-liter V-12 engine.

Road cars were a means to an end for Enzo Ferrari, supporting the competition side of the company for many years. An enigmatic man, he established the Ferrari brand as an image leader, but reportedly despised those buyers who bought his cars for any purpose other than their racing pedigree. However, road car production wasn't enough to keep Ferrari afloat, and he negotiated with Ford to sell his company to the American multi-national in the early 1960s. A master manipulator, Ferrari pulled out of the negotiations at the last moment, greatly angering the Ford contingent and setting up the historic Ford-Ferrari battles at Le Mans in the mid 1960s. By 1969, however, Ferrari was part of the Fiat empire.

Though Ferrari won the 24 Hours of Le Mans nine times, it has taken 16 manufacturers' and 15 drivers' titles in Formula 1, and scored countless other victories, the company is best known for its road cars. Though Enzo Ferrari died in 1988, he lived long enough to see image overtake pedigree when Magnum PI put the Ferrari 308 on the map and revived Ferrari's American fortunes. That development came much to Porsche's chagrin; the 911 Targa was originally chosen as Thomas Magnum's vehicle.

The 308 was a modern interpretation of the classic V-6-powered 1968-1974 Dino 246--Ferrari's first mid-engined road car though it never carried the Ferrari badge. This V-8-engined two-seater morphed into the 328 in 1986 and is a direct predecessor of today's F430. Ferrari's current lineup also includes the 612 Scaglietti, California, and 599 GTB Fiorano. Though each is available with the black horse on a yellow shield "cavallino rampante" badge, it is the classic Ferraris--models such as the 166 Inter, 250 GTO, 275 GTB, 330 GT, etc.--that are most associated with this famous symbol.

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