March 5, 2025 • 7 mins
No other car company is as celebrated and respected as Ferrari. But what was the very first Ferrari? On this episode of "Fuel for the Future" we dive into the formation of the Ferrari company and their first car.
"Fuel for the Future" is presented by State Farm Insurance and driven by America's Automotive Trust. Visit americasautomotivetrust.org for details.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:04):
In theautomotive world, one word is synonymous
with performance, luxury,and an unparalleled legacy.
Ferrari
Enzo Ferrari, the founder, firstmade a name for himself at Alfa Romeo.
So what actuallywas the first real Ferrari car?
This is the story of a carthat launched a legend.
(00:26):
From Enzo Ferrari's ambitious dreamsto triumphs on the racing circuit.
This tale is fueled by a passionfor racing
and the relentless pursuit of perfection.
This is fuel for the future.
Presented by State Farm Insuranceand driven by America's Automotive Trust.
I'm Michael Mann.
(00:49):
To ask the question,what is the first Ferrari?
You have to understand there is alittle bit of a debate about the subject.
So to understand this story,we have to go back and learn
about its creator, the legendary,the one and only Enzo Ferrari.
Enzo was born in Modena, Italy in 1898,
and his early years were shapedby a deep fascination with auto racing,
(01:13):
and this began at the age of ten,when Enzo witnessed his first race.
Felice Nazario win at the 1908 CheckVito de Bologna.
And from that momenthis life's passion was clear.
He did debate for a whileabout becoming a singer or a journalist,
but racing was always on his mind.
As a child, his father owned
(01:33):
a small mechanical workshopwhere Enzo would spend most of his time.
But after the deaths of his fatherand brother in 1916 due to the worldwide
flu epidemic, financial difficultiesforced Enzo to abandon formal education.
Instead, Enzo followed his passion andpursued work in the automotive industry.
It was difficult at first,but eventually he secured a job
(01:55):
as a test driver and then a racerfor a company in Turin, Italy,
and then in 1920 he was hiredby Alfa Romeo as a race driver.
And Enzo wasn't just fast, he was smart.
He was deeply involved with the mechanicsof racing, and he had a real talent
for the organizational elementsof running a race team.
(02:15):
However, his passion for being behindthe wheel driving started to wane
after his good friend Ugo Salvatore diedwhile testing the Alfa P1 Monza.
So EnzoFerrari decided to retire from driving
and formed a team of driverscalled Scuderia Ferrari.
In 1929,
this was not the first Ferrari companythat we think in.
(02:38):
This was a team for Alfa Romeo
and the team was very successful.
This is also when the PrancingHorse emblem that we all know
as the Ferrari emblem first appears,but not on a Ferrari car.
On Alfa Romeo's Enzo's relationship
with Alfa Romeo would last until 1939.
There were some internal disagreements,contract bickering,
(03:03):
and Scuderia had actually almostbeen dissolved about six years prior.
So the writing was on the walland Enzo left,
but he was forbidden from usingthe Ferrari name in motorsports
or designing cars for motor sportswith the Ferrari name for four years.
So what did he do?
(03:23):
He founded auto advocacy groupKoni, a company
that supplied partsto racing teams, amongst other things.
Here'swhere things get a little interesting,
because when we askwhat is the first Ferrari?
And I mentioned earlier
that there is some debate,there's some discussion about this.
That is because in 1940,under the auto advocacy group scion name,
(03:44):
Enzo built his first two cars, the AC 815.
It was a sleek, long bodied race car.
So how did he get away with making this
when he's not supposed to be buildingcars?
Well, it turns out thatthese were commissioned in 1939
from the Marquess of Modenato race in the upcoming
Mille Miglia,the legendary endurance race.
(04:06):
Because Ferrari was commissionedand it didn't have his namesake on it.
He got away with it.
The A15 was designed by Alfa Romeo
engineers AlbertoMassimino and Vittorio Bel Anthony,
and the designation A15came from the eight
cylinder 1.5l engine.
Per rules of the race cars chassishad to be based on production models.
(04:29):
So the 8/15 chassishad been derived from a Fiat.
The cars showed promise.
They were sleek, they were well designed,but they did fail to finish the melee.
Miglia.
After the race, one was scrapped andthe other is still in a collection today.
But World War Two
abruptly halted the developmentand plans at Enzo Ferrari's AC company.
(04:53):
Enzo was forced to shift his focus tomaking machine tools for the war effort.
But then when World War Two ended in 1945,the restrictions on Enzo's ability
to use his own name and get back toconstructing cars were off.
It was time for Ferrari to become Ferrari.
In 1947.
(05:14):
This is where our story reachesits defining moment.
The first Ferrari car to bear the Ferrari
namesake with the prancing Horse emblem.
The Ferrari 125 S, it'sthe 125 S was more than just a race car.
It was a statement.
It was powered by revolutionary engine,the Colombo
(05:34):
V-12,designed by the brilliant engineer G.
And Chino Colombo.
The design was so goodthat the engine was used for decades,
and this car was purposebuilt to win races.
A sport and competitionversion of the 125 S were built
with different bodywork, although thechassis and running gear were the same.
(05:55):
The chassis was light yet strong.
The aerodynamics were fine for its timeand had for some semblance
to the carsFerrari made with auto orchestration.
The 125 S made its competitive debut
at the census circuit in May 1947,
and the race didn'thave a storybook ending, but
this is the start of a long,epic story of a company, not the end.
(06:20):
So what happened is mechanical issuesforced the cars to retire the race,
and Enzo famously saidit was a promising failure.
And he was right because the car foundredemption just two weeks later
at the Grand Prix of Rome,where it secured Ferrari's first victory
as the year went on, the won 25 wonsix of its 14 races.
(06:40):
In 1947, the Ferrari won 25.
S wasn't just importantbecause it was first.
It laid the foundationfor everything that followed.
It introduced the world to Ferrari'sphilosophy, performance
driven engineering, attention to detail,and a relentless pursuit of excellence.
Enzo famously wanted to build the perfectrace car, and he kept striving for that.
(07:04):
Unlike anybody else his entire career.
Ferrariwon its first llama only two years later,
and the racing resume of the companyitself is way too long to list.
Enzo Ferrari was so passionateabout racing
that he had to be forcedto sell cars to the public.
He just wanted to make race cars.
(07:25):
And that passion fueled Ferrari's legacy.
Today, Ferrari is a symbol, a symbolwe all recognize as automotive excellence.
And it all started with that single car.
Thank you for joining us on fuelfor the future,
presented by State Farm Insuranceand driven by America's Automotive Trust.
(07:46):
To learn more,visit America's Automotive trust.org.
In theautomotive world, one word is synonymous
with performance, luxury,and an unparalleled legacy.
Ferrari
Enzo Ferrari, the founder, firstmade a name for himself at Alfa Romeo.
So what actuallywas the first real Ferrari car?
This is the story of a carthat launched a legend.
(00:26):
From Enzo Ferrari's ambitious dreamsto triumphs on the racing circuit.
This tale is fueled by a passionfor racing
and the relentless pursuit of perfection.
This is fuel for the future.
Presented by State Farm Insuranceand driven by America's Automotive Trust.
I'm Michael Mann.
(00:49):
To ask the question,what is the first Ferrari?
You have to understand there is alittle bit of a debate about the subject.
So to understand this story,we have to go back and learn
about its creator, the legendary,the one and only Enzo Ferrari.
Enzo was born in Modena, Italy in 1898,
and his early years were shapedby a deep fascination with auto racing,
(01:13):
and this began at the age of ten,when Enzo witnessed his first race.
Felice Nazario win at the 1908 CheckVito de Bologna.
And from that momenthis life's passion was clear.
He did debate for a whileabout becoming a singer or a journalist,
but racing was always on his mind.
As a child, his father owned
(01:33):
a small mechanical workshopwhere Enzo would spend most of his time.
But after the deaths of his fatherand brother in 1916 due to the worldwide
flu epidemic, financial difficultiesforced Enzo to abandon formal education.
Instead, Enzo followed his passion andpursued work in the automotive industry.
It was difficult at first,but eventually he secured a job
(01:55):
as a test driver and then a racerfor a company in Turin, Italy,
and then in 1920 he was hiredby Alfa Romeo as a race driver.
And Enzo wasn't just fast, he was smart.
He was deeply involved with the mechanicsof racing, and he had a real talent
for the organizational elementsof running a race team.
(02:15):
However, his passion for being behindthe wheel driving started to wane
after his good friend Ugo Salvatore diedwhile testing the Alfa P1 Monza.
So EnzoFerrari decided to retire from driving
and formed a team of driverscalled Scuderia Ferrari.
In 1929,
this was not the first Ferrari companythat we think in.
(02:38):
This was a team for Alfa Romeo
and the team was very successful.
This is also when the PrancingHorse emblem that we all know
as the Ferrari emblem first appears,but not on a Ferrari car.
On Alfa Romeo's Enzo's relationship
with Alfa Romeo would last until 1939.
There were some internal disagreements,contract bickering,
(03:03):
and Scuderia had actually almostbeen dissolved about six years prior.
So the writing was on the walland Enzo left,
but he was forbidden from usingthe Ferrari name in motorsports
or designing cars for motor sportswith the Ferrari name for four years.
So what did he do?
(03:23):
He founded auto advocacy groupKoni, a company
that supplied partsto racing teams, amongst other things.
Here'swhere things get a little interesting,
because when we askwhat is the first Ferrari?
And I mentioned earlier
that there is some debate,there's some discussion about this.
That is because in 1940,under the auto advocacy group scion name,
(03:44):
Enzo built his first two cars, the AC 815.
It was a sleek, long bodied race car.
So how did he get away with making this
when he's not supposed to be buildingcars?
Well, it turns out thatthese were commissioned in 1939
from the Marquess of Modenato race in the upcoming
Mille Miglia,the legendary endurance race.
(04:06):
Because Ferrari was commissionedand it didn't have his namesake on it.
He got away with it.
The A15 was designed by Alfa Romeo
engineers AlbertoMassimino and Vittorio Bel Anthony,
and the designation A15came from the eight
cylinder 1.5l engine.
Per rules of the race cars chassishad to be based on production models.
(04:29):
So the 8/15 chassishad been derived from a Fiat.
The cars showed promise.
They were sleek, they were well designed,but they did fail to finish the melee.
Miglia.
After the race, one was scrapped andthe other is still in a collection today.
But World War Two
abruptly halted the developmentand plans at Enzo Ferrari's AC company.
(04:53):
Enzo was forced to shift his focus tomaking machine tools for the war effort.
But then when World War Two ended in 1945,the restrictions on Enzo's ability
to use his own name and get back toconstructing cars were off.
It was time for Ferrari to become Ferrari.
In 1947.
(05:14):
This is where our story reachesits defining moment.
The first Ferrari car to bear the Ferrari
namesake with the prancing Horse emblem.
The Ferrari 125 S, it'sthe 125 S was more than just a race car.
It was a statement.
It was powered by revolutionary engine,the Colombo
(05:34):
V-12,designed by the brilliant engineer G.
And Chino Colombo.
The design was so goodthat the engine was used for decades,
and this car was purposebuilt to win races.
A sport and competitionversion of the 125 S were built
with different bodywork, although thechassis and running gear were the same.
(05:55):
The chassis was light yet strong.
The aerodynamics were fine for its timeand had for some semblance
to the carsFerrari made with auto orchestration.
The 125 S made its competitive debut
at the census circuit in May 1947,
and the race didn'thave a storybook ending, but
this is the start of a long,epic story of a company, not the end.
(06:20):
So what happened is mechanical issuesforced the cars to retire the race,
and Enzo famously saidit was a promising failure.
And he was right because the car foundredemption just two weeks later
at the Grand Prix of Rome,where it secured Ferrari's first victory
as the year went on, the won 25 wonsix of its 14 races.
(06:40):
In 1947, the Ferrari won 25.
S wasn't just importantbecause it was first.
It laid the foundationfor everything that followed.
It introduced the world to Ferrari'sphilosophy, performance
driven engineering, attention to detail,and a relentless pursuit of excellence.
Enzo famously wanted to build the perfectrace car, and he kept striving for that.
(07:04):
Unlike anybody else his entire career.
Ferrariwon its first llama only two years later,
and the racing resume of the companyitself is way too long to list.
Enzo Ferrari was so passionateabout racing
that he had to be forcedto sell cars to the public.
He just wanted to make race cars.
(07:25):
And that passion fueled Ferrari's legacy.
Today, Ferrari is a symbol, a symbolwe all recognize as automotive excellence.
And it all started with that single car.
Thank you for joining us on fuelfor the future,
presented by State Farm Insuranceand driven by America's Automotive Trust.
(07:46):
To learn more,visit America's Automotive trust.org.
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