Enzo Ferrari was born in 1898. In 1908 at the age of 10 years old, he witnessed a famous italian racer by the name Felice Nazzaro win a Grand Prix car race and that inspired him to become a racing driver. In 1920 at the age of 22, Ferrari joined the company Alfa Romero as a driver. In his professional career he competed in 41 Grand Prix races and won 11 of them. During this period the horse emblem began to appear on the side of his car. An emblem of a prancing horse was created and used by italian fighter pilot Francesco Baracca who’s plane was shot down in 1918. In memory of his death, Ferrari would use the prancing horse to create his emblem that would become one of the biggest brands in the world. “Good artists copy, great artists steal.”- Pablo Picasso

After retiring from racing in 1932, he returned to work directly for Alfa Romero until 1939 at which point he left and started his own company called "Auto Avio Costruzioni" where he intended to build his own cars. Due to signing a noncompete agreement, Enzo couldnt use the ferrari name for another 4 years. in 1940 he would create just one car under the new banner called the Auto Avio Costruzioni 815. The car participated in just 1 race before World War II broke out. During the war, Enzo's company produced aircraft engines and machine tools for the Italian military. These military contracts were quite lucrative and produced lots of capital for the car company. In 1943, the factory moved to a small town called Maranello in northern Italy following the bombing of the old factory. though the new factory was bombed twice during the war, the factory remains in Maranello to this day.

In 1945 Enzo’s company officially changed its name to Ferrari and immediately began the groundwork that would lead to the creation of the Ferrari 125 S. the 125 S debuted in 1947 and only two were ever created. This was the first ever official Ferrari. The 125 S won multiple rally races and Grand Prix events in its early years helping the company form a great reputation as a quality car manufacturer.

In the 1950s the Ferrari road cars were already a highly favored among the Upper class. The company became very famous for its car series’ including the America, the Monza and the 250 series’.

In 1960 Ferrari became a public company. in 1969 Fiat acquired 50% of Ferraris shares. In 1967 Ferrari introduced the first mass produced mid engine model with the Dino 206 GT. This was an attempt at moving away from the traditional V12 engine that was typically used in Ferraris to smaller V6 and V8 engines.

in 1968, Ferrari introduced the GTB/4 which was the model that modernized and directionally changed the design of Ferrari cars.

Enzo Ferrari died in 1988. In the same year, Fiat increased its share position to 90% taking almost full ownership in the company. The last model that Enzo Ferrari personally approved was the infamous Ferrari F40.

Luca Cordero di Montezemolo (An Italian businessman and former Fiat racecar driver) became the CEO after Enzo. The company greatly expanded under his leadership. in the 23 years that he served as CEO, the Profitability of the road cars tenfolded. Montezemolo increased the different types of car that could be purchased and limited the production which skyrocketed the demand. Under his leadership the F50, the Enzo and the LaFerrari were produced which became infamous in modern times. Montezemolo also introduced licensing deals to the ferrari brand which have become very lucrative generating almost $1 billion dollars a year in revenue for the car company. Most notably partnering with the Puma brand. Benedetto Vigna, the newest CEO, plans to cut back on licensing and to develop Ferrari’s first fully electric car in the coming years.

Ferrari has a rich history as a brand let alone a car brand. It is the oldest surviving and most successful formula one team having participated in every world championship since the 1950 formula one season. The brand is associated with elegance, power, beauty and wealth. The famous “Ferrari red” is said to represent the very lifeblood of the Ferrari brand. The 1950s and 60s Ferraris are sold at auctions for polarizing prices because of the limited number of surviving cars and the uniqueness of each car would make any car collector proud to have one part of the collection.

Signing off