There are many names by which the legendary founder of Ferrari is recalled. The respectful ‘Il Drake’, assumedly referring to him as ‘The Dragon’ is perhaps one of the most fitting ones. Because Ferrari was just like a dragon. He raced without mercy, burning cars and tracks in his frenzy. And much like a dragon in any legend, he shone in his glory to the very end. This article is on the esoteric life of the extraordinary businessman and engineer, a story more passionate than any can imagine.
It All Started From A Race
At ten years old, Enzo Ferrari’s father, a metalworker, took him and his older brother to watch a road race; that was what kindled his passion, and seven years later, he knew he was born to love cars. Ferrari was fully in the grasp of the curse from his obsession. He left school and opted for a bit of self-education. He was a bibliophile, and his reading taught him how to detect man’s greatest weaknesses and how to use them against him and be a professional manipulator of wealthy men.
Furthermore, he was enlisted in the Italian Army one year after his father and older brother died; he overcame the killer flu and ended up quite alone after WWI. In his thirst for racing, he started looking for a job, ideally as a driver. Yet Fiat rejected him. He took a job as a delivery man of truck chassis for a dealer and was known by some high-ranked motoring men, who helped him get a full-time job as a test driver for CMN in Milan. He finished ninth in the first post-war road race and finished fourth in the company’s racing team.
That is, to say the least, of where the legendary “Il Commendatore” started his journey. The story of Enzo Ferrari is the story of how an unassuming child from a less than ordinary family re-wrote the history of the automobile industry by devoting his life to it. Did his starting circumstances surprise you? Then read on to find out more about how Ferrari paved the roads, raced to this day.
Ferrari Inside And Around Cars
Ferrari left his position in CMN as a driver for Alfa Romeo. Four years after which, he won the Circuito del Savio, and it was at this period, he adopted the Cavallino Rampante (Prancing Horse) as his company's symbol. He raced with much success for Alfa Romeo until becoming a father. Because of his son, Dino, he promised his wife not to endanger his life. At this junction, Ferrari resigned from being a race car driver to become the company’s racing division leader.
It was all fun and games till Alfa Romeo reclaimed its racing division, so Ferrari left the company for the better, and he didn’t race or design under his name for four years. Before the outbreak of WWII, he planned to pursue his own company of racing cars, but everything went on hold until two years after the war. In 1947, he took his first official Ferrari design for a test drive and nailed it. Many race car drivers won their championships driving a Ferrari; however, many died doing what they loved in their favorite race car.
The Making Of A Carmaker
Along with the victorious race cars, the company started designing road cars for Aristocrats. Ferrari always found manipulating the wealthy fascinating and would have them dance to all his tunes until they paid enough money, and he always flew high when it came to pricing his designs. He was open to sacrificing anything in favor of his career, and it is said that he didn’t care much about his drivers as he cared about his race cars winning, and he referred to the pleasure of winning as his “terrible joy”.
He once said that a carmaker needs to be neither an engineer nor a technician, and that his true love for cars must be enough. Although his life mainly revolved around cars and racing, Ferrari had more interests than that. He always fancied himself as a journalist, and his liking for politics and plotting always backfired on him. He gave up his dream of becoming an opera singer to survive life. Furthermore, he had to be more realistic! Ferrari was also interested in philosophy and was given an honorary degree in Physics from the University of Modena.
Something Always Seems To Go Wrong
The 50s wasn’t Ferrari’s decade; the horrible times when his sports cars were beaten out-of-the-way due to the robust re-emergence of Mercedes-Benz. For a while, Fiat supported him, and he regained his chill, but not for long. Life had more for him up its sleeve; many of his drivers were killed in the following years, he faced charges of manslaughter, and there were rumors regarding his tactics as a leader.
Ferrari was defeated when his son died of muscular dystrophy in 1956. With agony, he declared that his company had no destiny now that he no longer had an heir; since he always saw his son's future in the same path. However, his other son, the son of Ms Ferrari and his mistress, who he admitted as his son many years after he was born, worked at Maranello, the home of Ferrari and the Formula 1 racing team.
In the late 60s, everything was going wrong. After he lost the services of several top engineers, Ferrari was undergoing some profitability and financial issues. There again, Fiat came to the rescue and purchased half of Ferrari’s company stock at a fixed annual rate, yet careful not to be perceived as meddlesome.
Ferrari formally resigned as president of his company in 1977, but the committed man he was effectively retained control of the business. He was a very egocentric man, a man who found what he loved, knew what he wanted, and let that devour him. He was focused on his ideas and became successful in a brutal way. His passion gave him everything and took everything from him, but he got what many people dream of, an extraordinary life.
Source: Ferrari Museum