Based in Maranello of Italy, near Modena, Ferrari is now a subsidiary of the giant Fiat SpA group. In terms of production capacity, it is smaller than Porsche but bigger than Lamborghini and Lotus. Annual production is around 3,000-4,000 cars in recent years. It is probably the only car maker that never worry of competition, thanks to its unmatchable reputation and strong motivation.

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In 1929 he founded the Scuderia Ferrari in Modena, with the prime purpose of organising racing for its members. This company continued to help Alfa racing, until after World War II it started to develop its own car.

The first car wearing the "Ferrari" name was the 125, a 1.5-litre V12 sports car which appeared to be a racing car. From this car we can see Enzo's philosophy was always "Racing come first". Many of his cars, at least those during the years under his guidance, were designed with very much racing concern. Other cars, especially those aimed at the US market, were made to "subsidise my racing programme" as he said. From the beginning to the end, he remained as a racing man rather than a sports car maker.

During the years while he was in control, he spent most of his time in F1, then GT racing and endurance racing. His best and favourite road car was 250GTO, which was also developed for racing.

However, to find financial support for his F1 team, in 1969 he sold 50% shares to Fiat after talks with Henry Ford broke down. (as a result, the F1 team departed from the factory and was still under 100% of his control) Thereafter the company concentrated more on road cars that customers really want, thus emerged many excellent road cars such as Daytona, Dino, 308GTB and so on. As a result, the market status of Ferrari was even stronger than before. After his death in 1988, the majority 90% shares came into Fiat's hand.

Nevertheless, the most revolutionary aspect was aerodynamics. At that time, wind tunnel was not available in automotive industry. However, Ferrari's engineer had spent a lot of time examining penetration, drag, lift and adhesion. Step by step, the GTO's body evolved into a slippery body with body-integrated rear spoiler, which was first ever used in a road car. It was never really styled, but many regard it as the most beautiful car ever built. (On the contrary, I think it's quite ugly. Despite slippery, it's too muscular and fat. Lamps and vents
looks odd and do not coincided with the rest of the car. Square side windows virtually does not match with the slippery shape.)

However, 250GTO found great success in GT racing. It dominated nearly all events (except Le Mans 24 hours, probably due to poor reliability) and 3 consecutive world GT championships. With such racing glory, no wonder the most recent change hands fetched a record-breaking 8 million pounds, making it the most expensive classic car today.

Of course, the original racing V6 would never have been appropriate for road use. Therefore, Lampredi (another famous engineer who also designed a series of V12 for Ferrari) modified the engine to 2.0 litres, with an amazing 180 hp on tap ! Logically, this car called "206GT", in which 20 means 2.0 litres and 6 means six cylinders. This engine was actually built by Fiat and shared with Fiat Dino (also called Dino because of the engine), not because it would be cheaper, but because Ferrari needed the additional volume to qualify FIA's production requirement for racing engines.

206GT had a magnificent chassis, with engaging feel, adjustability and beautiful balance. It was generally regarded as the best Ferrari chassis until the arrival of F355. Why could it be so good ? Firstly, its nimble size and relatively light weight helped improving handling, just like other small cars. Secondly, its mid-engined layout accompanied with the compact and transversely mounted engine perfectised the weight distribution. Thirdly, it adopted independent double-wishbones suspensions in all wheels, which was first appeared in a Ferrari.

206GT was replaced by 246GT after 2 years of service. As suggested by its name, the newer car had a larger 2.4-litre engine. Power rose to 195 hp while torque increased even more. Having a stronger engine, Ferrari abandoned the aluminium body panels and in favour of the conventional steel body, thus lowered the production cost and provided better build quality. Though weight increment was inevitable, the increased power cope with ease.

246GT broke the production record in Maranello. Nearly 2,500 cars were made between 1969 and 74, which was by far more than any previous models. Since then, Ferrari started its mainstream model line-up, followers include 308, 328, 348, F355 and 360M. These cars helped stabilised the finance a lot.

It is always a difficult task to design a front-mounted big engine Grand Tourer, because the huge size of the engine prevent the front end from looking sleek. Nevertheless, Fioravanti had his own way. He lengthened the bonnet and installed the engine as back as possible. As a result, the front end has sufficient length to incorporate a sharp nose. As a whole, the car looked as slim as a shark. Until today, many people, including me, still regard Daytona as the most beautiful front-engined GT.

To offset the increment of length in the front, Fioravanti restricted the rear overhang to the minimum. In order to balance front and rear, rear axle-mounted gearbox (in other words, transaxle) was adopted, though knowing the sleekness of gearchange would be harmed.

Daytona was a big car weighing in excess of 1600 kg. But it was even more powerful. The 4.4-litre dohc V12 was not an all-new design. In fact, it was derived from the familiar Colombo unit which started life in the first Ferrari. However, Maranello squeezed the last drop of potential out it, enlarging it from 3.3 litres (as used in the 275GTB/4) to 4.4 litres. As the biggest engine Maranello had ever developed, it output a record 352 hp and 318 lbft. More important, it was also extremely smooth and flexible.

In addition to the wind-cheating shape, 365GTB/4 achieved a real 174 mph top speed and took only 5.4 sec to finish 0-60 mph, which made it actually faster than Lamborghini Miura. Unquestionably, Daytona was the fastest car in the world until the mid-80s, when Lamborghini Countach 5000QV appeared.

Handling was sharp, consistent and very enjoyable, with plenty of feel. Ride was pretty firm, but the faster it went, the better it rode. Of course, it would be unreasonable to expect the same level of handling and ride as the smaller and mid-engined Dino, but at least Daytona beat its British rivals like Aston and Jaguar by several streets.

Daytona was very well-developed. During its 6 years life span, no significant modifications had to be made. No wonder it is still hardly forgotten by many car enthusiasts today.