Enzo Ferrari: Sometimes Arrogance Spawns Fierce Rivals

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I was thinking about this the other day. Were it not for Enzo Ferrari's being an *******, some great cars would never have come into existence. Take, for example, a tractor manufacturer who owned one of Ferrari's cars. The clutch on said car was not very good, and the tractor maker confronted Mr. Ferrari about this fact. Ferrari in essence said there was nothing wrong with the clutch, you can't drive, so screw off. Well, the tractor maker wasn't going to take that lying down, so he designed his own damn car and brought it to market as a competitor to Ferrari. The tractor maker's name, if you didn't already know was Ferruccio Lamborghini.

Then there is another businessman he screwed over. Back in the 60's Ferrari was in trouble and courting a takeover or partnership. Well, a certain American with deep pockets was interested in adding Ferrari to his automotive holdings. He spent a lot of money going over Ferrari's assets, which Ferrari promptly uses to prove the company has more value, and sells off (partners?) to Fiat instead. This American did not take this lightly, and decided to beat Ferrari on the racetrack as revenge. So, Henry Ford II does just that with a car called the GT40. It dominates Ferrari from 1966-1969, proving a point about who was better.

In the end, great things are accomplished not because of committees, but because of the work and arrogance of great men. The lack of such visionary business leaders is why the present suffers.

 

[Doober]

:lol:

Shows some good can come from an "I'll show you" attitude!

 

[pokertramp]

Makes me think differently about Ferrari's now!!
Kind of on the subject but when the Enzo first came out, if you had $10,000,000,000,000 dollars you could not buy an Enzo. You had to have a certain history with Ferrari in order to be able to buy one, owning a certain amount of Ferrarie's in the past. Now of course you can get one used.

Another thing is anyone who sells a replica and uses the term Ferrari will automatically have the Ferrari police on their *ss. If you put an add online and use the term "Ferrari Replica" the add will be removed. If a magazine does it, they will be sued.

Lamborghini on the other hand is not as hard on people when it comes to that.

 

[85_SS]

I knew about the Lamborghini origins, but that's the first I heard the GT40 story - both very cool.

And IMHO, but I'd take the GT40 and just about every Lamborghini over a Ferrari... I do like the 288 GTO (probably my favorite) and F40, but for the most part I've never really cared for their styling. The "ultimate" Enzo Ferrari is downright ugly IMO.

The Countach was/is an amazing looking car that could come out today and still look current. The new Revention is probably my favorite Lamborghini since then.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Well, the Ferrari that Lamborghini owned was a 250. It's a drool worthy piece of garage art if ever I saw one.

Crappy transmission or not, I would love to own it if for no other reason than just to be able to look at it every day.

 

[Doober]

Just hearing about the bs Ferrari pulls makes me Probably one reason why I wouldn't own one. More of a Lambo fan myself.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

My favorite Lamborghini of all time has to be the Miura. When it was first shown in 1965 it might as well have been a space ship it was so far ahead of it's time.

The cars that inspired it's design? The GT40 and the original Mini (engine/transmission layout). It is named after a famous ranch that breeds fighting bulls. All Lamborghinis have been named after something to do with bull fighting, as Ferruccio Lamborghini was a Taurus and used the bull as the brand's symbol. Who owns Lamborghini today? Volkswagen-the same company that also owns Bugatti.