Ferrari Cars

Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian maker of sports cars, and it is based in Maranello, Italy. The company was founded in 1929 by Enzo Ferrari, under the Scuderia Ferrari name. It built race cars and sponsored race drivers before it began building vehicles for street use in 1947 as Ferrari S.p.A. Throughout its long history, Ferrari has been famous for its commitment to racing, especially in Formula One.

Ferrari's founder never planned to make cars for street use when he formed Scuderia Ferrari (literally translated as "Ferrari Stable" or "Team Ferrari") in 1928. The team was founded as a sponsorship base for Modena race drivers. Ferrari was responsible for the preparation of various Alfa Romeo cars and their drivers, until he was hired in 1938 by Alfa Romeo as the head of that company's motorsports department.

In 1941, Alfa Romeo was co-opted by Benito Mussolini's fascist government as part of the Axis' war effort. Ferrari's division was sufficiently small to be unscathed by the takeover, but he was prohibited from racing for 4 years. To get around that restriction, Scuderia Ferrari was renamed as Auto Avio Costruzioni Ferrari, which (as far as Mussolini knew) produced aircraft parts and machine tools. Ferrari did produce one race vehicle, the Tipo 815, during that period. In 1943, the Ferrari company transferred to Maranello, where it remains today. The Maranello factory was destroyed by an Allied bombing in 1944 and rebuilt in 1946, including a place for street car production. Until Mussolini's death, the road car division was little more than a source of money for the racing division.

The first Ferrari street car was 1947's 125S, which had a 1.5 liter V12 powerplant. Enzo Ferrari built and reluctantly sold his cars in order to finance the racing enterprise. While Ferrari's cars quickly became known for their quality, Enzo Ferrari himself was known for his disdain of his customer base. In 1988, Enzo Ferrari supervised the launching of the F40, the last car introduced before he died.

Since the company's start, Ferrari has been involved in auto racing; it has competed in various racing series such as Formula One. The company also sponsored sports car teams through the Scuderia Ferrari division and it has also supplied cars and motors to other teams and series.

The first race car designed by Enzo Ferrari was the AAC 815 of 1940, although it did not carry the Ferrari nameplate.