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Guest
·I started thinking about this
I started thinking about this as I drove home recently from a 400 mile drive to deliver a used Stebro X-pipe to another 550 owner from Salt Lake. He's owned 14 Ferraris...from a 248 on up...and is now awaiting word on a posible F430 Challenge. He likes the 550 as the best of the cars he's owned, because for him the 550 exemplifies the Ferrari driving experience.
This made me think about all the other cars Ferrari has manufactured...and which model- from each era- best defined that time and place of the Ferrari culture, auto technology in general and the evolving desires of the consumer marketplace.
Your ideas?
Considering that the Ferrari automobile company is now 60 years old, I'd suggest that there are four "eras" of the company:
1. The first was from 1947 to some (defined by you) time, characterized by Enzo's complete control over racing and manufacturing, selection of staff; and reliance on early architectures like V-12, front engine, etc. For me, "the" cars of this era were the 275s and 250's and 330s
2. The second era seems to me to have started in the 1960's as companies like Ford and Fiat tried to swallow Ferrari; And Lamborghini got the clutch he wanted..FINALLY! I look at the F-40, as the defining (road) car of this era...along with the TR and 355.
3. The third strikes me as being in response to the competitive pressures of #2; as Ferrari slowly began being absorbed into Fiat, as Enzo died and the contrmporary management took over. I'd nominate the 550 as the defining car of this era: Because it goes back to the front-engined Berlinetta 12 and is a car that Enzo himself would have responded to as "his kind of car".
But the drawbacks of the 550 were that it was dumbed down by Fiat to be a global car...meeting Swiss noise standards, California emissions, etc.
4. Finally, there is the current era, which in my mind began with the 360 and 575, with F-1 paddles and more and more electronics. The 599 may exemplify this era, as its design (and driveability) is dependent on computer codes more than human finesse: From the CAD designs of the body, to the CFD codes that determined its aerodynamics, to the F-1 andf ECU codes that can mash gears in a tenth of a second. That's pretty amazing, but is it more emotionally satisfying- than caressing a stick shift in one hand, the wheel in the other...and leaning as the curve exerts its G-forces?
John
I started thinking about this as I drove home recently from a 400 mile drive to deliver a used Stebro X-pipe to another 550 owner from Salt Lake. He's owned 14 Ferraris...from a 248 on up...and is now awaiting word on a posible F430 Challenge. He likes the 550 as the best of the cars he's owned, because for him the 550 exemplifies the Ferrari driving experience.
This made me think about all the other cars Ferrari has manufactured...and which model- from each era- best defined that time and place of the Ferrari culture, auto technology in general and the evolving desires of the consumer marketplace.
Your ideas?
Considering that the Ferrari automobile company is now 60 years old, I'd suggest that there are four "eras" of the company:
1. The first was from 1947 to some (defined by you) time, characterized by Enzo's complete control over racing and manufacturing, selection of staff; and reliance on early architectures like V-12, front engine, etc. For me, "the" cars of this era were the 275s and 250's and 330s
2. The second era seems to me to have started in the 1960's as companies like Ford and Fiat tried to swallow Ferrari; And Lamborghini got the clutch he wanted..FINALLY! I look at the F-40, as the defining (road) car of this era...along with the TR and 355.
3. The third strikes me as being in response to the competitive pressures of #2; as Ferrari slowly began being absorbed into Fiat, as Enzo died and the contrmporary management took over. I'd nominate the 550 as the defining car of this era: Because it goes back to the front-engined Berlinetta 12 and is a car that Enzo himself would have responded to as "his kind of car".
But the drawbacks of the 550 were that it was dumbed down by Fiat to be a global car...meeting Swiss noise standards, California emissions, etc.
4. Finally, there is the current era, which in my mind began with the 360 and 575, with F-1 paddles and more and more electronics. The 599 may exemplify this era, as its design (and driveability) is dependent on computer codes more than human finesse: From the CAD designs of the body, to the CFD codes that determined its aerodynamics, to the F-1 andf ECU codes that can mash gears in a tenth of a second. That's pretty amazing, but is it more emotionally satisfying- than caressing a stick shift in one hand, the wheel in the other...and leaning as the curve exerts its G-forces?
John
