Enzo Ferrari

Born: February 18, 1898 in Modena Italy Enzo Ferrari was the founder of Ferrari S.p.A. Early on he served in the Italian military in an artillery division. After the war he returned home to a failing family business. In order to make some money he turned to a small company that made small cars. He left several years later to work at Alpha Romeo. While there he started a racing division called Scuderia Ferrari. During the Great Depression Alpha could no longer afford to maintain a racing team. Separated from Alpha and now supported by Pirelli (a modern day tire company) Enzo continued to race. After being bombed in WWII, the Ferrari factory relocated from Modena to Maranello. In 1947, Ferrari S.p.A. was born. Initailly focusing on Formula One racing and Le Mans, Ferrari only produced street cars as a means to finance their racing endevours. In the 60's the focus began to shift more towards production cars as a result of numerous racing fatalities. Recently, the company has become more of a brand, focusing on distributing merchandise and publicity. This is most strikingly visible in the new Ferrari theme park that recently opened in Dubai, featuring the fastest roller coaster in the world; the Formula Rossa. Below is a picture of the very first production Ferrari; the 125 S.