It was on 12 March 1947 that the first Ferrari roared into life, but few at the time could ever have realised what the Maranello-based brand would become.
In the intervening 70 years Ferrari has created one incredible car after another and it’s the only constructor that has competed in Formula One since the first race at Silverstone in 1950. Here we delve into the Autocar archives to chart seven decades of automotive brilliance.
Ferrari 212 two-seater (1951)
We wrote about the 166 in 1949, but Autocar's first Ferrari test drive came in 1951. Priced at £3,200 (US$9,000) at a time when the average UK home was worth £2,100 and the same in America was $9,000, the 212 featured a front-mounted 2562cc V12 and a five-speed gearbox to give 0-80mph in 16.2 seconds. With just 400km on the clock we were restricted to just 6,500rpm – but our testers still got 120mph out of it.We said: “It would be easy to describe the Ferrari as a racing car with sports bodywork, but this would not do justice to its extraordinary docility and perfect road manners. It brings tumbling forth the superlatives which a cautious tester tries to keep in reserve for the really great occasion”.
Ferrari 250 GT 2+2 (1960)
Launched in 1960, this was the first genuine four-seater Ferrari even though its predecessors were sold as 2+2s. The 250’s 2953cc V12 produced 240bhp – enough to take the car to 137mph when most family cars struggled to reach half that comfortably.We said: “Ferrari started in racing and thus knows all the tricks of providing performance allied to precision and safety in handling. When it was decided to market expensive grand touring cars it was realised that performance alone was not enough, for it must be combined with restful and comfortable travel, which the Ferrari certainly offers”.
Ferrari 250 GTO
Built to race, the regulations said that at least 100 examples of the 250 GTO had to be built, but just 39 were actually delivered. Now these front-engined 300-hp V12s are among the most valuable collectors’ cars on the planet; one recently sold for $38.1 million (£29.5 million), and we didn’t get to drive one until 2012.We said: “The GTO is every bit as good as its reputation suggests... It is perhaps more important to decide whether it deserves its place as the brightest jewel in Ferrari’s impressively bling crown. Of those that have crossed my path and can be driven on the public road, it does, and by a greater margin than I could have possibly imagined”.
Ferrari 246 GT (1969)
Enzo Ferrari reckoned engines should sit in a car’s nose, so when his company built its first mid-engined sportscar it didn’t carry any prancing horse badges. Instead it was simply badged Dino, the nickname of his late son Alfredo, who had died in 1956 aged just 24. It was powered by a 2.4-litre V6, producing 192-hpWe said: “Few of its competitors can match its nimbleness, precision and looks, and even fewer are such an exhilarating and exuberant thrill to drive. The whole car seems to have been conceived and put together by people fully aware of the way it is meant to be driven. It does not deserve to go to any other sort of owner”.
Ferrari 365 GTB/4 ‘Daytona’ (1968)
Ferrari introduced the 365 GTB/4 ‘Daytona’ in 1968, two years after the Lamborghini Miura made its debut with its mid-mounted V12. As such the 4.4-litre GT may have seemed like a dinosaur, but it was still a glorious machine, producing 352-hp and capable of 174mph.We said: “In addition to being possibly the world’s fastest production car, this Ferrari is an eminently practical vehicle. It is safe and solid, one can see out of it and one can carry one’s luggage in it. It would be presumptious of me to predict that it will become a classic – it is already that”.
