A RICHNESS OF RED PART 2

YESTERDAY, WE CELEBRATED the 90th birthday of Enzo Ferrari in the Hors Ligne Special: Ferrari, 1988, what I termed a soft-cover coffee-table art book. Today in Part 2, let’s continue through this publication too elaborate to be called a mere magazine. 

Ferrari Fabrication. Hors Ligne wrote, “ ‘See one car factory and you’ve seen them all.’ This somewhat peremptory statement might hold true for the greater number of car factories, but a visit to the Ferrari works in Maranello would render the statement null and void. Well, perhaps the outside does resemble other car plants, but inside it’s a different story.” 

I’ve visited Maranello more than a few times and I concur with Hors Ligne’s assessment. Don’t expect crusty old artisans pounding ancient tools, though. Ferrari is as modern a facility as any. The difference is in what’s fabricated, not how.

“The Ferrari legend,” Hors Ligne wrote, “has been woven by stitches called twelve cylinders. At the end of 1985, 14,142 twelve-cylinder motors have been made, representing about 30% of the company’s total production.” 

My Favorite Ferrari. The F40 celebrated “the 40th anniversary of the first car that ever carried the name Ferrari…. Such a birthday has to be regally celebrated.”

I was in Maranello the summer of 1987 for the F40’s press debut (a non-driving event) and recall Signore Ferrari’s off-mike, but still audible “che bella macchina.” Later in 1988, I returned to Maranello to drive an F40 around the factory’s Fiorano circuit. (I recall that’s the visit where I scored a souvenir F1 wing endplate from the trash barrel.) 

My most memorable drive of the F40 came in 1991 when we road-tested the car at Orange County California’s Mile Square Park. The F40 reached 60 mph in 3.8 seconds and recorded quarter-mile results of 11.8 seconds at 124.5 mph. Braking from 60 came in a mere 119 ft. and the F40 circled a 200-ft. skidpad at 0.94g.

“Just for fun,” I noted here at SimanaitisSays, “I took the Park Ranger for some thrill runs up and down the Mile Square expanse. Whenever I drive past Mile Square Park, today full of joggers and families, I recall why the F40 is my favorite of all Ferraris.” 

Ferraristi. Hors Ligne celebrates Ferrari people as well as machines. One of its articles details Ferrari Formula Fashion: The Monza Line from the Italian company Giovanni Crespi S.p.A. 

Another celebrates Ferrari clubs. Hors Ligne observed, “There are thousands of people throughout the world united by the same faith. Empassioned, enthusiastic, enamored, fanatical, even fetishistic, all bound by a common bond; the sound of a kitten purring or a lion roaring, eminating from under the gleaming hood of a Ferrari.” 

“Ferrari fans,” Hors Ligne noted, “are as diversified as they are manifold. They cannot be classified according to height, weight, age, nationality or social condition…. Pure passion is neither stereotyped nor governed by any set rules.”

“Their common bond,” Hors Ligne said, “is a symbol: that of a rearing black horse set against a canary yellow sky. Their song is a hymn of praise to an exceptional man and his herd of fiery horses—Enzo Ferrari. ds 

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2022