by Chris Tutor

It’s not so easy to say Ferrari owners are kindred spirits to hot rodders. The stereotypical Ferrari owner enjoys speed, luxury and refinement, while the stereotypical hot rodder prides himself on do-it-yourself ingenuity, raw muscle and sometimes cobbled-together bodywork. But Ryan Cochran at Jalopy Journal manages to bring the two sides together as car people, arguing Enzo Ferrari was, at heart, a hot rodder.

To illustrate his points Ryan shot a series of beautiful black and white photos of a Ferrari 550 Maranello, an Olds-powered, flat-black ‘36 Ford Coupe and a flathead ‘30 Deuce, also in primer black. The differences in the three cars are as stark as the old Austin airport in the background. It takes Ryan’s uniting of Ferrari and hot rodding history to really make the photos work, but they do.

An interesting read for fans of both modern and antique hot rods.

[Source: Jalopy Journal]

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Ferrari is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello and Modena, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929 as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street legal vehicles in 1947 as Ferrari S.p.A.. Ferrari’s cars are among the most desirable of vehicles to own and drive, and are one of the ultimate status symbols of wealth in the world. Throughout its history, the company has been noted for its continued participation in racing, especially in Formula One, where it has largely enjoyed great success, especially during the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, late 1990s, and 2000s.
Finally, after years of financial struggles, Enzo Ferrari sold the company’s sports car division to the Fiat group in 1969 in order to help ensure continued financial backing for the foreseeable future. Enzo Ferrari himself retained control of the racing division until his death in 1988 at the age of 90.
Ferrari also has an internally managed merchandising line that distributes everything from eyewear, pens, perfume, clothing, high tech bicycles to laptop computers bearing the Ferrari brand.
Financial Times named Ferrari number one on its 2007 list of the 100 Best Workplaces in Europe.

Enzo Ferrari never intended to produce road cars when he formed Scuderia Ferrari in 1929 as a sponsor for amateur drivers headquartered in Modena. Ferrari prepared and successfully raced various drivers in Alfa Romeo cars until 1938, when he was officially hired by Alfa as head of their racing department.
In 1940, Alfa Romeo was absorbed by the government as part of the war effort. Enzo Ferrari’s division was small enough to be unaffected by this. Because he was prohibited by contract from racing for four years, the Scuderia briefly became Auto Avio Costruzioni Ferrari, which ostensibly produced machine tools and aircraft accessories. Also known as SEFAC (Scuderia Enzo Ferrari Auto Corse) Ferrari did in fact produce one racecar, the Tipo 815, in the non-competition period; it was thus the first actual Ferrari car (it debuted at the 1940 Mille Miglia), but due to World War II it saw little competition. In 1943 the Ferrari factory moved to Maranello, where it has remained ever since. The factory was bombed in 1944 and rebuilt in 1946 to include a works for road car production. Right up to Il Commendatore’s death, this would remain little more than a source of funding for his first love, racing.
“Scuderia Ferrari” literally means “Ferrari Stable”; the name is figuratively translated as “Team Ferrari”. (It is correctly pronounced “skoo deh REE ah”.)

Source: Wikipedia

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by Chris Shunk

For many, owning a Ferrari is the pinnacle of life. From the exotic lines to the prodigious power, Ferrari is at the very top of the automotive food chain. But alas, exclusivity has a price. The only thing that may cost more than a new Ferrari is perhaps a used Ferrari.

Knowing that demand for their products is unquenchable, the folks over at Ferrari have decided to slap a Ferrari logo on everything from laptop computers to cell phones and everything in between. Ferrari world is on its way for the automotive kid in all of us. Travelers will one day even be able to shack up at the Ferrari hotel.

Now all we need is a Ferrari-logo’d home entertainment system. Lucky for us Meridian and Ferrari have just announced one. The F80 is the do-everything entertainment device that packs DAB/AM/FM tuning and a CD/DVD player into one super-sized snow globe shape that comes in classic Ferrari Red, Yellow, White or Silver. It can pump 80 watts of power into any enthusiast’s living room or garage while providing the manly style that is all Ferrari.

No word yet on pricing or availability, but we’ll bet on expensive and in time for Father’s Day. Hey, if you can’t afford a Ferrari and you aren’t allowed to live in Maranello village, you might as well get some Ferrari love in your entertainment center.

[Source: Engadget]

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by Noah Joseph

Ferrari North America has announced the schedule for the 2007 Ferrari Challenge series. The series gives private gentleman-racers the chance to compete in the longest-running sanctioned racing series behind the wheels of their own specially-prepared F430 Challenge cars at locations around North America, in parallel to series across the ocean.

The series has been running since 1993, when the 348 was the chosen vehicle, replaced two years later by the 355. While the earlier cars were retrofitted, the purpose-built 360 Challenge was introduced in 2000 and is being entirely phased out in the new season after one year of overlap with the 430. This season will bring the Ferrari Challenge series to Homestead, Florida the weekend of March 9-11, Infineon in California April 13-15, Virginia May 18-20, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal to coincide with the Canadian Grand Prix from June 8-10, up at the renovated Circuit Mont Tremblant the following weekend, down to California Speedway August 10-12, then at Laguna Seca the next weekend before the world finals in Italy in late October.

Continues after the jump, where you’ll also find the official press release.
[Source: Ferrari North America]

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by Noah Joseph

Shell Oil, those guys who are getting richer while we all get poorer at the gas pumps, are aiming to break the record for the most expensive advertisement, and the Super Bowl doesn’t even factor into it. The fossil-fuels giant is a long-time sponsor of Scuderia Ferrari, and pours millions into the F1 team each year so that enthusiasts and consumers will associate its fuels – Shell V-Power high-performance gasoline, specifically – with Ferrari’s racing success. But just to drive the point home even further, Shell is spending close to ₤2 million to produce a television commercial.

Wondering how you could possibly spend that kind of cash on a TV ad? No big name endorsements; that’s already taken care of. No elaborate sets or costly special effects; you don’t need that when you’ve got a 700-horsepower F1 car at your disposal. The commercial is anticipated to feature an F1 race car speeding around the corners and down the streets of New York, London and Sydney. And we’ll bet it’s not going to be at five in the morning, either. Closing down big city streets in the middle of the day costs big, and Shell is spending big.

[Source: GrandPrix.com]

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by Noah Joseph

The centerpiece of the 2007 Montreal auto show was supposed to be the Plethore, a supercar being developed in Quebec by HHT Locus Technologies. As we reported previously, the car nicknamed “the Quebec Bomb” employs carbon fiber construction and an 8.2-liter V8 to produce a high power-to-weight ratio driving from behind a three-passenger cabin with a center-line driving position, an innovative layout employed in the record-shattering McLaren F1 supercar (and in a 1966 Ferrari 365 P prototype), but not replicated since.

Unfortunately, as is often the case with such ambitious projects, the car was far from ready to be unveiled when the auto show opened. Instead, designer Luc Chartrand and company took the wraps off a non-functioning pre-production prototype, essentially a mock-up for display purposes. Next to the prototype they displayed the 8.2-liter GM-sourced V8 that is anticipated to propel the Plethore to mind-boggling speeds, if and when it finally gets rolling.

Locus Technologies anticipates its creation will be ready for delivery in the fall, when a limited annual run of no more than 400 will each sell for $330,000 CDN. They can call it the Plethore, the Quebec Bomb or whatever they’d like… we’ll call it blind ambition.

We’ve got 25 high-resolution images of the Plethore from the show floor. Click on any of the images below or right here.

(Source Autoblog)

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