WI: Ford Buys Ferrari

Delta Force

Banned
In 1963 Ford began negotiations with Enzo Ferrari to purchase the company, but Enzo cut off negotiations when he realized that he would likely not be allowed to remain as head of the Ferrari racing team. For Enzo the consumer automobile business was something he wasn't really interested in, his real passion was Formula One and selling cars was merely something he did to pay for it. It seems possible that a deal that allows Enzo to remain as head of a Formula One team (almost certainly his Formula One team, with independence from Ford) might have been acceptable. I'm not sure how likely that is though, as I don't know that much about Ford's motives for acquiring Ferrari.

Of course, historically the deal failed quite spectacularly, and Henry Ford II decided to go all out to beat Ferrari on the track. This led to Ford sponsoring the Shelby Cobra and Shelby Daytona racers and starting the Ford GT40 program. Possibly the largest change brought by Ford's entry into racing was the company's decision to fund the Cosworth DFV engine and then allow it to be offered for sale to anyone, allowing independent companies access to a top tier engine and making Cosworth into a major engine supplier among independent teams. Ironically enough, FIAT later purchased a significant share in Ferrari only a few years later, in 1969, but allowed Ferrari to remain as head of the racing team. It's possible that FIAT being an Italian firm might have helped matters as well, as in some stories the Ford-Ferrari deal is alleged to have broken down after Enzo felt offended by the Americans sent to look at his company.

Ford's entry into racing had some major changes on the history of automobile racing, so what would might have happened to Ford, Ferrari, Cosworth, and Formula One if Enzo had agreed to Ford's proposal?
 
Ironically enough, FIAT later purchased a significant share in Ferrari only a few years later, in 1969, but allowed Ferrari to remain as head of the racing team. It's possible that FIAT being an Italian firm might have helped matters as well, as in some stories the Ford-Ferrari deal is alleged to have broken down after Enzo felt offended by the Americans sent to look at his company.

It was just the fact that Giovanni Agnelli (the owner of FIAT) know perfectely Ferrari and understand that nobody, and i mean nobody had to say anything to him regarding how direct the race team (FIAT effectively control of Team Ferrari started only after 'the Drake' aka Enzo Ferrari died...not a moment earlier).

Frankly, it will better if Henry Ford II came in person to look at the company and close the deal as Ferrari will have see that as a sign of respect (it was very old school) and yes the agreement will have to be: You can build the Ferrari for the generall pubblic but the racing team it's MINE and only MINE and nobody else.
 

Delta Force

Banned
Ferrari doesn't make that many cars now, and it was even less in the early 1960s (list here, excluding Dino marque vehicles). If Ford was looking for a company with more of a racing heritage and established brand Maserati, Alfa Romeo, and other companies would have been more suitable. Branching out from racing and Ferrari's establishment as a commercial brand wasn't quite there yet, so why would Ford have wanted to get rid of Enzo (or at least have given that impression) if Enzo essentially was Ferrari at that time?
 
What about sports car racing? Ferrari was kicking arse at the time Ford was sniffing around, I assume Enzo wouldn't want Ford running the sports car team either.

Personally I'm glad the deal fell through, between the two of them they produced some spectacular cars in the 60s.
 

Delta Force

Banned
What about sports car racing? Ferrari was kicking arse at the time Ford was sniffing around, I assume Enzo wouldn't want Ford running the sports car team either.

Personally I'm glad the deal fell through, between the two of them they produced some spectacular cars in the 60s.

It's strange that Ford even considered purchasing Ferrari in the early 1960s when you think about it, especially that it was done in such a way that Enzo thought he might be fired from his own company. If Ford was evaluating Ferrari for purchase in the early 1960s it had to have been focused mostly on its racing team and technology, and so its purchase was really more akin to hiring Enzo than buying a company. Just the homologation requirements for some racing series exceeded the entire production of Ferrari at the time - it didn't even produce 500 units until 1963. The famous pedigree and brand probably doesn't really exist yet either, seeing as the company had been around for all of 15 years. Enzo pretty much was the company.

Was Ford looking into entering European automobile racing or something? If it just wanted racing in general it could simply have done what it ended up doing and hiring Shelby and other consultants to work for it. The technology Ferrari was using probably wouldn't have had much of a role for Ford's racing programs elsewhere, since V-12 engines, overhead cams, and the rest of its technology was only used for luxury cars and very high end sports cars (predecessors of the supercars) in the 1960s.
 
I think that the Ferrari mystique was well entrenched by 1962, Enzo had a successful prewar career as a racing team manager and by 1962 had won 5 F1 Championships and 6 Le Mans after the war and wealthy racers the world over were racing his cars.
 
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