Italy: A Ferrari Built for Two

Enzo Ferrari is an Italian automotive genius who worships power and precision and regularly rolls the world's finest and fastest racing cars out of his factory at Maranello. Henry Ford II is a sales-conscious U.S. automotive chief whose company has lately re-emphasized speed and competitive racing as one way to catch up with front-running General Motors. What could be more natural than for the two to get together? They plan to. Ferrari, which produced about 500 cars last year, and Ford, which produced 3,400,000, will become partners once mutual discussions that have been going on at Maranello are finished. Ford will buy half of the Ferrari company.

The overtures were begun by Enzo Ferrari. Though his cars dominated sports-car racing for eight of the last ten years and took the first six places last month at Sebring, Fla., the moody Italian intends to cut down his activities. For one thing, he is 65. For another, Ferraris barreling along at 160 m.p.h. have cracked up and killed an awesome roll of racing's best drivers—Ascari, De Portago, Von Trips, Castellotti, Musso. For all his ordinary tyranny with engineers, mechanics and drivers, Ferrari calls in his cars and broods whenever a driver dies. Taunts of "murderer" in Italian newspapers have only increased his determination to step down. Partly because he feels ill-treated in Italy, partly because he believes that Americans understand his work best, Ferrari bypassed an offer to buy from Italy's Fiat and selected Ford as a partner. Climaxing nine months of discussions, Ferrari last week reached an agreement with Ford, will make it formal when Henry Ford signs it July 4 at Maranello. Under the arrangement. Ford will pay about $10 million for half interest in Ferrari's plant as well as rights to Ferrari research and development. To mark the partnership, the two companies have already started design work on a new prestigious "Ferrari-Ford," which will have a powerful twelve-cylinder Ferrari engine in a Ford sports chassis.