The First Ferrari Was a Heroic Failure

As is written in so many history books, the first car to which Enzo Ferrari applied his name was the 125S of 1947. This was some eight years after his departure from Alfa Romeo and two years after the dust of war had finally settled.

Yet even as battles raged in Europe, Ferrari was at work on a car to embarrass his former employers. Within weeks of the so-called “palace revolt” of 1939, Enzo Ferrari was approached by a young Alberto Ascari to build him a car for the 1940 Mille Miglia. Actually, make that two cars, as Ascari’s pal Marchese Lotario Rangoni Macchiaveli di Modena also wanted to take on Italy’s toughest road race.

Ferrari had but four months to complete the cars for the April 1940 event. The rules required that a production chassis be used, so he turned to the Fiat 508C Ballila. The Fiat’s engine had no chance of delivering a competitive performance, but Alberto Massimo—another ex-Alfa man bent on revenge—had an idea. By taking two Fiat 1100-cc engines, reducing their bore and stroke and joining them together he came up with a 1.5-liter straight-eight, which utilized the original Fiat cylinder heads and contributed to the cars’ name: Auto Avio Costruzioni 815.

Ferrari turned to Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera for a lightweight, streamlined body, and Borrani for wire wheels. Amazingly, both racing machines were ready in time for the 1000-mile challenge. They caused quite the stir, running as high as tenth overall and leading the 1.5-liter category. Unfortunately, the rushed nature of the build and lack of testing led to mechanical issues that caused both to retire.

“The experiment that started so brilliantly ended in failure, largely because the car had been built too hastily,” said Ferrari.

Only one survives to this day and can be viewed by appointment at the Righini Collection in Anzola dell’Emilia, about 15 miles north of the Ferrari factory’s Maranello home.

Owner Mario Righini is known as “The King of Motor Valley” and although he’s renowned for his passion for Alfa Romeo, you’ll also find the likes of Mercedes-Benz, Isotta Fraschini and Rolls-Royce on display.

The undisputed star of the collection, however, is the Auto Avio which Righini acquired in 1970 from a friend who had owned the car since the early 1950s and let it fall into disrepair.

“Let’s say it needed some work; it was abandoned because of the war, so I bought it from this gentleman. Then we dismantled it and put it back together, restored it,” Righini explains at Motor Valley’s own concours, Concorso d’Eleganza Varignana 1705.

Initially Righini didn’t realize quite what he had. “We thought it was a pretty important car because it was a convertible and spiders are the most beautiful open cars,” he says. “But Enzo Ferrari told us: ‘It’s one of the two I made.’” Ferrari confirmed this in a letter, signed in blue ink, adds Righini.

Enzo himself had no desire to have the car back as he was always looking forward. “He used to say, ‘I’ll make a better one tomorrow,’” says Righini. However, after Il Commendatore passed away in 1988, Gianni Agnelli and Luca di Montezemalo both tried to buy the Auto Avio.

Now in his nineties, Righini could have named his price and been set not just for his life but for his family’s, too. Commendably, he chose not to sell. “They wanted to make a deal, but I preferred to keep it,” he smiles.