05/25/2022
This Week in Gearhead History: On May 20th, 1964, Enzo Ferrari ended negotiations with Ford for the takeover of his company.
"A lot has been covered about this deal, especially in the movie ‘Ford v Ferrari’. However, what was not covered in that movie was the reason why Enzo had such animosity for Ford and Carroll Shelby. Enzo reportedly always held a grudge because his factory was bombed by the Americans in WWII. Also, when hot shot driver Carroll Shelby was on the rise in the late 50’s, he repeatedly turned down offers from Enzo to drive for Ferrari, and Enzo didn’t like being turned down. The final stinger came in ‘59 when Shelby as a driver won LeMans in an Aston Martin. Then to add insult to injury, Carroll built the Cobra and went after Ferrari with that. By the time the Ford deal came along, it was deeply personal to EVERYBODY involved! But that ended up giving us one of the greatest automotive rivalries of all time, and subsequently some of the greatest cars of all time like the GT40, Shelby Daytona, Ferrari P4, and Ferrari GTO." - Stacey
