You might think Ferrari has always made cars, but that's not true. Enzo Ferrari, the man behind the legend, didn't even want to build his own cars at first. He was a racer and a team manager, starting with Alfa Romeo. And to be honest, he was good at it. Very good.

But this is where things get interesting. In 1939, Enzo and Alfa Romeo had a fight. He had strict rules about how he could leave. He signed a contract that said he couldn't use the name Ferrari on any race cars for four years. What did he do then? He started a new business called Auto Avio Costruzioni. It made parts for machines and planes. Not very glamorous.


After that, World War II broke out. Twice, the factory in Modena was bombed. Enzo had to start over from scratch. But he never stopped dreaming about making his own racing car. He started working right after the war ended. Even though the deal with Alfa had technically ended, he changed the name of the company to Ferrari. He also hired a brilliant engineer named Gioacchino Colombo to make the engine.

That engine was the most important part of the first real Ferrari. The 125 S.  It was a small 1.5 liter V12 engine, which sounds small, but it revved like crazy and made a noise that people still talk about today. He started it for the first time on March 12, 1947. You can picture what it was like. A small shop in Maranello. There is oil on the floor. That raw, screaming engine bouncing off the walls.

The car first raced at the Piacenza circuit on May 11, 1947. It didn't win the first race. But only a few weeks later, the 125 S won the Rome Grand Prix. And just like that, Ferrari was known.

You may have seen the logo with the horse running. Francesco Baracca, a fighter pilot in World War I, painted it on his plane, and Enzo borrowed it from him. Enzo's mother told him to use it for good luck. He put a yellow background behind it, which is the color of his hometown Modena, and the rest is history.

Enzo Ferrari was very stubborn, demanding, and obsessed with winning. He is famous for saying, "Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines." From the very beginning, that attitude was what made the company what it is. They weren't about being comfortable. They were about speed, passion, and a little bit of Italian magic. 

So, the next time you see a red Ferrari drive by, remember that it all started with a broken contract, a factory that was blown up, and one man who wouldn't give up. For a side project, this isn't bad.