LET ME SELL YOU A FERRARI

A CELEBRATION OF MODENA’S PRANCING HORSE

Last summer, when I was planning the Speaker Series offerings, I read everything I could about the car enthusiast community and came across an article on different types of car enthusiasts. The article talked a lot about the “purist enthusiast.” A purist is thought to be interested in the perfect driving experience. I wondered, what kind of car gives a perfect driving experience? The 2020 Ferrari 488 Pista priced at $345,300 seemed to be on the top of the list of cars that can deliver a near-perfect experience. Which made me think, who can sell a $345,000 car?

Not long after, I came across Bob Guarino’s new book, Let Me Sell You a Ferrari. I immediately called Bob’s publisher, who connected me with him. To my delight, Bob, who lives in Vermont, was thrilled at the prospect of coming to the Museum to discuss his new book. Fittingly in the final days of the Museum’s exhibition titled “Masterpiece: Art and Design of Italian Automobiles”, Bob Guarino came to speak about his life as a Ferrari salesman and part owner of Autohaus in Cohasset. Bob discussed some of the fascinating details of his trips to the Ferrari factory in Maranello Italy. He talked about how thrilling it was to go with prospective buyers when they test-drove cars, and he reminisced about the exacting design and engineering of a Ferrari. If interested in Ferrari’s American history, another recommended read written by Jim Ciardella is The Dealer: How One California Dealership Fueled the Rise of Ferrari Cars in America.

Ferrari has long been known for producing beautiful, lightning-fast cars with an illustrious racing history. The visceral sound of the engine, its lightweight body, and the amazing suspension along with its sleek, elegant beauty make the Ferrari a car for car purists. It all began when young Enzo Ferrari watched the races on the Bologna circuit with his father and brother in the early 1900s. Enzo dreamed of becoming an opera singer, a race car driver, and a sports journalist. He also desperately wanted to work for FIAT, but his application was rejected. This led to a career as a tester at a small torpedo company. In 1919, he became a successful race car driver with Alfa Romeo. However, Enzo preferred running the team to racing, and in 1929, he led the first iteration of Alfa Romeo’s racing division. In 1932, not long after Enzo became a father, he gave up racing. In the early 40s, he split with Alfa Romeo and founded Auto Avio Costruzioni, the beginnings of what was to become the prancing-horse-logoed Ferrari company. Over the years, Ferrari expanded its reach and grew from making cars for its tiny boutique shop to providing top-of-the-line, beautiful, precise racing cars for the world.

One race car driver who stands out in the racing history of Ferrari is Luigi Chinetti. At 29 years of age, driving one of NART’s Ferrari 265 GTB/4s along with American driver Bob Grossman, Chinetti scored the marque’s first win at the race in 1949 as a driver, then its ninth and last to date in 1965 as a team owner. With the brand’s storied history, it only seems right that Ferrari is celebrated in all its glory at this year’s Tutto Italiano on Sunday, September 17th and stop by to marvel at some of the finest cars engineered to give a near-perfect ride.

◀︎ Classic vehicles like this 1940 Buick Super Cabriolet can often be found for sale, complete with a straight eight engine. The owner was ready for questions or offers from the comfort of a nearby lawn chair.