Pre-war Enzo Ferrari

I'm reading Brock Yates' 'Enzo Ferrari - The Man, the Cars, the Races, the Machine' and have two questions.

My first question is how did Alfa Romeo receive the option to buy out the Scuderia in March of 1937? Was there some sort of buy out clause when Alfa wrapped up direct factory involvement and handed over the P3s to Ferrari, or is it a simple case of Alfa paying the right amount?

Secondly question, whatever happened to Enzo's Alfa Romeo dealership franchises?

As I understand it Ugo Gobbato was under pressure from the Italian government to produce resuts, Alfa being nationalised in all but name and thus seen as an Italian national team. He therefore bought out some of the minority shareholders and - presumably under Italian company law - gained control once he owned 80% of the shares.

That makes sense. One thing I have to wonder is Enzo contributed 25% of the initial funding. I don't know if that gave him 25% ownership, but I would think at the very least it would have given him 25% ownership. So does this mean Enzo sold shares to Alfa, or others prior?

Edited by Nathan, 25 July 2010 - 22:50.

The way I understand it.

The initial group that formed Scuderia Ferrari consisted of, Enzo, Mario Tadini and brothers Augusto and Alfredo Caniato. I'm not sure how the percentages were split, but 25% would seem about right. In 1932 Alfredo Caniato's part was bought out by Count Felice Trossi.

And Enzo had offered Alfa Romeo shares in the company in exchange for some technical help from Alfa. He also made similar deals with Pirelli, Bosch and Shell. So all apparently held shares in Scuderia Ferrari also. I have no idea how that affected the percentage of ownership, however since Enzo seemed to always have the final word, I assume he held a higher, "controlling interest".

Edited by REDARMYSOJA, 26 July 2010 - 00:37.

Well that pretty much answers that question.


Anyone know whatever happened to Enzo's Alfra Romeo dealerships? I imgine The Depression weeded some out, but I had read as late as 1939 he still had atleast one in Modena.

Well that pretty much answers that question.


Anyone know whatever happened to Enzo's Alfra Romeo dealerships? I imgine The Depression weeded some out, but I had read as late as 1939 he still had atleast one in Modena.

I've only heard of Enzo owning a Rudge MC dealership, but nothing about any Alfa Romeo dealerships. He was in charge of sales in Emilia-Romagna and Marche, Italy, so perhaps instead of owning the dealerships outright, he merely received a commision on sales, but someone else might know more.

If he did have any dealerships, they were probably returned to Alfa when they and Enzo had a mutual "parting of the ways" in 39 as Enzo received a rather substantial severance package.

Mr. Yates claims Enzo started with Alfa Romeo dealer territory for Emilia, and later attained the same status for Romagna and one other region I can't remember or find at this time. When Alfa brought the moving trucks to the Scuderia, Enzo replaced the race shop (or some of it) with an Alfa dealership (perhaps another was relocated here?.

Mr. Yates claims Enzo started with Alfa Romeo dealer territory for Emilia, and later attained the same status for Romagna and one other region I can't remember or find at this time. When Alfa brought the moving trucks to the Scuderia, Enzo replaced the race shop (or some of it) with an Alfa dealership (perhaps another was relocated here?.

As I said in my above post, the other territory was Marche. And Emilia-Romagna is one territory as I understand it, but perhaps there is a split somehow. And again, Enzo was "sales manager" for these areas, but I don't know if that entails any dealer ownership. When the Scuderia Ferrari was disbanded in 1938 and operations moved lock, stock and barrel to Portillo, it would make sense if Enzo used his shop in Modena as a dealership for Alfa Romeo. But I can't be of any help with this, sorry. Just be patient and I'm sure someone will come along that can give you an answer.

Richard Williams' biography says that the initial funding was L130000 split between Mario Tadini and the Caniato brothers, L50000 from Ferrari and L5000 from Ferruccio Testi. Shares were also offered to "the Scuderia's partners", Alfa Romeo contributing L10000 and Pirelli L5000. Further to Robby's post, by 1932 Caniato had also bought out Tadini's shares, so Trossi's holding must have formed the bulk of Gobatto's purchases.

Williams' source seems to be Orsini & Zagari's 'La Scuderia Ferrari'.

Richard Williams' biography says that the initial funding was L130000 split between Mario Tadini and the Caniato brothers, L50000 from Ferrari and L5000 from Ferruccio Testi. Shares were also offered to "the Scuderia's partners", Alfa Romeo contributing L10000 and Pirelli L5000. Further to Robby's post, by 1932 Caniato had also bought out Tadini's shares, so Trossi's holding must have formed the bulk of Gobatto's purchases.

Williams' source seems to be Orsini & Zagari's 'La Scuderia Ferrari'.

btw, I have the book LA SCUDERIA FERRARI (1981-edition) in English language for sale.
If someone is interested - please contact me offline.

JoBo

btw, I have the book LA SCUDERIA FERRARI (1981-edition) in English language for sale.
If someone is interested - please contact me offline.

JoBo

It would help if your profile showed whereabouts in the world you are