Press conference to announce first Ferraris

In late November or early December 1946, Ferrari held a press conference announcing three versions of the first car to carry his name -- the 125. British Autocar had a report in the 13 Dec issue. They gave credit to a Giovanni Canestrini report in Inter Auto. Gianni Laurani had a piece in the Auto Italiana issue dated 15 Jan 1947. Final report I have was in Motor Italia Jan/Feb 1947 by Lucio Marini. There was a brochure given out with the Ferrari name not carrying the extended F.

Does anyone know the date of this press conference.

Many thanks.

Not being near my book shelf so can't check, wouldn't this information be in the Tanner/Nye book?

Both Starkey books give November 1946 but only about informing the press. No exact date. Then it goes on about an article in Auto Italiana and The Autocar, 13-12-1946. I was hoping for the Corrado Millanta book Ferrari 1947-1953, but the first entry there is a write-up in Auto Italiana (Lurani) 15-1-1947. No dates are given in 1946, as indeed the title of the book suggests. No luck in the other books I tried

Despite a lot of effort I've found nothing in either La Stampa or Corriere dello Sport in the relevant time frame. I also looked in January 1947 in case it was perhaps a case of 'jumping the gun'. Nothing, nix, nada.

Might be covered in the ACI's weekly paper L'Automobile, but at present they only have the first quarter of each year scanned and online.

If nobody beats me to it I'll have a hunt through the Swiss Automobil Revue tomorrow.

Came up blank in Automobil Revue too. And thanks to the generosity of another TNF member, who pointed me to another source for it, there seems to be nothing in L'Automobile either.

I wonder if there's some post-war politics going on there in an attempt - at least by some - to keep Enzo Ferrari out of the news? His wartime company had of course dealt with the Germans.

I have the 26/11/47 The Motor with a feature on the then new Ferrari 166. That piece references their 5/2/47 issue having featured the 1 1/2 litre 125 model. I don't have that issue, but maybe it has reference to earlier Ferrari road car goings on?

Stephen

A further thought on the politics - could it be something to do with the fact that the car was designed by Colombo? He had been a well-known Fascist supporter and in David Manton's book Enzo Ferrari's Secret War it's said that Ferrari was protecting him. Colombo had faced the prospect of arrest (or worse) before Pat Hoare and others intervened.

The article Inter Auto is often referred to in Ferrari literature. It appears that Stanley Nowak and Hans Tanner sat down at a certain point to blot down the very early history of the mark, 1945-1948. They based first communication on the 125 S on that article.

Of what I can find, mostly November is said to be the month that Ferrari released information. Probably the fact that Inter Auto wrote about Ferrari in their November-December issue may have lead that some people claim it was in December.

Could it be that there was no press conference at all? I state this as there are clear data of stages of design and construction of the car, the day they put the engine on the dyno etc. Possibly Ferrari had started to inform the press by sending info to them directly? The 125 S leaflet (Programma di Fabbricazione) is a neat A5 booklet showing several details of this car.

Edited by Arjan de Roos, 22 June 2017 - 06:50.

I don't think there was a Colombo/Fascist problem. He was laid off from Alfa shortly after the war ended because of the lack of business. Then Ferrari hired him in July 1945. He was called back to Alfa in December 1945. I'm not saying he wasn't a sympathizer, but it doesn't seem to have affected his employment prospects. 

Colombo's suspension and subsequent re-employment by Alfa Romeo was as much to do with personal animosities within the company as truly political witch-hunting.  Colombo had evidently been an enthusiastic Fascist supporter so when the Party was kicked out of power on July 25, 1943, and Mussolini arrested he then faced a pretty thin time at Alfa Portello through 1944-45. Mr Ferrari - remember - was very happy to work with those who admired a strong and autocratic dictator.

DCN

Edited by Doug Nye, 04 November 2017 - 21:10.