The Best Idea Yet - 🏎️ Ferrari: The Racing Machine Even A Child Could Draw | 36

Episode Date: June 17, 2025

Enzo Ferrari was 10 years old when he fell in love with racing… and soon, he would make it his life’s mission. After almost dying in an infirmary during WWI, Enzo schmoozed his way into the driving world. He built an unstoppable racing team for Alfa Romeo… until he got fired, and had to strike out on his own. But thanks to his grit, stubbornness, and engineering instincts, he created a legendary brand that would rise to the top of Formula One racing *and* the luxury car market. Enzo mastered the art of strategic scarcity that underpins the entire luxury sector, but Ferrari’s journey to becoming the winningest team in F1 history—and the most valuable car business in Europe—is marked by contradictions and tragedy (our deadliest yet). Spoiler alert, this episode will make sure you always wear your seatbelt. Here’s why Ferrari is the best idea yet.One last thing, check out our live podcast recording for The Best One Yet, our daily podcast, in Chicago! Tickets are on sale now, grab 'em while you still can: Wondery.fm/TBOYLiveBe the first to know about Wondery’s newest podcasts, curated recommendations, and more! Sign up now at https://wondery.fm/wonderynewsletterFollow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting www.wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/ now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to the best idea yet early and ad free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. You know, Jack, one of my mom's great observations from taking the subway for many, many, many years is that for men, there just happened to be a few topics that transcend socioeconomic barriers. You're talking about sports conversations? Yeah, sports conversations are one, like whether you're a plumber or an investment banker, you're finding common ground talking about the pitching order with the New York Yankees.

You put me in a barbecue anywhere in the United States, I'll ask the guy where he's from, oh, Cincinnati! Yeah! Are you a Kentucky Wildcats fan or Cincinnati Bearcats fan? Okay, so sports are like one of those transcending topics. The other one for guys tends to be cars. Is that a 2013? I thought it was a 2013. Boom, friendship has started. From Anchorage, Alaska to St. Augustine, Florida, you'll find guys have this common ground. But we've noticed there is one brand of cars that transcends any gender boundaries.

Because it's not just a car. It's a work of art. I think you're talking about the Ferrari. 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California. That iconic scene from Ferris Bueller's day off proves that the Ferrari is the perfect sports car. It's an icon. It is an aspirational status symbol. When you sign that big record deal or you get named partner at Goldman Sachs, yeah, your next stop is the Ferrari dealership.

The Ferrari is known for the throaty rumble of their powerful high revving engines. And of course, their signature red color. Rosso Corsa, which translates to racing red. True story. Even though they're available in 30 different other colors, 40% of all new Ferrari sold are red. And we'll tell you the secret reason why. But whatever its color, a Ferrari is the ultimate luxury product because it's famous, well-crafted,

rare, and potentially dangerous. Ferrari is a company of contradictions because the very cheapest model of Ferrari starts at more than $200k and Ferrari produces fewer than 1,000 of those a year out of a total of $13,000. Ferrari's superpower is its exclusivity. Despite making so few cars, Ferrari is actually the most valuable car business in Europe, which leads us to an even bigger contradiction. Ferrari achieved all of this success despite being the worst run company we've ever studied in any industry. And we think by the end of this episode, you'll be agreeing with us.

The greatest threat to Ferrari was always Ferrari, meaning the brand's brilliant, temperamental, extremely complicated founder, Enzo Ferrari. Because Enzo created Ferrari as a race car to dominate the circuit races of Europe, which he did. But not everything in the Ferrari story is rumbling V12 engines and scarlet red finishes. Creating the perfect speed machine would also prove incredibly deadly. We'll find out how Ferrari overcame one crisis after another to become the winningest racing team in Formula One history, and how a mid-80s surge in popularity can be traced back to a couple of

handsome TV detectives, not Starsky and Hutch. Plus, we'll reveal the critical business strategy that we call the Ferrari Flywheel. And while winning the race is all about thinking like a kid with a red crayon, here's why the Ferrari is the best idea yet. From Wondery and T-Boy, I'm Nick Martel. And I'm Jack Kraviche Kramer. And this is the best idea yet. The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with. And the bold risk takers who made them go viral. I got that feeling again They changed the game in one move

Here's how they broke all the rules Shopping local might seem like a tough cookie, but truthfully, finding Ontario-made products is a piece of cake. That's why supportontariomade.ca exists. With over 17,000 products listed, everything from cars to cosmetics, it's never been easier to shop local and support Ontario manufacturers of all sizes. When you choose Ontario Made,

you're supporting your neighbors, strengthening our economy, and celebrating the incredible products Ontario sells with pride. Discover what's made right here. Visit supportontariomade.ca. made right here. Visit supportontariomade.ca. A small crowd has gathered along the Via Amelia, a scenic boulevard extending from the pastoral Italian

countryside full of olive groves and cattle, all the way to central Bologna. The road's been freshly paved in preparation for today's race. The smell of asphalt stings the spectators' noses as they wait for the cars to zoom on by. It's 1908, and auto racing is Europe's trendiest new sport.

The pastime was born in France, but it's caught on quick in Italy. Jack, you know nothing pairs better with a glass of Chiani on a Tuscan hillside than watching professional drivers speed along that auto strata man. Most early 20th century auto races take place on public roads. Drivers will often start in one city and finish the race in another city. And in those cities they attract adoring fans wherever they go.

Unlookers line the highways, watching and waving at the rumbling machines. And on September 6, 1908, you'll spot three such fans in the crowd, a metal worker named Alfredo Ferrari and his two young sons, 12-year-old Alfredo Junior and 10-year-old Enzo. They've driven here from their nearby home in Medena to watch the Circuto di Bologna. It's a big day for young Enzo.

Full name, by the way, Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari. I think you stuck the landing on that thing, man. He's a dark haired boy with wide set heavy-lidded eyes. Up until now, cars have been the passion of his father and older brother's lives. But today, they've invited Enzo to join their fraternity. Now together, these Ferrari boys are cheering on the red cars, which are the Italian cars. At this time, all race cars follow an international color system. White or silver are the cars of Germany. Blue is for France.

Green is for Great Britain. And Rosa Corsa, or Racing Red, is for Italy. This color system makes the teens easier to follow for the fans as they're rocketing past you at 120 kilometers per hour. Well, sure enough, Jack, on this beautiful day, Enzo, his dad, and his brother all watch as the red number 10 car wins the race. The Ferrari boys are jumping up and down,

laughing and hugging each other. This is a core memory for little Enzo and the start of his lifelong obsession with racing, even if he doesn't know it yet. You see, Enzo plans to become a journalist until a series of terrible events forces him down a very, very different path. In 1916, Enzo's father dies of pneumonia, and then his big brother dies from influenza. The family's metalworking business collapses, and Enzo is left to work odd jobs until he's drafted into the army.

During World War I, his job is putting horseshoes on mules for the Italian artillery division. While serving in the army, things get even worse. Enzo contracts into your fatal respiratory illness and he spends months in a cold dark hospital barely able to breathe. But all of those bedridden months give Enzo something to think about. And he decides, if I survive this, I'm going to do something exciting with my life. I want to race cars for a living. Enzo is choosing YOLO. Yes, he is, Jack.

Once he is discharged from the hospital, he heads north to Torino, or as the Italians say, Torino, home to the automaker Fiat. As a manufacturer, Fiat is big. Fiat is powerful. They're employing hundreds of workers at the time. Basically, Fiat was the Italian equivalent of Ford. And thanks to Italy's highly protectionist trade policies at the time, Fiat's got a monopoly

over the entire Italian peninsula. Tariffs, baby. Figure warning. This seems like a perfect place for Enzo to try and start his career as a driver. Except Enzo has zero driving experience. He didn't drive tanks in World War I. He got his hands dirty putting metal sneakers on mules, remember? Not exactly the best LinkedIn resume for someone trying to make it as a race car driver. So Fiat reject reject his job application.

This devastates Enzo Ferrari. He finds himself wandering alone in Torino with no prospects, no family, and no money. He is lonely, depressed, and it's snowing out. He brushes off a park bench and sits down, looking out on the icy Po River. This is when Enzo makes himself a new promise. He is going to make it in the auto industry, no matter what Fiat or anyone else

has to say about it. Enzo finally breaks into the driving world thanks to his own craftiness. He figures out that all the drivers actually hang out in the same bars around Turin. So he starts hanging out in these bars as well. Pretty soon, he's schmoozing his way into a job. Networking. Good for the 1920s, still good in the 2020s. Well, and so he works his way up and up and up in a series of small auto firms from handyman to transporter to test driver.

And along the way, he's learning how cars work, how they're put together, what engines each model uses, and of course, how to drive them. This is how, in the early 1920s, Enzo finds himself both racing and selling cars for an upstart Italian automaker called Alfa Romeo. Alfa Romeo is way smaller than FIA, but they're trying to get their footing in both the racing and commercial auto world, and Enzo becomes a big part of that strategy. Enzo's job title with Alfa Romeo would never exist today. Basically, he becomes both their top sales agent and a driver on their racing team.

It'd be like the CFO at Disney also doing the voice of Buzz Lightyear. Enzo sets up a dealership and becomes the exclusive sales agent for Alfa Romeo in his hometown of Modena. Enzo cleverly flexes his growing fame as a race car driver to impress the customer and close the deal. And the more races he runs, the more locally famous he gets, and that leads to more and more sales. A pump that breaks Nick. What Enzo is doing in his funky hybrid role at Alfa Romeo actually becomes the new business model of the young car industry. He realizes that Alfa Romeo's racing team acts like one big advertisement for the car

brand because as more and more people fall in love with the sport, the brands that win are the brands that people want to own for themselves. This reminds me of the concept, win on Sunday, sell on Monday. When people see a brand attached to a winning sports team, it literally boosts sales of the associated product the very next day. Sometimes that's cans of Red Bull, other times it's automobiles. Enzo's dual role as salesman and driver means he benefits from both sides of this equation. His team is doing the winning on Sunday and the selling on Monday.

It's a double dip. Having proved himself to Alfa Romeo, they place Enzo in charge of his own racing team in 1929, Scuderia Ferrari. Scuderia means stable, so this is a stable of race cars. Scuderia Ferrari is still what Ferrari called their team today, almost a century later. Now we should point out Jack that Enzo doesn't own this team, but he does run this team. He's basically a general manager and his salesman skills translate really well to recruiting the industry's best drivers and best engineers. Just one year later after its

founding, Scuderia Ferrari is winning more than a third of its races and the Ferrari name starts ringing out across the racing world. By 1931 Enzo is no longer driving these cars. He is steering the entire team at this point. You know what Jack, he's better at that. Plus racing in this era is insanely dangerous. Deadly crashes occur regularly, both on the practice tracks and on the open road. And here's the thing. Enzo is about to become a padre. Congratulations, Enzo! 1932! He and his wife, Laura, welcome a son. And they name him Alfredo. The same name as Enzo's deceased father and his brother. Alfredo, nicknamed Dino, is born frail

and he'll actually face health struggles his entire life. But Enzo loves the boy like crazy and pictures him taking over Scuderia Ferrari someday, which by the way, is continuing to load up the trophy shelf as a racing team. In 1932, Enzo gives the team a special insignia, the Cavallino Rampante, a prancing horse. A black stallion rearing up on its hind legs against a yellow backdrop that you have definitely seen

before. Ferrari's Cavalino Rampante will one day become a coveted status symbol around the world, but for now it's stamping all over the racing circuit, especially at Italy's hottest open road race, the Mille Miglia. Mille is thousand and Miglia means miles. So there's your Duolingo lesson for the day. This race is 1000 grueling miles of hairpin turns and narrow streets from the town of Brescia to Rome and then back. And now Jack, we should point out that of all the championship races of Europe, the Mille Miglia is the point of national pride. You win the Mille, you'll win Italian. So when Alfa Romeo sweep the top 10 spots in the 1933 Mille Miglia with a first place car prepped by Ferrari, Enzo becomes a national star. This guy is six foot two. He's got a big presence, a huge appetite for

tortellini, which we fact-checked by the way, and maybe the biggest ego in all of racing. But with this ego comes an unwillingness to compromise. And that's going to be a problem for him farther down the road. After learning so much about Enzo Ferrari, we actually created a list of our favorite Enzo quotes that capture the whole Ferrari story. Jack, could you please lay the first one on us? I've got two, Nick. Enzo says, I build engines and attach wheels to them. He also says, aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines.

Translation, when it comes to race cars, he cares about three things. The engine, the engine, and the engine. And in 1939, Enzo gets a chance to try out this theory. What he gets fired by Alfa Romeo. Did his racing team stop winning or something? Jack, it's the opposite of that. Scuderia Ferrari won 144 of the 225 races they participated in over eight years. That's a 64% win percentage.

That is insane. But partway through that eight year run, Alfa Romeo comes under new management and the new boss hates Enzo. And as you can imagine, Enzo hates the new boss. This is more than your usual workplace drama. This is an existential struggle for who has final say in how the racing team is run. Enzo thinks it should be him. The new boss, Alfa Romeo, respectfully disagrees. But let's look at the fine print because this divorce with Alfa Romeo,

it does come with a buyout. So Enzo gets over a million lira or $1.3 million in today's money. And this, critically, gives him the startup capital to go into business for himself. Enzo is shifting gears over to founder mode. There's just one catch. The terms of the buyout say that Enzo is not allowed to start a racing team under his own name for four years. Translation? For four years, Ferrari can't use the name Ferrari. But Enzo, this ain't no stop sign. This is a checkered flag. So he takes his million lira and launches Auto Avio Construzione,

or AAC. His name may not be on the team, but his handiwork is. Enzo has total control over the drivers, the strategy, and the machines themselves. Pretty much, he has achieved his dream. But Jack, we should sprinkle on some historical context here because he happens to have picked a rotten time and place to start a company. Europe 1939 Italy's dictator Benito Mussolini is months away from aligning with Hitler and dragging the whole country into World War II. International borders are starting to look like conflict zones,

so this is not the best time to be sourcing auto parts from Stuttgart. Yeah, with no real supply chain, Enzo's team has to cobble together their first car parts from whatever materials they can scrounge up. Although one of the fundamentals of entrepreneurship is that necessity is the mother of invention. Ferrari's engineers did hold every small Fiat sedan. This little Fiat also has a little four-cylinder engine. It's got pretty modest power. But Jack, they're going to need to give this thing

a little more oomph under the hood. So one of Enzo's engineers attaches a second four-cylinder engine to the first one. And voila, you a second four-cylinder engine to the first one. And voila! You get an eight-cylinder engine. Double the power, baby! This thing is like a Ford Focus with a rocket launcher under the hood. Like we said, Enzo is all about the engine power. No shock for a guy who's been in love with racing since he was 10. Remember those quotes about the importance of engines? Well, here's another. When the driver steps on the gas, I want him to sh** his pants.

If this business is Enzo's baby, then Speed is his favorite child. They build two units of this pants-soiling car, which they call the AAC 815. And soon, they're ready for their first race, the 1940 Mille Miglia Italy's Superball of Auto Racing. Ultimately that race is won by a German BMW but Enzo's 815s performed surprisingly well and this is a moment to not underestimate in the history of Ferrari because they prove that Enzo can be a contender, even without Alfa Romeo. But no sooner does this race end than Italy enters World War II.

Enzo's company is forced by government decree to pivot the business and make supplies for the Italian armed forces. Like it or not, Enzo is trading race tracks for tank tracks. Italy's government actually orders all businesses to decentralize so they cannot be wiped out in a single bombing. And Enzo, he has to build a brand new factory in the small town of Maranello.

The war brings bombing raids that almost wipe out Enzo's factories. Twice. But when it's all over, Enzo emerges fully capitalized. And in 1945, he even changes the company name to Auto Construzioni Ferrari. It's been more than four years. Ferrari gets his name back. Spoke to the liars, we're good to go. 1947 Enzo launches the Ferrari Tipo 125S, the first official model bearing the Ferrari name. And man, it looks less like a race car, more like a Michelangelo sculpture. This is an outrageously gorgeous car for a debut model.

The body is hand crafted in house in Italy. Bellissimo! It's that deep red Rosso Corsa, Italy's red racing color, which will also become Ferrari's signature color even after that international color coding fades away. Jack, let's be honest. We know that Enzo really only cares about three things. The engine, the engine, and the engine.

And you remember how his last team made an eight-cylinder engine by putting two fours together under one hood? I think I know where you're going with this, Snake. Oh well, for this 125S, his team manages to fit a 12-cylinder engine in a V-ship configuration. Voila, a V12 engine. Triple the power. This V12 will become so identified with Ferrari that a lot of people assume he personally invented it. He did not, by the way. But either way, the V12 gives the Ferrari 125S the winning edge. Enzo's reassembled Scuderia Ferrari racing team wins its very first Grand Prix victory

in Rome in 1947. This win kicks off an era of racing domination for Ferrari in the 1950s. But the coming decade will also bring terrible tragedy to Ferrari, upending the business, the whole sport of auto racing, and Enzo himself. In the first half of the 20th century, one woman changed adoption in America. What was once associated with the shame of unmarried mothers became not only acceptable, but fashionable. But Georgia Tann didn't help families find new homes out of the goodness of her heart. She was stealing babies from happy families and selling them for profit. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery Show

American Scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in US history, presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud, and in our latest series, a young adoption worker moves to Memphis, Tennessee and becomes one of the most powerful women in the city. By the time her crimes are exposed decades later, she's made a fortune and destroyed hundreds of families along the way. Follow American Scandal on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Experience all episodes ad free and be the first to binge the newest season only on Wondry Plus. You can join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app, Apple podcasts, or Spotify. The bedroom is dark, lit by moonlight and a tiny nightlight. 57-year-old Enzo Ferrari sits beside his son's bed. His white-haired head bends over a notebook filled with dense, neat writing. Enzo carefully reviews the numbers, jotted on each and every line.

It's 1956. Dino is now 24, tall like his father, but so thin and frail, he looks way younger. Enzo's son is sick with muscular dystrophy. Enzo's response? It's been to Tinker, as though he's trying to fix a faulty engine. He tracks every calorie the boy eats, every gram of medicine from the world's best doctors. They are trying to win a race against illness and time. Dino has always had health struggles, but before things got bad, he'd been active in

helping his father grow Ferrari. Ever since the Ferrari 125S surged onto the racing scene, the public has been in love with these cars. In 1949, Ferrari wins the Le Mans, a grueling 24-hour circuit race that I still don't understand how they go to the bathroom. And then, the very next year, a new racing circuit debuts that truly is gonna put Ferrari on the world stage, Formula One. Formula One or F1 cars are open wheeled racers, meaning the wheel is set apart from the body of the car

and there's only a single seat for the driver. This new racing league means Ferrari has to make a second type of car. On the one side, you'll have these ultra high performance F1 cars that are meant just for the racetrack. But on the other, you still have the original two seater Ferrari roadsters, the ones that compete in the open road races like the Mille Miglia. And here's the key, these street legal racing cars can also be sold to wealthy members of the public. So Ferrari decides to do exactly that. Transitioning from racing company to racing company that

also sells consumer cars. And Ferrari starts selling their roadsters to literal royalty. From King Leopold of Belgium to Argentina's president Juan Peron. Building these cars for the world's wealthiest makes the town of Maranello world famous. And it's actually what keeps Ferrari afloat. It actually becomes a wonderful feedback loop for the business. Jack and I call it the Ferrari Flywheel because the race cars draw attention to the consumer cars

and the consumer cars pay for all the race cars. But the commercial side of Ferrari bores Enzo. He cares about the racetrack, not the showroom. He was so disinterested in the consumer car business that he keeps even the VIP-est of VIP customers waiting for hours or days before granting them an audience. This includes the literal Shah of Iran, who orders a custom-built Ferrari from Enzo and picks it up from the factory in person. We said at the top of the show that Ferrari was one of the worst-run businesses we'd ever studied. Well, this is kind of why.

Usually, if one side of your business is making all the profits and one side of the business is losing money, you probably want to invest in the profit side. Enzo's disdain for the profit puppy here really frustrates his employees and coworkers, including his wife and co-owner, Laura. Why not scale up production at least a little bit, Enzo? You can sell like two more cars, man, and we can pay everyone on time.

To Enzo, this is a distraction. Let the Shah wait. Ferrari must always defend its record on the track. Enzo thinks this is key to survival. It does sound crazy, but Enzo's instinct isn't totally wrong here. Because when it comes to luxury brands, reputation is everything. You are best in category or you are nothing. Like Ricky Bobby said, if you ain't first, you're last.

This leads us to our next Ferrari quote that actually explains the entire luxury industry. Enzo actually says, I will always deliver one less car than the market demands. His extreme limitations on production just keep his clients wanting more. And it makes sense because scarcity is the foundation of a luxury brand. The harder to get your product, the more people want to try to get it. And when demand is bigger than supply, you have pricing power. So even though it's driving his management team and his wife crazy, Enzo stays laser focused on outracing the competition. That is until June 1956.

Enzo's son Dino Ferrari dies at the young age of 24 after a long and agonizing battle with muscular dystrophy. It devastates Enzo and Laura, and it totally fractures their marriage. With Dino's death, Enzo declares that nothing matters anymore, not even racing. He considers selling Ferrari to a bigger company like Ford or Fiat. This makes national news across Italy. The whole nation is actually worried that their most treasured car brand may get sold to the Americans. Enzo actually doesn't end up selling. After six months of very public mourning, he starts re-engaging. And when he's back, he is back. Full Throttle Enzo assembles a seven-man supergroup of racing

stars to tackle the next big Grand Prix in the racing schedule, the 1957 Mille Miglia. Winning this one race, he believes, will be the key to the company's financial woes. Win on Sunday, sell on Monday. Simple as that. Well, maybe not so simple after all. It's a fragrant sunny Sunday in May in the Villa of Cavriana in northern Italy. Townspeople have gathered in clusters to watch hundreds of the world's fastest cars zing by. By the side of the road, children are waving, men are tipping their caps,

and women have put on their freshly laundered dresses. This is the 1957 Mille Miglia, as gorgeous a race day as Enzo's very first one back in Bologna when he was 10 years old, cheering on with his father and his older brother. But today, these villagers are most excited for car number 531. It's the Ferrari driven by a 28-year-old Spaniard named Alfonso de Portago. De Portago isn't just a driver. This guy is a literal royalty. He's one part Lewis Hamilton, one part Prince Harry.

De Portago speaks four languages, has a Hollywood girlfriend and a talent for getting every inch of power out of an engine. Imagine the excitement when the spectators get to see the number 531 car bright red appear on the horizon. De Portago is going 155 miles per hour, goggles strapped on his face and his trusty navigator Edvin Nelson right by his trusty navigator, Edwin Nelson, right by his side in the passenger seat. Because remember, this is a race across the Italian countryside and there's no GPS. So like each race car also includes a navigator to make sure you make a right when you're

supposed to make a right. But then the teeniest, tiniest obstacle turns this beautiful day into a nightmare. De Portago's left front tire hits something, most likely the raised lane marker in the middle of the road. The tire blows. De Portago loses control of the car and it ricochets off a telephone pole and then flies through the air, careening directly into the crowd, leaving chaos in its wake. De Portago is killed instantly.

So is Edmund, his navigator. And so are nine spectators, including five children. Just 28 miles away at the finish line in Brescia, De Portago's teammates are popping champagne. Scuderia Ferrari has taken the top three spots. They're just waiting for De Portago to join them. It's several minutes before anyone realizes something's wrong. This Mille Miglia tragedy of 1957 chocks the world. In fact, the Italian government shuts the race down for good. Everyone is looking for someone to blame. And that someone

ends up being Enzo Ferrari. The Italian government even puts Enzo Ferrari on trial for manslaughter. The indictment is actually about the tires. They say Ferrari over inflated them. But in reality, this case is about putting Enzo's attitude on trial in the court of public opinion. He's infamous for pushing his drivers,

playing them against each other to stoke competition, and basically treating the humans driving his machines like interchangeable carburetor parts. This is about Enzo and his total obsession with racing. He calls it a terrible joy, a great mania to which one must sacrifice everything. Eventually, the prosecutor drops the case. But Ferrari's brand is badly damaged, and there is nothing his pit crew can do about it. And unfortunately, things are going to get worse before they get better. Now by the early 1960s, Ferrari has lost so much momentum and cash that Enzo, once again, considers the most disturbing move that an Italian brand can

make, selling to the Americans. Mamma mia, Jack, specifically! Enzo pursues selling a stake of his company to Ford Motor Company. But at the last minute, Enzo pulls out of the deal, and this enrages the head of Ford, who is the founder's grandson, Henry Ford II. So he engineers a revenge plan. Ford becomes obsessed with embarrassing Ferrari on the world stage, specifically at the famous 24-hour race of Le Mans.

Remember when Ferrari winning Le Mans in 1949 put them on the global map? Well, in the early 60s, Ferrari is on an epic Le Mans winning streak. In the 12-year span from 1954 to 1965, a Ferrari wins the race eight times. What the Packers are to football at this time, Ferrari is to racing. And Enzo is their Vince Lombardi. Even when his company is going broke, Ferrari manages to win races. And that's why in 1966, Ford sets out to create a new race car designed for exactly one purpose. Beat Ferrari at Le Mans. If you've seen the film Ford vs Ferrari, that movie is about this quest. Incredibly, Ford sweeps the podium.

Meanwhile, Ferrari's cars don't even finish the race. Ford will go on to win Le Mans for the next four years straight. For decades, Enzo Ferrari has been trying to keep his company independent. But losing Le Mans is just one blow too many. So in 1969, with the company's bank account running on fumes, Enzo sells a 50% stake of his company for 250 million Italian lira, a little under three million bucks today. But he doesn't sell it to Ford. Can you pull this podcast over so we can take a pit stop before the ad break?

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on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Redacted early and ad free right now on Wondry Plus. ["Wonderful Music"] Enzo is 71. He's past retirement age for most people. After struggling with sales and racing tragedies, maybe it's time for him to move down to the Amalfi Coast, spend his days decanting Lombrusco.

But that's not what happens. No, instead Ferrari becomes a powerhouse in the world of luxury consumer sports cars. And Enzo actually stays in charge well into his 80s. Okay Nick, we might need to break down how this happens because last we checked Ferrari was running on empty. Well Jack, it actually all goes back to a shocking merger in 1969. No, not with Ford, as Enzo had teased, but instead with Fiat. Enzo sells 50% of his beloved company to Italy's biggest, basicest, boringest car company. Italy's most exclusive luxury car brand

sells to the company making sedans that Sicilian grandmas drive to the Mercato. car brand sells to the company making sedans that Sicilian grandmas drive to the Mercado. It turns out to be a triumph, one that arguably saves both Ferrari and Fiat at the right time. This is kind of like the ultimate Italian wedding. There's drama, there's hugging, and there's a whole lot of envelopes with cash getting handed out. Well, Fiat has the size, the manufacturing capacity, and most of all, the money. Yeah. At the time of the merger, Fiat is making more than $2 billion in sales.

In 1960s billions! So Fiat's cash flow helped dig Ferrari out of debt. Meanwhile, Ferrari is giving Fiat something they've been missing. Mystique. Because Fiat, they've been struggling in international consumer markets because of some shoddy product lines. So, working with Ferrari gives Fiat some badly needed cred. Not to mention, access to the finest automotive engineers in the world to improve their cars. This deal is a win-win

baby. Gaining access to Fiat's financial resources and infrastructure allows Ferrari to finally scale up the consumer side of their business. They can sell more luxury cars to the public. They keep the production numbers low for exclusivity, but they increase them just enough to make the brand profitable. By 1971, they're making about a thousand Ferraris commercially available every year. And by the end of the 70s, that number has doubled to 2000, which is still not a lot of cars. But it is triple the output Ferrari had before the merger.

And even this small increase puts enough Ferraris into circulation that you might actually spot one on the street or in your favorite film or TV show. That's right. Because Ferrari's modern inflection point doesn't come from an Italian racetrack. It comes from a cop down in Miami with a Tom Selleck mustache. The early 1980s sees a pop culture Ferrari boom. Magnum PI drives a Ferrari and so does Crockett, the blow-dried detective from Miami Vice. And then there's the Ferrari cameo we teased at the beginning. ["Ferrari Camio"]

1986's Ferris Bueller's Day Off includes a major subplot wherein Ferris pressures his best friend Cameron into borrowing his father's immaculate vintage Ferrari and trigger warning, it all goes wrong. ["Ferrari Camio"] immaculate vintage Ferrari and trigger warning, it all goes wrong. What'd I do? You killed the car. So Cameron Fry may have killed his dad's Ferrari, but Ferrari the brand is obviously alive and well. And amazingly, Enzo Ferrari stays in charge of it until his final days.

Technically, Enzo steps down as company president in 1977, but in all the important ways he's still running the show. Enzo Ferrari passes away at the age of 90. And despite all the mistakes, the tragedies, and the heartbreaks, the Ferrari name remains as strong as ever. In fact, it is living its best life. Today, Scudaria Ferrari is the oldest and winningest F1 team in history. So why are they in the news? Because they recently added F1's brightest star to their

stable. Lewis Hamilton, the man tied for most world titles at seven and counting. He's now suiting up in bright Ferrari red. We think Enzo Ferrari would approve of this hire. Absolutely, Jack. Because to him, Ferrari was always a racing company first, a car company second. He basically had to be dragged kicking and screaming into making a consumer product at all. If he had though, Ferrari may not have survived, much less reach

the heights they're at today. But as cool and as ripped a race car driver as Lewis Hamilton is, we'd argue it's the consumer side of Ferrari that ultimately won the business. That half of the Ferrari flywheel, that's what's really driving the company today, figuratively. Ferrari regained its full independence in 2016, one year after a $9 billion IPO. And today, the Ferrari brand is valued at around $80 billion. And Nick, what is the ticker symbol of Ferrari on the stock market? R-A-C-E. Race. Race. Something that would make Enzo proud. So Jack, now that you've changed your pants and heard the story of Ferrari, what's your takeaway?

My takeaway comes from yet another classic Enzo Ferrari quote. Ask a child to draw a car and certainly he will draw it red. Enzo's understanding of branding was so deep. I mean, Enzo took Italy's official racing color and claimed it for Ferrari. And that wasn't just about national pride. It was about giving the car an instinctive, emotional branding that the buyer isn't even totally conscious of. Why should a race car be red? You just kind of feel it. When you're thinking about branding, ask a child to draw your product. If she draws a red, make it red. How about you, Nick, what's your takeaway? My takeaway is superlatives sell.

You see, the profitability of Ferrari is truly insane, especially when compared to the rest of the car industry. In 2024, Ferrari made almost 1.5 billion euros in profit on fewer than 14,000 cars. Compare that to the 12.4 billion euros of profit that VW made on their 9 million cars and buses sold. That means Ferrari is almost 80 times as profitable as Volkswagen on a car-per-car basis. Because Ferrari thrives on superlatives. The fastest track time, the most powerful engine, the most exclusive sports car.

This is why Enzo Ferrari was so obsessed with winning. Brands are built on their reputation, and reputations are built on being the best or the most at something. And once you have that, you can limit how many people can get and charge them whatever the heck you want. Okay, before we go, it's time for my absolute favorite part of the show, the best facts yet. These are the hero stats, facts, and surprises we discovered in our research, but we just

couldn't fit into the story. Alright Jack, starting gates, let's go. What do you got? The record for most expensive Ferrari ever is held by a 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO. It was sold in 2018 for $70 million. Adjusted for inflation, that is five times the entire budget of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. But speaking of Ferris, Jack, you can breathe easy because the film crew did not actually ruin a real 1961 Ferrari for their famous crash scene. What they actually used was called a kit car with a

fiberglass body. Basically a fake. No GTOs were harmed in the making of this movie. And finally, earlier in the story, we talked about Ferrari's famous prancing horse symbol, the Cavalino Rampante. It was gifted to Enzo by the family of Francesco Baracca, a flying ace who was shot down during World War I. Now Jack, I feel like this is where the story comes full circle between my Italian heritage and your German heritage. Because you know there's another famous sports car with a prancing horse logo as well. So why do the horse emblems of Ferrari and Porsche look so similar? Well, Porsche's equine symbol is based on the city seal of Stuttgart, where Porsche's were first made. And Ferrari's horse? Well, Baracca painted that symbol on his plane

simply because the man loved horses. Before becoming a pilot, he'd been part of the cavalry, and he wanted to honor his old regiment. So what you're saying, Jack, if I hear you correctly, is this was probably just a coincidence. Pretty much. But Ferrari's came first. And that is why Ferrari is the best idea yet. Coming up on the next episode of the best idea yet, you're a pepper, I'm a pepper, it's Dr. Pepper. That's right, we're gonna tell you about the number two soda in America, Dr. Pepper.

Hey, if you have a product you're obsessed with, but you wish you knew the backstory, drop us a comment. We'll look into it for you. And don't forget to rate and review this podcast. Your five star rating helps us grow the show. The best idea yet is a production of Wondery, hosted by me, Nick Martel, and me, Jack Kraviche Kramer.

Our senior producers are Matt Beagle and Chris Gaultier. Peter Arcuni is our additional senior producer. Our senior managing producer is Nick Ryan and Taylor Sniffin is our managing producer. Our producer and researcher is H. Conley. This episode was written and produced by Katie Clark Gray. We use many sources in our research, including Enzo Ferrari, The Man and the Machine by Brock Yates and GE Lubring's Enzo Ferrari Biography for Britannica, Sound Design and Mixing by CJ Drummler, Fact Checking by Brian Pogner, Music Supervision by Scott Velazquez and Jolina

Garcia for Freesan Sync. Our theme song is Got That Feelin' Again by Blackilac. Executive producers for Nick and Jack Studios are me, Nick Martell. And me, Jack Ravici Kramer. Executive producers for Wanderi are Dave Easton, Jenny Lauer Beckman, Erin O'Flaherty, and Marshall Lewy. Welcome aboard VIA Rail. Please sit and enjoy.

Please sit and stretch. Please sit and stretch. Steep. Flip. Or that. And enjoy. Via Rail. Love the way.