The first Ferrari wasn’t a Ferrari

0 0 January 20, 2025 Edit this post

by Bill Buys

ENZO Ferrari’s first car to bear his name and the emblem of the prancing horse was the 125 S, which made its debut in 1947.

It was a handsome sports car, but to some connoisseurs, not quite as pretty as the Auto Avio 815, which appeared seven years earlier – and really was the first Ferrari (except in name).

It all started in 1929, when Enzo Ferrari was working for Alfa Romeo and ran the company's racing division under the Scuderia Ferrari banner.

After a decade there he was tired of the frequent and heated disagreements he had with Wifredo Ricart, the technical director, he decided to bid them a not-so-happy adios.

But, fearful that Enzo might start up a competitive racing car - or any other mechanical project - he had to agree not to do so under his own name for the next four years.

So in 1939 he founded a new company, which he called Auto Avio Costruzioni, in Modena, and formed partnerships with the aircraft manufacturer Compagnia Nazionale Aeronautica and Piaggio.

The latter started making locomotives as early as 1884 and went on to build boats, a great variety of aircraft, and various motorcycles, including Moto Guzzi and the famous Vespa scooters.

However, before he got too involved in that, he was approached by Lotario Rangoni, the Marquis of Modena, who knew of Enzo’s engineering expertise, and commissioned him and to build two racing cars: one for himself and another for rising talent Alberto Ascari.

That was in December, 1939, and the Marquis wanted the cars ready to run in the upcoming Mille Miglia, scheduled for April, 1940.

Four months to build a pair of racers from scratch was a very tall order.

But it was a challenge and something very much in tune with Enzo’s DNA.

He had some former Alfa Romeo engineers on his payroll, among them Alberto Massimino and Vittorio Ballentani, who, with Enrico Nardi got stuck into the project.

The Auto Avio’s ‘815’ suffix was derived from the car’s straight-eight 1.5-litre engine, essentially two Fiat 508 C Balilla 1100 engines joined in a specially designed aluminium block.

It used an AAC-made crankshaft and camshaft and produced 75 bhp or 56kW in modern terms.

The gearbox for the 815 was also derived from Fiat, but fitted with gears made by AAC.

Mille Miglia regulations of the time required that all cars entered in the race had to be based on road-going production models, so the chassis of the Auto Avia 815 was also derived from the Fiat 508 C Balilla.

The stunning bodies were designed by Carrozzeria Touring of Milan.

The two cars were completed just in time for the Mille Miglia in April of 1940 and though WWII had already started, the race did go ahead.

But instead of the customary 1000 mile run from Brescia to Rome and back, it was drastically shortened to be run on a street circuit and called the Brescia Grand Prix.

It was nine laps of a very fast 166km course in northern Italy, that went from Brescia, west at the village of Le Grazie, and then north from Cremona back to Brescia.

Both cars took to the start with the numbers 020 and 021.

Rangoni and co-driver Enrico Nardi were in 020, while 021 was piloted by Ascari and Giuseppe Minozzi.

Ascari led away but it broke a rocker arm on the first lap.

Rangoni then took the lead and set a lap record with the car in the 1500cc class.

He soon developed the quick pace of the car into a lead of some 30 minutes.

But after seven laps his car developed transmission issues and he was forced to retire.

Meanwhile, Enzo’s car building plans with AAC came to an abrupt halt when he was obliged to use his factory to help the country’s war efforts.

The Auto Avia plant in Modena was bombed during the war and when hostilities ended, Enzo moved his operation to Maranello, where it remains to this day.

At that time, Alfa Romeo’s ban was lifted and Scuderia Ferrari went back to business with the first car to bear the proper name and badge emerging with the 125 S in 1947.

What of the two Auto Avio 815s?

One still survives.

After the war, Ascari sold his car to Enrico Beltrachini, who raced it eight times before selling it to a museum.

After a few years he bought it back and next sold it again to Mario Righini.

It is today still in Righini’s collection at the Anzola dell’Emilia, a 15th Century castle near Modena.

The other one had a sadder ending.

Lotario Rangoni was killed in the course of the war, and his brother, Rolando got the car.

Some time later he had a major crash in it and decided it wasn’t worth fixing, so he sent it to a scrapyard.

Then he had second thoughts, went back to collect it, but it had already been crushed.

However, Ferrari fans might still be able to get their hands on a mini version: IXO and a few other toy makers offered a 1/43rd scale diecast model of the famous Auto Avio 815.