“Have you seen the film Le Mans ’66?”. Piero Ferrari’s question takes me by surprise. “Yes, of course, beautiful,” I reply.
“Do you know what scene I like best?” She urges me. “The one where my father says no to Ford. I’ve seen it and seen it again several times. I enjoy it a lot.” I don’t have time to ask why and the explanation comes straight away. “Today Ferrari is worth more than Ford, and this would not have been possible if my father had said yes to the Americans…”.
Already, thinking back to 1966, to the film, to the novel-like story of Ferrari, the famous “who would have thought” becomes a fixed thought. The Maranello company currently capitalizes on Wall Street at 76.2 billion dollars, compared to 48.2 for Ford and – while we’re at it – even more than General Motors (at 52 billion), for years the largest company larger than our terraqueous globe. Not only.
Ferrari won the last 24 Hours of Le Mans and the last Monte Carlo GP. An unthinkable undertaking today for Ford. Not to mention F1: here after the victory in Monaco, Charles is 31 points behind Max Verstappen in the standings and Ferrari is chasing Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship with just 24 points behind.
And, still speaking of the film “Le Mans ’66”, it is always good to remember where we started from. Enzo Ferrari defined his creations this way: «They are expressions of beautiful mechanics and, in any case – he added mischievously – they are machines that are desired». Also for this reason the production of the Reds was (and is) very limited: in 1960 only 306 cars left the factory, while in 1970 only 928 cars were produced. In those same years Ford produced 1.9 million and 2.5 million cars respectively. David and Goliath. And even today there is no history when it comes to production since Ford produces in a day what Ferrari does in a year. But the game now – on the stock exchange and on the slopes – is being played with reversed roles. In fact, we don’t play at all anymore.
#Ferrari #worth #Ford #Mans #FormulaPassion.it
