Monday 26th September 2011

Hey Enzo, Who Didda You Pincha That 'Oss Offa?

Video: The origin of the Prancing Horse badge retold

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As legend (or this official video) tells it, Enzo Ferrari only recounted the story of the origin of his company's famous prancing horse badge the once. So you may not have heard it.

Frankly though, we don't believe he only told it once. I mean, how could anyone possibly know that? He must have been asked the question at dinner parties every night of the week. So did he respond archly with silence and a meaningful look, or maybe with that weird 'finger pulling the lower eyelid down' thing the Italians use when they don't want to give you a straight answer? How annoying must that have been...

Oh well, it's on the internet, so it must be true.

[The Danimal]

I currently have a luxury/performance car brand under development based on the EasyJet logo.

[Rawwr]

Loving the casually racist subject

Not proper racism, of course. More like racist horseplay.

[varsas]

They don't mention that Bracca took the horse symbol from a German pilot, who used it because it was the symbol of his home town (Stuttgart). The prancing horse of Stuttgart is also seen on the Porsche badge. That's how Porsche and Ferrari both use a very similar prancing horse symbol, they are both derived from the same thing. You'd have to say Porsche have more claim to it then Ferrari though...

So I have heard, anyway...

[IanO]

Says at the end that the Ferrari badge has been on all the cars the company produces, but I thought the Dino just carried Dino badges, not the Ferrari Badge?

[markCSC]

IanO said:

Says at the end that the Ferrari badge has been on all the cars the company produces, but I thought the Dino just carried Dino badges, not the Ferrari Badge?

Because it wasn't a Ferrari, it was sold as a Dino. It didn't have the required number of cylinders to be a Ferrari

[jains15]

varsas said:

They don't mention that Bracca took the horse symbol from a German pilot, who used it because it was the symbol of his home town (Stuttgart). The prancing horse of Stuttgart is also seen on the Porsche badge. That's how Porsche and Ferrari both use a very similar prancing horse symbol, they are both derived from the same thing. You'd have to say Porsche have more claim to it then Ferrari though...

So I have heard, anyway...

Thanks for that, I've often wondered why they both have the horse, and why Porsche don't make a big deal of it yet it seems to be the very essence of Italy for Ferrari...

Interesting little tidbit... I do like the storiess behind the different marques and badges.

[angry jock]

varsas said:

They don't mention that Bracca took the horse symbol from a German pilot, who used it because it was the symbol of his home town (Stuttgart). The prancing horse of Stuttgart is also seen on the Porsche badge. That's how Porsche and Ferrari both use a very similar prancing horse symbol, they are both derived from the same thing. You'd have to say Porsche have more claim to it then Ferrari though...

So I have heard, anyway...

It's more widely understood that "Il Cavallino Rampante" was adopted by Count Baracca in tribute to his former calvary regiment which he was comissioned into prior to WW1.
Wiki Link

[johnpeat]

Since I live in a country (England) who's flag originated in Genoa (not in England) - and who's patron saint was neither English nor even visited the place!! - I find it hard to knock anyone else's person motivations and patriotisms

Wikipedia reckons Baracca used the horse because he was an equestrian and former Cavalryman tho - and it also features the word

Squadriglie

which has made my day

[johnpeat]

markCSC said:

Because it wasn't a Ferrari, it was sold as a Dino. It didn't have the required number of cylinders to be a Ferrari

He said "every car the company has made" not "every car the company chose to put it's name on" and so he's wrong.

Unless the Dino was made by someone else - which it wasn't??

[Twincam16]

Also, by happy coincidence it turns out that 'Ferrari' is the Italian equivalent of the English surname 'Farrier' - both old Latin-derived terms for 'blacksmith'.

[Rouleur]

markCSC said:

IanO said:

Says at the end that the Ferrari badge has been on all the cars the company produces, but I thought the Dino just carried Dino badges, not the Ferrari Badge?

Because it wasn't a Ferrari, it was sold as a Dino. It didn't have the required number of cylinders to be a Ferrari

What about the other Dino, the one with 8 cylinders? And anyway Ferraris had had 4 or 6 cyclinder engines before the Dino 206 came along

[bqf]

johnpeat said:

Unless the Dino was made by someone else - which it wasn't??

Wasn't The Dino designed by Pininfarina and 'made by' Scaglietti??

There are a fair few 'Ferrari's' that weren't made in the Ferrari factory. Pininfarina themselves made a few of them

[sleep envy]

Rawwr said:

Loving the casually racist subject

Not proper racism, of course. More like racist horseplay.

I thought it was interesting too

[JJ78]

sleep envy said:

Rawwr said:

Loving the casually racist subject

Not proper racism, of course. More like racist horseplay.

I thought it was interesting too

hey you. Shutta ya face!!

[365daytonafan]

bqf said:

johnpeat said:

Unless the Dino was made by someone else - which it wasn't??

Wasn't The Dino designed by Pininfarina and 'made by' Scaglietti??

There are a fair few 'Ferrari's' that weren't made in the Ferrari factory. Pininfarina themselves made a few of them

That's a far too simplistic explanation. The chassis and engines and drivetrain were made at the Ferrari factory and the bodies at the various coachbuilders before final assembly at the Ferrari factory. This was common practice for most luxury car makers up to the early sixties (think Rolls Royce with the likes of Mulliner, Abbott etc). Fifites Ferraris often came with a choice of bodywork from Pinin Farina (before it became Pininfarina) Vignale, Touring or Ghia (before that became a badge on an upmarket Ford). Scaglietti was usually the coachbuilder of choice for the sports racers.

As time wore on Pininfarina became the design house of choice (in part as it was the most popular choice of design with the customers). Scaglietti whose shop was across the road from the Ferrari factory was acquired by Ferrari and became the in house body shop building the car bodies to Pininfarina designs. The Dino was indeed built by the Ferrari owned Scaglietti to a Pininfarina design, exactly the same as the Daytona.

Pininfarina continued to build some of the Ferrari designs (depending on capacity at the Scaglietti works) and you can tell a Ferrari (or cars from other manufacturers including the Ford Focus Cabriolet!) that Pininfarina have built the body by the stylised F badge above the designo Pininfarina logo on the flanks.

[360pete]

Rouleur said:

What about the other Dino, the one with 8 cylinders? And anyway Ferraris had had 4 or 6 cyclinder engines before the Dino 206 came along

But they were mostly racing machines. The concept of the tiny (by comparison with previous road cars) V6 car was dreamt up by the sales people in the mid 60's but Enzo did not like the idea, feeling that any road car should have a V12. However, he agreed to let the project proceed provided his name did not appear anywhere on the car which is why they were badged Dino (after his late son from whose death he never recovered). Any Dino that has a Ferrari badge anywhere, including the steering wheel, has had them added later by owners. He obviously was later convinced of the merits (road car sales paid for his beloved racing) and so by the mid 70's agreed to the V8's on later cars such as the Ferrari Dino 308GT4 (by Bertone) but even the very first run of those were badged Dino.

[Crunchy Nutter]

What a really dull story! I can see why he only told it once!

[Or888t]

365daytonafan said:

That's a far too simplistic explanation. The chassis and engines and drivetrain were made at the Ferrari factory and the bodies at the various coachbuilders before final assembly at the Ferrari factory. This was common practice for most luxury car makers up to the early sixties (think Rolls Royce with the likes of Mulliner, Abbott etc). Fifites Ferraris often came with a choice of bodywork from Pinin Farina (before it became Pininfarina) Vignale, Touring or Ghia (before that became a badge on an upmarket Ford). Scaglietti was usually the coachbuilder of choice for the sports racers.

As time wore on Pininfarina became the design house of choice (in part as it was the most popular choice of design with the customers). Scaglietti whose shop was across the road from the Ferrari factory was acquired by Ferrari and became the in house body shop building the car bodies to Pininfarina designs. The Dino was indeed built by the Ferrari owned Scaglietti to a Pininfarina design, exactly the same as the Daytona.

Pininfarina continued to build some of the Ferrari designs (depending on capacity at the Scaglietti works) and you can tell a Ferrari (or cars from other manufacturers including the Ford Focus Cabriolet!) that Pininfarina have built designed the body by the stylised F badge above the designo Pininfarina logo on the flanks.

EFA- surely you mean/\
Interesting, thats for that.

[shoestring7]

varsas said:

They don't mention that Bracca took the horse symbol from a German pilot, who used it because it was the symbol of his home town (Stuttgart). The prancing horse of Stuttgart is also seen on the Porsche badge. That's how Porsche and Ferrari both use a very similar prancing horse symbol, they are both derived from the same thing. You'd have to say Porsche have more claim to it then Ferrari though...

So I have heard, anyway...

While the Porsche company had been in existence since the '30s, the early cars just used the company name - no badge. Its said that Porsche was asked to design a logo/badge by the US importers, and knowcked one up over dinner on a napkin using regional heraldic emblems. The first Porsches with the badge were built in 1953, a couple of years after Ferrari started to use theirs.

SS7

[AndrewW-G]

360pete said:

Any roadgoingDino that has a Ferrari badge anywhere, including the steering wheel, has had them added later by owners. He obviously was later convinced of the merits (road car sales paid for his beloved racing) and so by the mid 70's agreed to the V8's on later cars such as the Ferrari Dino 308GT4 (by Bertone) but even the very first run of those were badged Dino.

Apart from the little "lubrication" plate added by Ferrari UK to the engine/luggage firewall of UK Dino 246's and as you say the gt4's only got the Ferrari badges for marketing reasons, as there were dozens of unsold examples littering up Chinetti's place in the US . . . . Although given the Ferrari script on the cam covers, even that explanation, to me at least, was always a bit suspect, lending some credence to the explanation given to me in Maranello, that it was simply because the engines werent cast by Ferrari

On a side note, Ferrari prior to the Dino had already produced straigh 2,4,6 & 8's as well as the V12's

Edited by AndrewW-G on Monday 26th September 14:28