Ferrari to create world’s most exclusive car club
by hans | November 24, 2011 10:17 pm
There are car clubs, there are supercar clubs and then there are super elite supercar clubs. Unofficial reports by luxury lifestyle publications are saying that the Italian high performance car maker is considering a club for its super elite customers. To separate these super elite group from other regular ‘Ferrari owning peasants,’ the minimum requirement to enter this club is that you must own at least 5 Ferraris, and according to these unofficial claims, that would mean only about 300 people in this world are eligible. If this is the only criteria, we think the club is going to be a party of Chinese billionaires and Arab oil sheikhs.
Unofficial sources indicated that the impetus for Ferrari to create to create this club was because some of Ferrari’s most important clients were quite upset that they didn’t get to buy the new SA APERTA (above), which is limited to just 80 units. All 80 units of the 400,000 Euros car were already sold before the Ferrari even issued the press release. I guess Maranello received a lot of angry calls from Beijing and Dubai on that day. Apparently when you have that much money, you have to find new things to get upset about, like not being able to buy the SA APERTA but your Chinese yachting partner has just gotten the keys to his. First world problems.
Members of Ferrari’s super elite club will get first hand experience on Ferrari’s future limited edition models.
The SA APERTA is based on the 599, and is built to celebrate Ferrari’s longtime design and coach building partner Pininfarina’s 80th anniversary. The SA nomenclature in the SA APERTA pays homage to both Sergio Pininfarina and his son Andrea.
By the way, did you know that the Pininfarina’s family name was previously known as just Farina? ‘Pinin’ was a nickname for the company’s founder Battista Farina, who was known within the Farina family as ‘Pinin,’ meaning youngest. Battista Farina would later establish ‘Carrozzeria Pinin Farina‘ (Pinin Farina Coachworks). In 1961, Battista changed his name to Pininfarina.
Although today, both Ferrari and Pininfarina are synonymous with each other. The relationship wasn’t always like this. Much of Ferrari’s relationship with Pininfarina was established by Battista’s son Sergio. Although both Enzo Ferrari and Battista Pininfarina had long known each other, since Enzo’s days with Alfa Romeo, there were no tangible results. Both Enzo and Battista were equally as strong headed and left on their own, nothing was ever going to materialize. Because of their huge ego, the two icons of Italy’s early auto industry refused to visit each other’s factory, so no discussion was ever possible. It was Ferrari sales manager Girolamo Gardini who kick started things by arranging for the two to meet at a halfway point between Modena (Ferrari’s hometown) and Turin (Pininfarina’s hometown), in a town called Tortona. Sergio would later reveal that Enzo would always complain that Pininfarina’s car bodies were too heavy. At one point, Sergio got fed up and instructed his men to weigh a newly delivered Ferrari rolling chassis to have its Pininfarina crafted body fitted. The Ferrari rolling chassis was found to be heavier than its set target and ever since then, Enzo never bugged Sergio about body weight issues anymore. Ah…the Italians.
The 365 GTB/4 Daytona, designed by Pininfarina. Some say it’s one of the most beautiful Ferraris ever built. The Daytona was not part of Ferrari’s original plan. The idea was actually proposed by Pininfarina’s designer Leonardo Fioravanti in 1966. Sergio Pininfarina liked what he saw, showed it to the grumpy old man il Commendatore Enzo, and it was one of the few rare moments where Enzo listened to others. The rest is history as we know it today. The Daytona is also the last Ferrari built before Enzo sold his company to Fiat in 1969.
Source URL: http://www.motorindustry.org/2011/11/24/ferrari-to-create-worlds-most-exclusive-car-club/