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Enzo Ferrari, an Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur, left Alfa Romeo, the first motor company he worked at, under the promise that he wouldn’t use the Ferrari name in association with races or racing cars for at least four years.
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The new company produced machine tools and aircraft parts but in 1940 "Auto Avio Costruzioni" (what would become ferrari, but due to the deal, the name could not be used) did in fact build an example of a race car – the Auto Avio Costruzioni 815 which was put in competition.
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In 1943 the Ferrari factory moved to Maranello, Italy where it has remained ever since.
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During the war the company's focus was mostly on fabricating grinding machines which were copies of original German tooling machines. The factory was bombed by the Allies between 1944 and 1945, but it was quickly rebuilt.
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The first Ferrari car was built in 1947 and was taken to the open road on March 12th of that year. The car made its debut on the race track on May 11th of 1947.
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Members of Ferrari such as manager Romolo Tavoni, chief engineer Carlo Chiti, experimental sports car development chief Giotto Bizzarrini, and a number of others who stood by them left the company due to inner company fighting and some members belived Enzo's wife was too invloved. Many believed this would be the end of Ferrari.
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In the early 1960's (1963) the shelby cobra ended the dominance of the Ferrari Prototypes. Porshe also became one of Ferrari's biggest competitors.
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Fiat took a 50% stake in Ferrari. An immediate result was an increase in available investment funds, and work started on a new way to transport Ferrari products from different factories.
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Ferrari became very successful in racing and began winning multiple championships across the world with a large team of racers.
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The Ferrari team entered a period of crisis, culminating with the death of Gilles Villeneuve in Belgium in 1982 and a nearly-fatal accident for Didier Pironi in Germany the very same year.
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Enzo Ferrari died in 1988, at the age of 90. Former Sporting Director Luca Cordero di Montezemolo was appointed President in 1991.
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In 2002, Fiat, a older of most of the shares in Ferrari sold about 45% of Ferrari for millions of dollars.
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Ferrari is now a well known, billion dollar car producing company, still based in Italy. They continue dominate the sport of racing.
