Pininfarina

We celebrate Ferrari in this issue [Click here to see Ferrari Special Issue], but how much is Fer­rari’s success due to Pin­infarina? In the early days of the marque, En­zo Ferrari ran an open competition among Italian carrozzeria and many essayed de­signs, but customers preferred those styled by Pininfarina. With the exception of the Dino 308 GT4 by Bertone, Pin­infarina has styled every Ferrari that can be considered a production model. The prices asked for the GT4 today tell their own story. It is a handsome car, but Pininfarina’s designs are sexy.

Under the skin, Ferraris were often crude. In Elaine May’s 1970 movie, “A New Leaf,” Walter Matthau’s character, an ageing playboy, drives a Ferrari that gives him an image, but which also coughs and splutters in traffic. The joke only worked because people believed that was what Fer­raris did. For Matthau’s character, however, the important thing was not how his car went (he wore a crash helmet when driving) but how it looked. As I have said before, the essence of a sports car is that it is a mating call.