Auto Avio Costruzioni – Ferrari Before Ferrari
Few periods in Ferrari history are as fascinating as the years between 1939 and 1946, when Enzo Ferrari was laying the foundations of the company that would eventually bear his name. Following his departure from Alfa Romeo in September 1939, Ferrari agreed to a clause preventing him from using the Ferrari name in connection with racing cars for four years. Undeterred, he established Auto Avio Costruzioni (AAC) in Modena, initially producing machine tools and engineering components while quietly continuing his ambitions in motor racing.
In 1940, Auto Avio Costruzioni produced two examples of the 815, widely regarded as the first car created under Enzo Ferrari's independent direction. Entered in the Mille Miglia, the cars showed promise, but the outbreak of the Second World War brought motorsport across Europe to a halt. As conflict intensified, Ferrari relocated operations from Modena to Maranello in 1943, establishing the site that remains the home of Ferrari to this day.
The war years were challenging. Rather than building racing cars, the company focused on manufacturing industrial equipment and machine tools essential to the wartime economy. Yet even amidst conflict, Enzo Ferrari remained committed to his long-term vision. Although unable to race and prevented from using his own name, he continued to build the engineering expertise and infrastructure that would ultimately give birth to one of the world's most celebrated automotive marques.
What makes the Auto Avio Costruzioni period so significant is that it represents the true beginning of Ferrari's independence. Although the famous prancing horse had yet to appear on a Ferrari-badged automobile, many of the principles that would define the company were already taking shape: a relentless focus on engineering excellence, a determination to compete at the highest level, and Enzo Ferrari's unwavering belief in building machines capable of defeating larger and better-funded rivals. In many respects, the story of Ferrari begins not with the 125 S in 1947, but with the ambition and perseverance demonstrated during these formative AAC years.
The Maranello Bombing and the Birth of Ferrari
These original meeting minutes date from December 1944, just 33 days after the Maranello factory was bombed by Allied forces on 4 November 1944. Produced during one of the most difficult periods in the company's history, they provide a rare glimpse into Ferrari's operations at a time when the future of the business remained uncertain.
The bombing formed part of the Allied campaign against industrial and transportation targets in Northern Italy. Maranello's facilities suffered significant damage and would be targeted again in early 1945. For many businesses, such destruction might have marked the end. For Enzo Ferrari, however, it became merely another obstacle to overcome. The survival of documents from this period is exceptionally rare, making these minutes a remarkable witness to a company rebuilding itself amidst the devastation of war.
Within months of the conflict ending, Ferrari turned his attention back to the dream he had postponed for years. In late 1945 he commissioned engineer Gioacchino Colombo to develop a revolutionary new V12 engine. By December 1946 Ferrari was ready to present drawings and specifications of his first true Ferrari to the press, and in March 1947 the 125 S made its debut, becoming the first car to officially carry the Ferrari name.
These minutes therefore represent far more than a routine administrative record. They originate from the brief window between destruction and rebirth—from a moment when the Maranello factory lay damaged, the Ferrari name had yet to appear on a car, and the future of the company remained unwritten. As such, they stand as a tangible connection to one of the most important and formative chapters in Ferrari's history.
Viewed through the lens of history, these minutes capture a pivotal moment that few companies ever experience. They document an organisation operating amidst wartime uncertainty, unaware that it stood on the verge of creating one of the most recognisable automotive brands in the world. The contrast is striking: within little more than two years of this document being produced, Ferrari would transition from a bomb-damaged engineering workshop to a manufacturer whose name would become synonymous with performance, racing success and automotive excellence. Few surviving artefacts illustrate that transformation as directly or as powerfully as records from this period.