Ford vs Ferrari: The Real Story Behind The Most Bitter Rivalry In Auto Racing

The Rivals: The most famous and powerful CEO in America in the sixties, Henry Ford II (right), up against Enzo Ferrari, possible the most narcissistic man to walk the earth.MARKA / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; ROGER VIOLLET/GETTY IMAGES
History is full of famous rivalries. Most stem from a power grab or wounded pride—a few are a combination of the two. The best contentious relationships, however, are the ones that create the most legendary tales. Take the saga of how Henry Ford II—a.k.a., Hank the Deuce—attempted to acquire Ferrari in 1963, sparking a nearly decade-long feud between him and Enzo Ferrari, the strong-willed man that owned the Italian carmaker.

At its core, the Ferrari versus Ford narrative—which gets the full Hollywood treatment in the new Ford v. Ferrari movie starring academy award winners Matt Damon and Christian Bale—recounts a business deal gone wrong and the reaction of a stubborn, egotistical automotive titan who was willing spend some $25 million and thousands of engineering man-hours to avenge his pride. To Ford, that meant beating Ferrari in the world's most prestigious car race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which the Prancing Horse had historically dominated.

The story begins in the early 1960s. U.S. purchasing habits changed as the Baby Boomer generation came of age. For the first time in history, youth were more important to American business’ bottom line than their parents. Boomers had lots of disposable income to spend on items such as cars, clothes and homes, and unlike their “a penny saved is a penny earned” parents, who had lived through the Great Depression and World War II, they were looking for something unique from a new vehicle. They wanted cars that were sportier and sexier, valuing speed and performance over comfort and reliability. They wanted sports cars, a fact that was not lost on the executives at Ford Motor Co.

In 1962, Ford was coming out of a major sales slide thanks to failed products like the Edsel and the growing popularity of rival products from GM and Chrysler. CEO Henry Ford II, the eldest son of Edsel Ford and eldest grandson of Henry Ford, was desperately looking for a way to turn the tide. Top executives, including Ford Division general manager Lee Iacocca, convinced him that the answer was a sports car.



It was decided that the most expedient way bring a vehicle to market would be to acquire one. That’s when the idea was floated to purchase Ferrari, which in those years was primarily a race car company that sold street-legal machines only to fund its track exploits.

In the spring of 1963, after months of negotiation, an agreement seemed to be near. Ford would pay $10 million to Enzo Ferrari for his company and all its assets. A former racer, Enzo was supposedly eager to put a deal together with Ford, a move that would relieve him of the burden of running the company day-to-day. But at the eleventh hour, Ferrari balked at a clause in the contract that said Ford would control the budget and, thus, all the decisions governing the Ferrari racing team. Enzo was unwilling to relinquish control of his company’s motorsports program. He told Ford’s representatives that he’d never sell under those terms—nor, he added, would he sell to an ugly company that builds ugly cars in an ugly factory. It is rumored that he also insulted Henry II personally by insinuating that he couldn’t hold a candle to his grandfather, the real Henry Ford.

To add even more insult to injury, Enzo then turned around and sold a majority stake in Ferrari to fellow Italian automaker Fiat. Some Ford executives, including the Deuce, speculated that Enzo was never serious about selling to Ford at all but had only negotiated with the company in order to pressure Fiat to come up in price. The ploy worked, and Henry II was left looking like a fool—without a ride.

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