Ferrari Museum Maranello 2001

Dino V6 engined cars on themed display.
My camera at Maranello was Pentax Espio 928, 135 mm film.

Ferrari Dino 206 SP 1966 at Ferrari Museum 2001, Maranello, Italy.

The Maranello Connection

In 1959 my father took me along to some friends to listen to the Ingmar Johansson vs Floyd Patterson boxing match in New York. The Swede won and everyone was beaming. Ingemar was the best boxer in the world, so I asked my dad which car was the best in the world. He answered that it was Ferrari.

Ferrari 500 Mondial Spider Pininfarina.
Ferrari Museum 2001, Maranello, Italy.

So 42 years later I was in Maranello without a contract, but a with the family camera, a Pentax Espio 928.

500 Mondial Spider Pininfarina at Ferrari Museum 2001

While I parked my airconditioned rental car I heard the howling engine of a formula one car from the Fiorano test track, but it was impossible to get a glimpse. I really tried but ended up reparking the airconditioned one.

Ferrari 500 Mondial Spider

Ferrari 250 Berlinetta Lusso at Ferrari Museum 2001, Maranello, Italy.

Ferrari 250 Berlinetta Lusso

The museum gave me a hallowed-hall moment, but sitting in the café across from the museum during lunch time for the tan-coloured mechanics who came from the factory gates was a bit too much for a humble MG owner. But the pride of being there is still with me.

The impression that stayed with me was that the modern Ferraris were so large that I really could not see me having one. The early models were fine because they were built for narrower roads. Also the metal craftsmanship appealed greatly.

Ferrari 250 S

Ferrari 250 S at Ferrari Museum 2001, Maranello, Italy.

Piero Taruffi wall at Maranello.

The Piero Taruffi book "The Technique of Motor Racing".

The Piero Taruffi book "The Technique of Motor Racing".

In 1959, the year of the Ingemar Johansson vs Floyd Paterson heavyweight match, Piero Taruffi had his book on race driver techniques published by Motor Racing Publications, London, England, "The Technique of Motor Racing". I later bought the 1966 reissue and studied intensely, trying out parts of his lessons in my much slower 1954 MG TF.

It was a connect-the-dots moment to see Piero Taruffi remembered on the museum wall.