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Like the 815 mentioned above, it was a race car, but it offered a V12 instead of the one found on the 815, which was a Fiat-powered eight-cylinder power plant. The car had a steel tube chassis and had a double wishbone suspension with transverse leaf springs in the front axle and rear axle. Front and rear hydraulic drum brakes.
The V12 is a 1.5-liter mentioned by Gioacchino Colombo and produces 118 hp (74 kW) at 7000 rpm. It has a design with dual overhead cam head with two valves per cylinder and double had three-choke Weber carburetors 30DCF
It all began in 1947 with the launch of the first model, produced and directed by Ferrari in Modena, Italy. We talk about the 125 S (also known as 125 athletes and 125). Although he was ahead of Auto Avio Costruzioni Ferrari Enzo 815 (launched in 1940) was the 125 S is the first car to bear the name of Ferrari. The debut took place May 11, 1947 on the racing circuit of Piacenza
The Ferrari 125 S (commonly 125 or 125 Sport) was the first vehicle produced and built by automaker Ferrari of Modena, Italy. Although preceded by Enzo Ferrari's Auto Avio Costruzioni 815 of 1940, the 125 S was the first vehicle to bear the Ferrari name when it debuted on May 11, 1947 at the Piacenza racing circuit. Like the 815, it was a racing sports car, but unlike its Fiat-powered 8-cylinder predecessor, the 125 S featured a V12 engine (the "125"), a trait it shared with most Ferrari cars of the following decades. The 125 S was replaced by the 159 S for 1947.
The Type 125 Sport or Tipo 125 S Competizione was Enzo Ferrari's first race car and the First Ferrari to win a race outright. It followed earlier projects such as Scuderia Ferrari - a team of talent that brought Alfa Romeo to the top of Grand Prix - and Auto Avio-Construzioni (AAC), Enzo's immediate pre-war car. Both these helped shape the 125, which itself was a testbed of good and bad ideas until the final specification was reached for the 166 Spyder Corsa.
During the wartime period, Ferrari's factory blossomed into a 160 man workforce that made components and reduction gears for the war effort. After the it was over, Ferrari then had enough talented craftsmen and personal resources to manufacture his own cars.
Since enough time had passed since Ferrari signed his severance agreement with Alfa, the new car could finally bear his own name. It was conceived over two years from a clean sheet of paper and its design lent nothing from any other manufacturer. As a highlight, it would use a V12. Being somewhat of a rarity at the time, the V12 was inspired by Packard's unit and would garner necessary attention from customers.
The first car was largely designed by Gioachino Colombo and finished by Giuseppe Busso. It went on to provide a base for all of Ferrari's future road and racing success. Supported by a oval tubular frame from Gilco and a powered by a small displacement V12 that was ready for Voiturette racing, the very first Ferraris were only slight evolutions of the initial car which rolled out of the factory and debuted on May 11th at the Circuito di Piacenza.
This car, chassis 01C - Compeitizione or Corsa, often referred to as the Piacenza roadster - had an all-enveloping body and was driven by Franco Cortese to 6th place. It was called the 125 Sport, and was named after the 125cc unit displacement of a single cylinder. This was joined by a sister car 02C, which featured cycle fender bodywork and both were constantly updated to compete in Italian Championship events including the Rome GP, Circuito di Vercelli, Mille Miglia, Circuito di Parma, Firenze, and Circuito di Montenero at Livorno. The first victory was achieved by France Cortese at the GP or Rome and the victory was recorded on the cover of Motor in June of 1947.
In just Ferrari's sixth race he took on the 1947 Mille Miglia with test-driver Franco Cortese and Adelmo Marchetti in race number 219. Although Ferrari went on the dominate this race in following years, the very few of the motoring press paid attention to the little Ferrari except Corrado Millanta who photographed the cars engineering up close.1
Beyond the first two Ferraris 125s, subsequent similar cars were made for the upcoming International Formula 2 regulations. The most immediate was chassis 002I, featuring a larger type 159 1908cc engine and distinctly upgraded body with detachable fenders. Raymond Sommer won the Turin Grand Prix in 002I which was Ferrari's first major victory. The same car was later bored out 1995cc to take full advantage of the two liter limit and became the final configuration for Ferrari's first run of production cars, the semi-grand prix 166 Spider Corsa.
The first batch of cars used a chassis designed by Gilco and had pickup points for hydraulic shock absorbers, had their rear sway bar run through the chassis and a hole for start cart. Later chassis used a revised central cross member that was used up until 1951, lever shocks and Vanwell Thinwall bearings in place of the thick units.
The current whereabouts of chassis 01C and 02C have always been a entertaining point of conjecture. It's now largely agreed that 01C was fitted with a larger type 166 engine, an updated body and restamped as 0010I. Similarly, 02C received the same treatment. Both cars have traits of the early Gilco chassis and match up with 1946/47 drawings.
Both the fact that 0010I and 0020I have early design features are key points in the debate. This is compounded by the fact that Ferrari was very much trying to make money in these early periods, and couldn't afford to scrap a very usable and potent chassis.
In the early 1920s a young Enzo Ferrari entered the racing world as a moderately successful driver, it was not until the end of the decade when formed his own racing team, 'Scuderia Ferrari', that he made a lasting mark. By bringing together Italy's finest engineer and driver, Vittorio Jano and Tazio Nuvolari respectively, Ferrari created a winning package that would dominate the sport in the early 1930s. When Alfa Romeo decided to decrease their racing efforts the independent Scuderia Ferrari replaced the official racing department. Initially cars were assembled from parts supplied by Alfa Romeo, but from 1936 completely new Grand Prix racers were designed and constructed.
After being closely involved with the Milanese firm for almost two decades, Ferrari felt it was time to really spread his wings in 1937. Although Scuderia Ferrari was officially independent, the relationships between the two were so intertwined that Enzo had to agree on not making cars under his name for four years to get out of the contracts. While the rest of Europe was now actively involved with the Second World War, Ferrari was busy constructing his first cars. Complying with his agreement he had formed a new company called Auto Avio Construzioni. Introduced in 1941, the '815' was a combination of various Fiat mechanicals and a custom body. Only two cars were built before the War reached Italy.
During the War all production was aimed at military supplies and the various factories were spread out around the country for tactical reasons. Ferrari's workshop was moved from Modena to nearby Maranello and focused on constructing ball bearing grinding machines. Soon after the fighting was over, Enzo continued work on a new racing car, despite the high demand for his machines. He unsuccessfully tried to employ Vittorio Jano to design his new car, but found a very good replacement in Gioachino Colombo. They had already worked together before the War when the Scuderia Ferrari was developing new racing cars for Alfa Romeo with the 158 single seater as their finest product.
Ferrari understood that the demand for the exotic cars he proposed to construct would not be very high in a world preoccupied with reconstruction. He gave Colombo the difficult brief of designing a drivetrain and chassis that was versatile enough to attract a broad audience. In 1946 the engineer drew up a straightforward tubular frame and a 60 degree V12 engine not dissimilar to his last projects at Alfa Romeo. A displacement of 1.5 litre was chosen, which in Naturally Aspirated form could power a sports racer and equipped with a Supercharger met the Grand Prix regulations. As per Enzo's request a five speed gearbox completed the package at a time when four speeds were the norm.
Rejoining Alfa Romeo, Colombo did not stay long enough for the designs to materialize and Ferrari was on the lookout again for a new chief engineer. In the meantime draughtsmen turned the designs into usable drawings and the first engine parts were cast halfway through 1946. Construction of the chassis frames was outsourced to Gilco, who completed two similar frames in September of 1946. A month later Aurelio Lampredi joined the engineering team to help develop the engines, which suffered from various teething problems. In November Enzo Ferrari officially announced a range of three production cars all sharing the 1.5 litre V12 engine. It was referred to as the '125', as a reference to the unitary displacement; a naming policy that was to be used for many decades to come.
It was not until March of 1947 that the first car was ready to drive around on its own power. Two weeks after the testing commenced, Lampredi left to leave the team of young engineers without a leader once more. By May two distinctively different Ferraris were ready to make their competition debut. The first car featured a fully enclosed roadster design, while the second was equipped with a rather ugly cycle fender body. Two accidents for the cycle fender car and a heavily smoking engine in the roadster disguised the potential of the Ferrari 125 at its debut in Piacenza on May 11th. A fortnight later Franco Cortese drove the roadster to the manufacturer's maiden victory in only their second race!
Throughout the season the racing efforts were combined with the continuous development of the two cars. To take on more powerful cars, the V12 engine's bore and stroke were increased to yield a displacement of 1908 cc and the cars were renamed accordingly as 159. A third car was constructed in the summer and equipped with a newly designed cycle fender body. Colombo returned as a consultant and immediately set out to alter the 159 engine with a significant increase in performance as a result. Raymond Sommer scored the company's first major victory in the Turin Grand Prix with the new cycle fender car, equipped with the Colombo modified version of the 159 engine.
While the new cycle fender style of the third car would form the basis of the first 'production' Ferrari, work on the engine was not over yet. Yet again the bore and stroke were increased, but only slightly to 60 mm and 58.8 mm respectively. The resulting 166 engine displaced just under 2 litres, making it still eligible for the popular sports racing class in Italy. Equipped with this engine, the Turin winner received serial number 002C was renamed 166 Spyder Corsa and sold late in December of 1947. In 1948 another seven cars were constructed from existing and new parts along the lines of '002C' before a second generation of all new racing and street cars was introduced.
Enzo Ferrari could not have picked a worse time to start as a car manufacturer, but due to his determination and excellent management skills he succeeded where many others had failed in even the most ideal of circumstances. Little over two years after the very first Ferrari had turned a wheel in anger, Luigi Chinetti and Lord Selsdon drove a 166 MM to victory in the gruelling 24 Hours of Le Mans race. The design Colombo had hastily drawn up in 1946 would continue to form the basis of much of Ferrari's racing and commercial success up into the 1960s, accounting for a vast majority of the manufacturer's class and overall victories at Le Mans.
There is still a lof of uncertainty about what happened to these very early Ferraris. The cars were constantly under development and many parts were re-used in newer cars and none of this was very well documented. It is commonly believed that the first two cars were completely rebuilt to 166 Spyder Corsa specification before being sold to customer. One of these customer cars is s/n 010I, which contained parts of the very first Ferrari '01C'. It was sold as a new car, but when the owner took delivery he immediately noticed it featured well used parts and as a compensation the factory offered him a rebate.
A few years later the car was sold to England and subsequently fitted with a new roadster style body. This happened to a few other 166 Spyder Corsas and including 010I most of them were also rebodied to their 'original' bodies in the 1970s. Early in the 1990s, the car was bought by Symbolic Motors and inspected closely. Upon this inspection resident expert Bill Noon discovered the area around the serial number on the chassis looked different from the rest of the frame. It appeared to be a slug, which he then removed to reveal another serial number. Although not very clear, with some imagination it could be read as 01C.
With this information, Symbolic sold the car to its new owner, who then set about having a new body constructed for the car along the lines of the fully enclosed roadster body fitted on the original 01C. It was similar to the one fitted on the replica Ferrari had Michelotto construct in 1987 to celebrate the company's fourtieth anniversary. Referred to as a '125 S', the newly rebodied car was debuted in the 2006 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Much to the relief of some of the class judges, it was not entered for judging. To add to the controversy, the car sported a chassis plaque suggesting it was type 166 chassis and engine.
While the merits of the story are still very much subject of debate, it is safe to say it is the closest thing around to the very first Ferrari. For that reason we have entered 010I or 01C in the database as the '125 S', but we would like to stress we have not taken a stance in the debate yet. The specifications listed here refer to the original 125 S and not to the pictured car.
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ever built. Proving that they were 'in business,' Enzo Ferrari 125s
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| Ferrari 125 s |
Like the 815 mentioned above, it was a race car, but it offered a V12 instead of the one found on the 815, which was a Fiat-powered eight-cylinder power plant. The car had a steel tube chassis and had a double wishbone suspension with transverse leaf springs in the front axle and rear axle. Front and rear hydraulic drum brakes.
The V12 is a 1.5-liter mentioned by Gioacchino Colombo and produces 118 hp (74 kW) at 7000 rpm. It has a design with dual overhead cam head with two valves per cylinder and double had three-choke Weber carburetors 30DCF
It all began in 1947 with the launch of the first model, produced and directed by Ferrari in Modena, Italy. We talk about the 125 S (also known as 125 athletes and 125). Although he was ahead of Auto Avio Costruzioni Ferrari Enzo 815 (launched in 1940) was the 125 S is the first car to bear the name of Ferrari. The debut took place May 11, 1947 on the racing circuit of Piacenza
The Ferrari 125 S (commonly 125 or 125 Sport) was the first vehicle produced and built by automaker Ferrari of Modena, Italy. Although preceded by Enzo Ferrari's Auto Avio Costruzioni 815 of 1940, the 125 S was the first vehicle to bear the Ferrari name when it debuted on May 11, 1947 at the Piacenza racing circuit. Like the 815, it was a racing sports car, but unlike its Fiat-powered 8-cylinder predecessor, the 125 S featured a V12 engine (the "125"), a trait it shared with most Ferrari cars of the following decades. The 125 S was replaced by the 159 S for 1947.
The Type 125 Sport or Tipo 125 S Competizione was Enzo Ferrari's first race car and the First Ferrari to win a race outright. It followed earlier projects such as Scuderia Ferrari - a team of talent that brought Alfa Romeo to the top of Grand Prix - and Auto Avio-Construzioni (AAC), Enzo's immediate pre-war car. Both these helped shape the 125, which itself was a testbed of good and bad ideas until the final specification was reached for the 166 Spyder Corsa.
During the wartime period, Ferrari's factory blossomed into a 160 man workforce that made components and reduction gears for the war effort. After the it was over, Ferrari then had enough talented craftsmen and personal resources to manufacture his own cars.
Since enough time had passed since Ferrari signed his severance agreement with Alfa, the new car could finally bear his own name. It was conceived over two years from a clean sheet of paper and its design lent nothing from any other manufacturer. As a highlight, it would use a V12. Being somewhat of a rarity at the time, the V12 was inspired by Packard's unit and would garner necessary attention from customers.
The first car was largely designed by Gioachino Colombo and finished by Giuseppe Busso. It went on to provide a base for all of Ferrari's future road and racing success. Supported by a oval tubular frame from Gilco and a powered by a small displacement V12 that was ready for Voiturette racing, the very first Ferraris were only slight evolutions of the initial car which rolled out of the factory and debuted on May 11th at the Circuito di Piacenza.
This car, chassis 01C - Compeitizione or Corsa, often referred to as the Piacenza roadster - had an all-enveloping body and was driven by Franco Cortese to 6th place. It was called the 125 Sport, and was named after the 125cc unit displacement of a single cylinder. This was joined by a sister car 02C, which featured cycle fender bodywork and both were constantly updated to compete in Italian Championship events including the Rome GP, Circuito di Vercelli, Mille Miglia, Circuito di Parma, Firenze, and Circuito di Montenero at Livorno. The first victory was achieved by France Cortese at the GP or Rome and the victory was recorded on the cover of Motor in June of 1947.
In just Ferrari's sixth race he took on the 1947 Mille Miglia with test-driver Franco Cortese and Adelmo Marchetti in race number 219. Although Ferrari went on the dominate this race in following years, the very few of the motoring press paid attention to the little Ferrari except Corrado Millanta who photographed the cars engineering up close.1
Beyond the first two Ferraris 125s, subsequent similar cars were made for the upcoming International Formula 2 regulations. The most immediate was chassis 002I, featuring a larger type 159 1908cc engine and distinctly upgraded body with detachable fenders. Raymond Sommer won the Turin Grand Prix in 002I which was Ferrari's first major victory. The same car was later bored out 1995cc to take full advantage of the two liter limit and became the final configuration for Ferrari's first run of production cars, the semi-grand prix 166 Spider Corsa.
The first batch of cars used a chassis designed by Gilco and had pickup points for hydraulic shock absorbers, had their rear sway bar run through the chassis and a hole for start cart. Later chassis used a revised central cross member that was used up until 1951, lever shocks and Vanwell Thinwall bearings in place of the thick units.
The current whereabouts of chassis 01C and 02C have always been a entertaining point of conjecture. It's now largely agreed that 01C was fitted with a larger type 166 engine, an updated body and restamped as 0010I. Similarly, 02C received the same treatment. Both cars have traits of the early Gilco chassis and match up with 1946/47 drawings.
Both the fact that 0010I and 0020I have early design features are key points in the debate. This is compounded by the fact that Ferrari was very much trying to make money in these early periods, and couldn't afford to scrap a very usable and potent chassis.
In the early 1920s a young Enzo Ferrari entered the racing world as a moderately successful driver, it was not until the end of the decade when formed his own racing team, 'Scuderia Ferrari', that he made a lasting mark. By bringing together Italy's finest engineer and driver, Vittorio Jano and Tazio Nuvolari respectively, Ferrari created a winning package that would dominate the sport in the early 1930s. When Alfa Romeo decided to decrease their racing efforts the independent Scuderia Ferrari replaced the official racing department. Initially cars were assembled from parts supplied by Alfa Romeo, but from 1936 completely new Grand Prix racers were designed and constructed.
After being closely involved with the Milanese firm for almost two decades, Ferrari felt it was time to really spread his wings in 1937. Although Scuderia Ferrari was officially independent, the relationships between the two were so intertwined that Enzo had to agree on not making cars under his name for four years to get out of the contracts. While the rest of Europe was now actively involved with the Second World War, Ferrari was busy constructing his first cars. Complying with his agreement he had formed a new company called Auto Avio Construzioni. Introduced in 1941, the '815' was a combination of various Fiat mechanicals and a custom body. Only two cars were built before the War reached Italy.
During the War all production was aimed at military supplies and the various factories were spread out around the country for tactical reasons. Ferrari's workshop was moved from Modena to nearby Maranello and focused on constructing ball bearing grinding machines. Soon after the fighting was over, Enzo continued work on a new racing car, despite the high demand for his machines. He unsuccessfully tried to employ Vittorio Jano to design his new car, but found a very good replacement in Gioachino Colombo. They had already worked together before the War when the Scuderia Ferrari was developing new racing cars for Alfa Romeo with the 158 single seater as their finest product.
Ferrari understood that the demand for the exotic cars he proposed to construct would not be very high in a world preoccupied with reconstruction. He gave Colombo the difficult brief of designing a drivetrain and chassis that was versatile enough to attract a broad audience. In 1946 the engineer drew up a straightforward tubular frame and a 60 degree V12 engine not dissimilar to his last projects at Alfa Romeo. A displacement of 1.5 litre was chosen, which in Naturally Aspirated form could power a sports racer and equipped with a Supercharger met the Grand Prix regulations. As per Enzo's request a five speed gearbox completed the package at a time when four speeds were the norm.
Rejoining Alfa Romeo, Colombo did not stay long enough for the designs to materialize and Ferrari was on the lookout again for a new chief engineer. In the meantime draughtsmen turned the designs into usable drawings and the first engine parts were cast halfway through 1946. Construction of the chassis frames was outsourced to Gilco, who completed two similar frames in September of 1946. A month later Aurelio Lampredi joined the engineering team to help develop the engines, which suffered from various teething problems. In November Enzo Ferrari officially announced a range of three production cars all sharing the 1.5 litre V12 engine. It was referred to as the '125', as a reference to the unitary displacement; a naming policy that was to be used for many decades to come.
It was not until March of 1947 that the first car was ready to drive around on its own power. Two weeks after the testing commenced, Lampredi left to leave the team of young engineers without a leader once more. By May two distinctively different Ferraris were ready to make their competition debut. The first car featured a fully enclosed roadster design, while the second was equipped with a rather ugly cycle fender body. Two accidents for the cycle fender car and a heavily smoking engine in the roadster disguised the potential of the Ferrari 125 at its debut in Piacenza on May 11th. A fortnight later Franco Cortese drove the roadster to the manufacturer's maiden victory in only their second race!
Throughout the season the racing efforts were combined with the continuous development of the two cars. To take on more powerful cars, the V12 engine's bore and stroke were increased to yield a displacement of 1908 cc and the cars were renamed accordingly as 159. A third car was constructed in the summer and equipped with a newly designed cycle fender body. Colombo returned as a consultant and immediately set out to alter the 159 engine with a significant increase in performance as a result. Raymond Sommer scored the company's first major victory in the Turin Grand Prix with the new cycle fender car, equipped with the Colombo modified version of the 159 engine.
While the new cycle fender style of the third car would form the basis of the first 'production' Ferrari, work on the engine was not over yet. Yet again the bore and stroke were increased, but only slightly to 60 mm and 58.8 mm respectively. The resulting 166 engine displaced just under 2 litres, making it still eligible for the popular sports racing class in Italy. Equipped with this engine, the Turin winner received serial number 002C was renamed 166 Spyder Corsa and sold late in December of 1947. In 1948 another seven cars were constructed from existing and new parts along the lines of '002C' before a second generation of all new racing and street cars was introduced.
Enzo Ferrari could not have picked a worse time to start as a car manufacturer, but due to his determination and excellent management skills he succeeded where many others had failed in even the most ideal of circumstances. Little over two years after the very first Ferrari had turned a wheel in anger, Luigi Chinetti and Lord Selsdon drove a 166 MM to victory in the gruelling 24 Hours of Le Mans race. The design Colombo had hastily drawn up in 1946 would continue to form the basis of much of Ferrari's racing and commercial success up into the 1960s, accounting for a vast majority of the manufacturer's class and overall victories at Le Mans.
There is still a lof of uncertainty about what happened to these very early Ferraris. The cars were constantly under development and many parts were re-used in newer cars and none of this was very well documented. It is commonly believed that the first two cars were completely rebuilt to 166 Spyder Corsa specification before being sold to customer. One of these customer cars is s/n 010I, which contained parts of the very first Ferrari '01C'. It was sold as a new car, but when the owner took delivery he immediately noticed it featured well used parts and as a compensation the factory offered him a rebate.
A few years later the car was sold to England and subsequently fitted with a new roadster style body. This happened to a few other 166 Spyder Corsas and including 010I most of them were also rebodied to their 'original' bodies in the 1970s. Early in the 1990s, the car was bought by Symbolic Motors and inspected closely. Upon this inspection resident expert Bill Noon discovered the area around the serial number on the chassis looked different from the rest of the frame. It appeared to be a slug, which he then removed to reveal another serial number. Although not very clear, with some imagination it could be read as 01C.
With this information, Symbolic sold the car to its new owner, who then set about having a new body constructed for the car along the lines of the fully enclosed roadster body fitted on the original 01C. It was similar to the one fitted on the replica Ferrari had Michelotto construct in 1987 to celebrate the company's fourtieth anniversary. Referred to as a '125 S', the newly rebodied car was debuted in the 2006 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Much to the relief of some of the class judges, it was not entered for judging. To add to the controversy, the car sported a chassis plaque suggesting it was type 166 chassis and engine.
While the merits of the story are still very much subject of debate, it is safe to say it is the closest thing around to the very first Ferrari. For that reason we have entered 010I or 01C in the database as the '125 S', but we would like to stress we have not taken a stance in the debate yet. The specifications listed here refer to the original 125 S and not to the pictured car.
Ferrari 125 s
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