In December 1946, one of the most important meetings in automotive history took place. It involved only two men, whose futures were to become intertwined and from whose combined efforts would emerge a marque that has come to be known the world over as the last word and, for many, the only word in sports cars – Ferrari. After retiring as director of the legendary Scuderia Ferrari, Alfa Romeo’s almost unbeatable factory-supported racing team, Enzo Ferrari established Auto Avio Costruzione to build racing cars under his own name. Unfortunately, no sooner had he started than Hitler’s invasion of Poland in September 1939 ignited World War II. Ferrari managed to earn a living during the war by building machine tools for the military, but with the end of the conflict and Italy defeated, there was little need for his tools, and even less demand for Italian race cars. Ferrari faced a grim future until he received a phone call on Christmas Eve 1946. It was
