Imagine a sports car in your head. Is it red? Is it like Enzo Ferrari says? That if you give a child a piece of paper, some colors, and ask him to draw a car, it will surely be red. Mine was in my head. It was red, a fast driving machine, and the subject of many teenage boys' fantasies. What is it about sports cars that are so alluring? Is it the color and shape that bring about yearning? Is it the style and speed that make them so desirable for driving? I can tell you that I've fallen a little head over heels after my experience in one riding, and that even my dad, who is now with me only in spirit, was sitting right there beside me screaming delightedly. I know it would have been right up his alley since I just recently learned that he had a 1970 something red Chevy Camaro with my mom in his 20's that they too drove around wildly.
When this car took off, I could hear the engine humming then roaring as it went from 0 to 60 in less than 3 seconds and counting. I could barely fit in the back seat and was holding onto the passenger in front of me for fear of dying, or at minimum, catapulting out and flying across the town of Maranello and into the next county. We sailed over 100 mph through the tiny town streets while I squealed ever so often at my partner to slow down promptly. I'm extremely scared of going fast in cars especially when I'm the passenger and not in control of driving. I could've driven this beauty, but figured she'd be better handled by a 26-year-old mechanical engineer for Ferrari just dying for the opportunity even though he works with them daily. I knew he'd drive crazily, but figured now was the time to let him do so willingly. I tried to keep my mouth closed for as long as I could, but when I'd see the speedometer rising more than it should, I'd playfully, but urgently, pinch his shoulder as a signal for him to go more slowly. I did pretty well I think considering that eight minutes and 80 euros after I stepped out of that car, my legs were still shaking. The throb of the Ferrari wouldn't leave me and getting back into Tito's regular car was so disappointing. There is nothing, in fact, like the feeling of that red convertible Ferrari. Even I didn't realize it would be so outstanding, so incredibly robust, and so thrilling.
So, to answer the question at the beginning of this writing, it is everything I mentioned. It is the style and the color, the shape and the power, the sound and the speed, but more than that, it is the story behind it that inspires and captures an emotional liking. The aptitude of Enzo Ferrari to build something so extraordinary. He was quoted as saying, "If you can dream it, you can do it" and there is no doubt that he was a dreamer because there is nothing about Ferrari that's constructed in actuality or made from practicality. It's not typical or usual. It's not meant to just take you from point A to point B, but to bring about a sensation and pleasure connected to driving, from slipping into that that cockpit, to taking off, and flying. He sells excitement, passion, creativity, and a love for cars and their capability. Tito says the company works like others in the industry, "It's a complex and chaotic mess until it's released at its finest. It’s flawless in all aspects right, and only when, it's finally presented." It's the very definition of Italian ~ a continuous and reckless stream of unreason until it somehow manifests into beauty and precision. It’s an unequaled machine from a dream. That's the face of Ferrari.