When Enzo Ferrari founded Scuderia Ferrari in 1929, with headquarters in Modena, he was not initially interested in creating road cars. As Alfa Romeo’s racing subsidiary, Ferrari purchased, developed, and fielded Alfa Romeo racing vehicles for gentleman drivers. Alfa Romeo’s in-house racing squad was disbanded in 1933, and Scuderia Ferrari took over as the company’s works team. The Scuderia obtained the most up-to-date Alfa Romeo Grand Prix vehicles and fielded many well-known drivers like Tazio Nuvolari and Achille Varzi.

Alfa Romeo took its racing business back in-house in 1938, founding Alfa Corse in Milan and hiring Enzo Ferrari as the new racing department’s boss, disbanding the Scuderia Ferrari.

Ferrari left Alfa Romeo in September 1939 on the condition that he would not use the Ferrari brand in connection with races or racing cars for at least four years. He formed Auto Avio Costruzioni a few days later, based in the old Scuderia Ferrari buildings. The new company produced machine tools and aviation equipment.

In 1940, Ferrari released the Tipo 815, a race car built on a Fiat basis. It was the first Ferrari automobile. It made its début at the 1940 Mille Miglia, but it faced little competition due to World War II.

The Ferrari plant relocated to Maranello in 1943 and has been there ever since. The facility was damaged by the Allies and afterward rebuilt, including road car production facilities.

Enzo Ferrari unwillingly produced and sold his automobiles to fund Scuderia Ferrari, a term that was intended to identify factory racing vehicles from those fielded by customer teams.

Fiat purchased a 50% share in Ferrari in early 1969, providing it with much-needed capital to fund new Ferrari models.

Before his death later that year, Enzo Ferrari oversaw the Ferrari F40, the company’s final new model. The corporation was renamed Ferrari S.p.A. in 1989.