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Comment by legitster | Hacker News Reader

There is a version of the story here where Enzo is not wrong.

His #1 focus was building cars that won races. He was clear about that. And people bought his car because they won races. Lamborghini made amazing cars... that did not win many races.

There are not many accounts of Enzo being a likeable person, or a great engineer, or even a particularly good business man. But it wasn't a "mistake" how he treated Ferruccio's ideas.

So, maybe the moral of the story is listen to your customers. But it could also be: don't compromise and you'll still do fine, and they will go out and make what they want.

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It depends on the culture perhaps. "not invented here syndrome" often practiced by many tech companies.

Granted, as an aside, my understanding is the 250 GTO line of models were meant as an afterthought to fund the racing side of things, but to my eye, they are the most beautiful Ferrari models. The supercar/racing inspired models often look ugly to me.

Small correction, the "250 GTO" was a specific racing model, while the "250 GT" was a series of models encompassing both roadgoing and racing cars. I'm assuming you are referring to the roadgoing 250 GT models, such as the 250 GT Pininfarina Coupe, 250 GT California Spyder etc.

The roadgoing 250 GT series was produced at the tail end of the "coachbuilt" era of automobiles, where the manufacturer sent the bare chassis and engine to a artisan shop specialized in the design and construction of the body. So you're correct that, from Ferrari's perspective, the design of these roadgoing models was secondary to the racing models. However, because it was not Ferrari's primary concern, it could be contracted out to coachbuilders such as Pininfarina. These firms were highly sophisticated designers and artisans and indeed produced some very beautiful work.

Your moniker proves to be very apt, your knowledge of this stuff is encyclopedic.

250 GTO is certainly beautiful; I’d put the 246 Dino right up against it for aesthetics among their road cars (meaning, setting aside the 335 S).

>246 Dino

One of the most beautiful cars of all time. Ironic that it was produced under the budget Dino marque; it is far prettier than anything contemporaneous that was badged as a Ferrari.

>246 Dino

And, today, fetching a boatload of money. They are very (very) high maintenance, and fragile, compared to many other Ferraris of that era.

In about 1985, I dated a woman who had one in her garage buried under a pile of clothing and fabric. I about fell over when I discovered it.

"Oh. THAT. I got it in the divorce."

Your anecdote is the best anti-marriage ad I ever saw. :)

Prenup

> They are very (very) high maintenance, and fragile, compared to many other Ferraris of that era.

I’ve worked on them, and they’re certainly not more fragile than say a 365BB. But show me any Ferrari from that era and I’ll show you a basket case.

But the 246 is tiny inside and annoying to drive for somebody six feet tall like me. I’m also the only one, it seems, who doesn’t think they’re as pretty as everyone makes out. I think the latter 308GTB is the best looking of that line. Even of the Dinos, I like the Fiat Dino spider better.

But I realize and accept that the whole world thinks I’m wrong on this.

I don't think you're wrong. The 308 seems to be gaining in popularity and value recently after having suffered a spell of "that didn't age well" itis.

Perhaps "fragile" was the wrong word. Although I never owned one, I have had a few friends who have and they have all said something along the lines of, "the car is not a daily driver." They all owned at least two, and in one case, more than 10 vintage Ferraris.

A few years back when we were looking for a new house I noticed that almost nobody uses their garages to store cars - they are generally just full of random stuff. The one exception was an unoccupied house that had a Lamborghini Gallardo in the garage....

Eventually we decided on a house that doesn't have a garage.

I saw a Dino in Amsterdam a short while ago, blue. I couldn't believe it was used as a regular car rather than just for shows and tours. It was gorgeous. And it sounded pretty smooth. Just the thought of driving such a car in traffic with the risk of an accident gives me cold sweat.

Seems like a wild oversight to not include this in an article about the rivalry

Despite the title, the article is not about the rivalry. The article is about the history of Lamborghini, up to and including the modern era. The rivalry is not really even discussed in the article, other than passing mention in the first few paragraphs.

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