CarBrandLogos archive · Ferrari · 1947

Ferrari125 S

Two cars, one new V12, and the first machine to carry the name.

Photo: Christine und Hagen Graf from Fitou, France · CC BY 2.0

The story

A defining chapter in Ferrari history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Ferrari 125 S, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Enzo Ferrari had built racing cars before, but under other people's names — as Alfa Romeo's racing arm, and then, prevented by contract from using his own name, as Auto Avio Costruzioni. When that restriction expired, the 125 S became the first car to be called a Ferrari.

Cortese-Ferrari125 · Unknown photographer · Public domain

Design and engineering

The decision that defined the company was made here. Gioacchino Colombo designed a 1.5-litre V12 for a car that could have used something far simpler, and in doing so set the pattern for four decades of Ferrari road and racing engines. The number 125 came from the displacement of a single cylinder, a naming convention Ferrari kept for years. The rest was conventional for 1947 — front engine, rear-wheel drive, a five-speed gearbox, a tubular chassis and a light two-seat body.

In production

It debuted at Piacenza in May 1947, led, and then retired with a fuel pump failure. Enzo's assessment was that it was a promising failure. He was proved right within a fortnight: Franco Cortese won at the Terme di Caracalla circuit in Rome, the first of the marque's victories. Two 125 S cars were built before the design grew into the 159 S and then the 166, which took Ferrari to Le Mans and the Mille Miglia and made the reputation the company has lived on ever since. Neither original survives intact; the cars were rebuilt into their successors, as racing machinery was at the time.

At a glance