When Ferrari was a small workshop and Enzo answered his first clients himself
In this 1948 exchange, Enzo Ferrari discusses the sale of a car with a Parisian client. The tone is practical, personal and shows how, in the early days, each car was a conversation, and every buyer helped shape what Ferrari would become.
In the spring of 1948, Enzo Ferrari was still building more than just cars—he was building a name. Ferrari’s Modena-based workshop had only recently begun producing automobiles under its own brand, and each customer was a personal project. At this stage, Ferrari’s cars were intended primarily for racing professionals or passionate amateurs, men like Monsieur Polledry of Paris, who had reached out with a proposal to buy one. His interest came at a crucial moment for Ferrari, helping confirm what Enzo himself only vaguely suspected: that this small racing-focused workshop might one day become a marque. He could not yet imagine the global success that awaited.
Busy preparing for the 15th Mille Miglia, Enzo responded with precision and curiosity. Was Polledry planning to export the car temporarily for competition, or permanently for personal use? Did he want just the chassis, or a fully bodied machine?
I need to know in what form you intend to export the car from Italy: temporarily, to participate in sporting events, or permanently, for personal use.
This was not a polished corporate exchange, it was a direct, practical dialogue. On May 20, Ferrari followed up with a firm proposal: a Ferrari 166 Inter, a dual-purpose machine that could be used in international sportscar events or, with slight modifications, in Formula 2 races. Delivery from Modena would take 45 days, and the price was set at 6,250,000 lire.
I believe it is possible to obtain a car suitable for both purposes as you have requested.
This correspondence is particularly remarkable, not because it bears Enzo Ferrari’s signature (many letters do) but because it is a complete exchange, directly between Ferrari himself and an individual client. Such records are extremely rare. They testify to what Ferrari still was in 1948: not yet a myth, but an artisanal workshop, a passionate small business run like a craftsman's atelier. In these letters, we witness the intimate beginnings of a future legend.
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