The yellow Ferrari's

[Sonic Feathers]

Hey Grieg, Tifoso or others who know Ferrari practices/history well, could you please spell out the story for me on the Yellow Ferraris? When did it start? Any idea to-date on how many there have been? I only frond out about it today, own 6/7 reds before they elect to offer you a yellow one. From what I heard, very intriguing. As it had slipped passed me, I thought others may also like to know about it. Scuzie if it’s old hat to you, I’ve supported SF & supplied for years & never heard of it

[Tifoso]

Greig is far more expert than me.

Yellow is the "official" color of the town of Modena (the "big" town in the region that contains Maranello)

[Tifoso]

BTW, I will be moving this to the Enzo Forum.

[REDARMYSOJA]

Exactly what "Yellow Ferraris" are you referring to, the few that have competed in GP/F1 racing?

All F1/GP Yellow Ferraris were painted that way because they were driven by Belgian drivers, and Yellow is the racing color of Belgium and all at the Belgian GP. One was entered for Andre Pilette at the '56 Belgian GP, I think that was the only one for him, but Olivier Gendebien has several entries in the Belgian GP in his country's yellow, mostly as a reward for his effort on Ferrari's sport car team, including a Yellow Sharknose at the 1961 Belgium GP, which I believe was the last time a Ferrari GP/F1 car was raced in the Yellow color.



As for road cars, Giallo Modena was the name of the original Ferrari Yellow and has been available about as long as Ferrari has been building cars. It wasn't common early on as many road cars built were in actuality race cars that competed in sport cars races and were usually used by the factory team or raced under the Ferrari name so they carried the Italian Red color.

[Sonic Feathers]

Thanks Tifoso. Hope Grieg visits to share knowledge. Have a great day.

[Sonic Feathers]

Hi RAS, awesome pic mate, thank you. & for the insight on yellow racing Ferraris. Forgot the name of the technician who visited a fellow Italian, he signed this old (2004) promo poster with a whole span of road car pics, in it was this yellow one. During discussion, Paulo mentioned a practice of having to own 5/7 red Ferraris before Maranello invites their choice of owner for a custom made (seat fittings & other) yellow Ferrari. Can you shed more light on that please? There was one pic of another F1 car (70's/80's i think) in yellow, which Paulo said was possibly an owner & therefore entitled to race yellow ... but in light of your info, it must be another Belgian racer. He may have his story wrong, I'll detour from travels to return there & get the techies name & photo the poster (you may recognize it).

[Massimo]

You might find this interesting.

http://magazine.ferrari.com/blog/2011/12/yellow-family/

[REDARMYSOJA]

During discussion, Paulo mentioned a practice of having to own 5/7 red Ferraris before Maranello invites their choice of owner for a custom made (seat fittings & other) yellow Ferrari. Can you shed more light on that please?

Never heard that and according to the story in the link Massimo provided, that isn't true, if you mean you would have to own 5 to 7 Ferrari in order to have one painted yellow. The first Ferrari that guy bought was yellow.

Bachman started his auto dealership business in 1967, but didn’t buy a Ferrari until 1984. ‘I certainly wanted one, but I went through the Corvette syndrome first,’ he says. As a GM dealer, Bachman also owns an array of American cars, including Pontiac Firebirds, Fieros and seven like-new Cadillac Allantés. Bachman’s first Ferrari was a 1984 308 GTS Quattrovalvole. That car came in handy when he and his wife, Martha, had to make a speedy dash across town – to the hospital, where their son, Phillip, was born soon thereafter. ‘He was almost born in that car,’ Martha Bachman says. That first 308 was yellow, thus establishing a theme in Bachman’s future stable of Ferraris. ‘Anything that we’ve bought new since ’84 has been yellow, if it was available in yellow,’ Bachman says. ‘But some cars, like the F40 and 288 GTO, were only available in red.’

But you hear lots of things like that but they aren't true. Like the last car built of a model is always painted yellow. Some just aren't available in anything but red, so obviously that isn't true. However, the fellow in that story always tries to buy the last car made in a production, and always gets them in yellow when he can, so perhaps that is how stories like that get started.

[rossopervincere]

Yellow ( or gold for Modena ) is the house color of Ferrari.
So far I know it was only used on the 3 Ferrari-Transporters that were shipped to the Vanderbilt-cup race in the United States in the 1930's ,
see link :

http://www.diecast.org/diecast98/htm...rintreview.htm

It is still used today in the official Ferrari-flag : A yellow flag with a black prancing horse.The flag Alonso was holding after his China GP win.
But when they are talking about the yellow Ferrari's , they are talking about the Ecurie-Francorchamps founded by Jacques Swaters wo was the first importer of Ferrari's outside of Italy in his country of Belgium.They are yellow because it's the national race color of Belgium.
Other race colors are :

Red : Italy
Green : England
White with one or two blue stripes : U.S.
Blue : France
first White now Silver : Germany
Orange : Netherlands
Blue with yellow nose : Argentina
etc.

Other Ferrari Importers that used to race with Ferrari's in a Factory supported capacity are :

North American Racing Team ( N.A.R.T. ) : U.S.
Maranello Concessionaires : U.K.
Ecurie Filipinetti : Switzerland
Ch. Pozzi : France

So when they are talking about yellow Ferrari's , mostly its about the Ecurie Francorchamps , see links :


http://www.ff60.be/history/

http://jacquesswaters.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecurie_Francorchamps

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecurie_Belge

[Tifoso]

Thanks rpv!!!

[rossopervincere]

You're welcome Tifoso.

[Tifoso]

You're welcome Tifoso.

Please call me Lou (for Louis*)


*If anyone makes a Hamilton joke, it's an instaban

[rossopervincere]

You're welcome Lou.

[Sonic Feathers]

Geez thanks a bunch for that insight guys . It's an incredibly interesting history. How's those models? Awesome RPV! I'd be the worst choice as a cleaner or curator in a private museum of Enzo creations, I just would not handle the temptation to not use my right foot. Damn they are so very fortunate. Yip RAS, either Paulo was spinning stories or had been given wrong info & as usual 'm just gullible 'cos I don't expect people to lie when there is no call for doing so. I'll still get that other info & pic for you. It's uncanny how strange it feels to see a Ferrari racer in any other color than red though. Still it's a pity the era of racing for a National team (color) are all but over (Force India doesn't figure as it still is corporate, with total Govt. disinterest). Then again, given the opportunity of owning a National team, I'd never do it in my countries current colors either. The A1 version look as if it was wrapped in a rastamans' 'Y-front' underpants . Thanks again to all

[wisepie]

All of those fabulous historic names (Ecurie Francorchamps etc) bring back memories of my budding interest in all things Ferrari, no matter what colour, but of course red is best! Thanks for the insight.

[fratelliferrari]

Very interesting topic with many things I didn't know! Thanks all for contributing to this

[Nova]

And who can forget the green P4's...Think that was David Piper.