1947 FERRARI 125 S 1.5 V12 5MT (118 HP)

Vehicle Overview

This car started everything in Maranello, from a factory that was bombed in WWII. A car which was the foundation for one of the greatest sports cars in history: the 1947 Ferrari 125 and the racing sibling, the 125 S.

In the brinks of WWII, Enzo Ferrari was ready to start the car production, but he had an agreement with his former employer, Alfa Romeo, to not put his name on a car for 5 years so he built the Auto Avio Costruzioni 815 in 1940. Then everything was stopped by the war. In 1944 and 1945, the factory was bombed three times. Enzo Ferrari and his workers survived and, as soon as the peace was installed, they started to work on a new car.

The desire for sports cars didn’t stop Enzo. In 1947, the world was struggling to recover and most car-makers started to work on economic models. But no, Enzo built the 125. He used its experience in motor racing and in the production of the Avio 815. The bodywork was an open-top roadster with two seats.

The car featured the same wheelbases as the Avio Costrizioni but with an independent front suspension with unequal double wishbone arms and a transverse leaf-spring. In the rear, there was a live axle with semi-elliptic springs, dampers and anti-roll bar.

Under the hood. the engine had the same 1.5-liter displacement as the Avio 815, but it was completely new. It was a V12 unit that boasted almost 80 hp/liter without the aid of any turbocharger. That was a very high value for those times. He could only build two cars: a 125 and a 125 S. The latter raced two weeks after it was manufactured and it lost due to a failure of the fuel pump.