The latest issue of Autoweek has a letter to the editor regarding Enzo Ferrari. It seems he drove a Mini as his everyday driver.

 

I haven't read the letter in Autoweek for its full content and context, but Enzo Ferrari was known to have had a Fiat 128 sedan as his daily driver. This was much to the pleasure of Ferrari's parent company, Fiat, but much to the chagrin of Ferrari insiders who thought he should be seen driving one of his own cars. One story I recall hearing was that Mr. Ferrari knew that they could sell every Ferrari that they made, so he didn't want to cut into the profits by taking one for himself. BTW, I had a '78 128 sedan many years ago, and it was the most fun car I've ever had until I got my '04 MC.

 

The letter identifies the car as a BRM Super Cooper. 1964 era

 

Ferrari may well have had a Mini back then. In the 1960s they were quite the car to have (like the MINI now!). By the late 1960s Fiat and other car makers had climbed on the front wheel drive bandwagon and started to build fun little econobox FWD cars like the original Mini.

 

During the great Cobra v. Cooper smackdown the other day, I posted the text of the Autoweek letter. Here's the link:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=44936

 

I dont know if it was his daily driver, but he definitely had a Cooper S.

In fact, alot of people would make fun of the fact that, Issigonis didnt have a Ferrari, but Mr. Enzo had a Mini. lol.

The same stuff applies to our MINI also. You would be totally surprised who has one.

 

Don't know if anybody out there gets the FIne Living channel, but they had a very good show on Minis old and new. It ran last weekend i am sure it will run again. I was excited about Minis afterward, but then the Lotus show came on and I totally forgot about the Mini stuff. The Mini show did say that every Beetle had a Mini at one time and Enzo had one as well. Most interesting thing was video of the press day for the original Mini, they had to pry the press out of the cars they were just too much fun!

 

I also had a Fiat 128. Bought it new in 1974. It handled great and had a very smooth little 4 banger.....but, if you needed a part or someone to work on it, good luck.

No surprising they don't sell Fiats in the USA anymore.

FIAT=Fix It Again Tony.

 

I had a 1972 128 Fiat Wagon known as "Sofiat!!" And she was definitely the funn(i)est car I had until my MINIs! Sofiat was taxicab yellow with black competition stripes down the sides and a cool chrome roof rack!

That baby was fast!! But of course, she ran on premium, which in those days was about 103+ octane! I drove her until I sold her at a garage sale in 1984...LOL! I wish I'd kept her...she was awesome, even though it was TERRIBLY hard to find parts for her!

And I think one reason I feel in love with hubby is that he's a brilliant DIY auto mechanic and prolonged Sofiat's life well beyond what it should have been!


Clover

 

My mother-in-law mentioned to me that Alyssa Milano (Who's the Boss?, Charmed...) drives a MINI.

 

, I knew there had to be some former 128 drivers among the MINI crowd! When I had my 128 I lived in CO, so in the winter I would put studded snow tires on all four corners. That little thing would buzz up to the ski areas with no problems; going up I-70 in third gear at the redline just humming along! I've also owned a Fiat 850 spider and a 131 sedan. I did all my own work...Fix It Again Bradman! Oh, yes, those were the days...OK, maybe not really...