This Is Not a Ferrari

When Michael Mann decided to make a film dedicated to Enzo Ferrari he found himself confronted by a secondary task quite apart from the complex filming and directing: how to realise the most realistic copies possible of cars dating from 1957. Those who have seen the finished film witnessed these cinematic cars and admired them as though they were real Ferrari. But from the very start it was known that these individual cars would be destroyed soon after filming was finished, a process shown by the photographs exclusively published on these pages.

But the Ferrari brand is not always imitated with such laudable or artistic aims as those of Michael Mann. There are others who use it, or indeed abuse it, illegally for economic gain, or for simple notoriety.

Consequently, the custodianship of the brand is a battle that is fought daily at Maranello. In the first instance by the company’s Legal Office. “Ferrari signifies luxury, innovation, Italian-ness,” says Carlo Daneo, General Legal Counsel of Ferrari. “And, unfortunately, it is almost taken for granted that there’ll be someone attempting to exploit it, tying themselves to us without having any right to do so. It may sound incredible but, quite apart from the false accessories such as T-shirts and hats, there are people who ingeniously realise fake Ferrari cars, of course to be sold at very high prices.”

“The counterfeiters are becoming ever more capable,” Daneo explains. “There are those who use real Ferrari chassis to construct over it the body of a model of greater value. Some vehicles are realised so well that they end up going to auction and it is our task to report them to the auction houses so that they are taken off the market. And our objective is always the same: it is not always enough to take them off the market, we want all the fakes to be destroyed. And to attain that end result we try wherever possible to find an agreement with the counterpart, so as not to have to resort to initiating a legal case.”

But sometimes the party in possession of a fake Ferrari has no intention, originally, of demolishing it, especially when they have spent a not inconsiderable sum to acquire it. “At that point”, explains Daneo, “it’s up to us to rigorously apply the rules and make the buyer understand the legal consequences that they are facing.”

This is true not only in relation to counterfeit cars, but also for the independently modified vehicles. “Whoever does so must understand that such a car will never be admitted to official events, and that, if the modifications have compromised the car’s technical aspects, they may not be covered by the relevant guarantee. In extreme cases, they could even compromise its homologation for use on the road.