ZINVO's Favorite Events: 70 Years of Ferrari Exhibit

To supplement our series on our favorite cars and favorite destinations, we now take a look at some of our favorite happenings around the world. We start with none other than the Ferrari exhibition at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. If you're in the area and love supercars, you cannot miss this incredible display of the most exclusive and important Ferraris ever made. We strapped on our new ZINVO Blade Corsa and headed to the museum. 

Called the “world’s greatest automotive museum” by Top Gear, the Petersen Automotive Museum is a modern marvel, especially for gear heads. They have cars on display from the late 19th century to 2009, including Hollywood cars such as the DeLorean Time Machine from Back to The Future. Petersen is also well known for their exhibitions, including the new “Seeing Red: 70 Years of Ferrari” exhibit.

Situated in the great sunny state of California, and taking one city block in Los Angeles, near the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Southern California is a perfect backdrop for such an impressive museum since it's a geographic area that boasts a massive car culture. Not only are shows like Jay Leno’s Garage filmed in Los Angeles, but also, the dry, sunny weather keeps cars in tip-top condition.

Seeing Red: 70 Years of Ferrari Exhibit 

When Enzo Ferrari started Ferrari in 1947, did he know he was creating a car that would have a color named after it? “Ferrari Red” is pretty much universally understood and has become part of the brand identity of the automaker. So it comes as no surprise that all the cars displayed at the Petersen exhibit are in the iconic Ferrari red color. Personally, red is one of ZINVO's favorite colors, clearly illustrated by such models as the new Blade Bold, and so many others. 

Enzo Ferrari’s passion for building race cars was funded by him selling supercars to wealthy individuals, which allowed Ferrari to win over 5,000 races over the years. It also permitted Ferrari to develop the necessary technology that won those races to be transferred into the supercars sold to the public.

The Ferrari 125S

Among the legendary Ferrari models on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum, one that caught our eye is the Ferrari 125S. The Ferrari 125S was the first Ferrari-badged car and was responsible for Ferrari’s first win at the Grand Prix of Rome. It went on to win six of its fourteen races in 1947, and it was the beginning of many more future wins.

Impressive for its time, the 125S was powered by a V12 engine built by Gioacchino Colombo, a famous Italian engine designer. It was a 1.5L engine with 118 horsepower @6800 RPMs. Even more impressive was the transmission, which was a five-speed manual gearbox. A feature that was not transferred to the public roads until decades after.

There are many other historic Ferraris on display at the exhibition, such as the 1949 166M, the 1955 Ferrari 857 sport, the 1958 Ferrari 250 TR Spyder, the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California, the 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO, the 1965 Ferrari 250 LM, the 1976 Ferrari 312, the 2006 Ferrari 248 F1 and the 2014 Ferrari LaFerrari. All amazing cars by any standard and all in iconic “Ferrari Red.”

Ferrari’s love with California goes deep, especially that some of the race cars on display were shipped out to Los Angeles directly after being decommissioned. Ferrari also has its California name brand of supercars further demonstrating the close relationship. Maybe it’s the near-perfect Mediterranean weather shared by Italy and the Golden State, or perhaps the concentration of wealth found here near the Pacific Ocean and the locals' adoration with the Ferrari brand.

The exhibit will run until early next year so if you consider yourself a gearhead, this is one event not to miss.