A Supercar is What a Supercar is

            Ferrari and Lamborghini

BY: Stephen Caldwell

            Let us travel backwards to a simpler time when "up" meant "up" and “google” was a number, not a website. This is 1929 and the world is positively effervescent! (Think The Great Gatsby and you are not far off). The people are growing physically and socially into a modern form—whilst traveling faster and faster on.... yes, you guessed it, cars! And the product, if you will, of this grande social upheaval is Ferrari. Please don't think of Ferrari as red shiny paint and celebrities... its origins and ideals are much closer to heart than that. Also, 1929 was in black and white, so there wasn't any red paint available.

            Hit the fast-forward button for just a second and the world has changed greatly! A bit less innocent and jovial, a bit more self-aware, this is 1963. Hippies haven't come around quite yet... so that's pretty well and fine, but there's a vacancy: Ferrari is precise, pristine and, luxurious - everyone would like one - and that isn't so well.

            (I'm not talking hipster vs. mainstream here. I mean Ferrari was just positively acceptable! It would appeal to youth and grandparents alike, and that's to say it wasn't daring enough. Ferrari was born on the edge of reason but cultivated in a conservative yacht club, so to speak.)

            Cue Lamborghini. Tougher than 9 year old cheese and loud enough to prove it, Feruccio Lamborghini made the world's first mechanical rebel in the Miura. It was form over function, beauty over logic, imagination above all. In short, it was perfect and wondrous art. After all, art shouldn't have function other than its "idea" and Lamborghini understood that perfectly.

            Over the next half-century Ferrari and Lamborghini pushed themselves to cerebral and mechanical azimuths. Constantly producing better and more beautiful driving models while finding the pulse of character and injecting it into all they did. If you've ever seen one of these older models in person it’s shocking to feel the gravity of its image. Each model was handcrafted with these ideals in mind, no digital construction needed. In fact, Feruccio Lamborghini would smith the metal without even following a drawing—preferring to bring the metal into its truest form. Did someone say Michelangelo?

            Modern day: Lamborghini is owned by Volkswagen and Ferrari is owned by Fiat. Now, that isn't necessarily a bad thing because these larger companies offer our Italian friends some economic freedom. That's why Ferrari and Lamborghini have remained independent and as beautiful as ever! But what was once 9 year old cheese is now going moldy from within. Ferrari and Lamborghini models are faster, stronger, and just as snazzy as before. But they have gotten old. What do I mean? The very character and love that prompted such incredible machines has vanished. Driving a Lamborghini feels too refined, a Ferrari feels too disconnected from its identity.

            It's difficult to define exactly what the Italian supercars embodied, each in their separate ways, but the bit of German Volkswagen engineering under a Lamborghini makes the performance too good. I know, that sounds very silly. But going around a corner 0.01 seconds faster is meaningless at supercar speeds. Who cares?! Old Lamborghinis were frightening to drive, their owners were more like the trainers of a prized fighter than owners of a pure-bred hound. Character is what drove the Italians to greatness and it is what they have slowly begun to lose. Of course, I hope this regression will end, but I would be lying if I said it doesn't worry me.