Can you think of two of the most revered European Auto Manufacturers that share their sacred crest? If you’re thinking prancing black stallions you’re on the right track. The question is why do both Ferrari and Porsche have this unforgettable horse marked in their history? It’s really quite interesting.

Ferrari’s Prancing Stallion

Porsche Crest with the famous black stallion

The Black Prancing Stallion with a yellow background was the Coat of Arms for the City of Stuttgart, Germany. The word Stuttgart roughly translates to “Stud Farm” where horses were bread.

A famous Italian WW1 Ace fighter pilot named Francesco Baracca sometimes called “The Cavalier of the Skies” had this crest painted on the fuselage of his fighter plane after gunning down an important German Pilot. Unfortunately, after 34 victorious missions, Francesco mysteriously crashed that plane and did not survive.

There are a differing versions of this part of the story. It goes something like this. In 1923 Enzo Ferrari was racing for Alfa Romeo. During a race in Ravenna Francesco Barraca’s mother (others have said it was his widow or father) approached Enzo and gave him the last remnant from her sons crash. It was the prancing stallion painted on a piece of the planes fuselage. Still others say that Ferrari’s brother fought in the same squadriglia. They say Enzo drove like the pilots fought, with great bravery.

Ferrari’s prancing stallion was used as early as the 1920′s on Alfa Romeo race cars. However, It wasn’t until 1947 Ferrari would put the prancing stallion on a car bearing his own name.

There are a few arguments that arise with the stallion. Why do they call it a “Prancing Stallion” when it’s clearly Rearing on its hind legs? Some argue that the Ferrari Stallion and Porsche Stallion do not look the same. The biggest question is, Who had it first?

In an excerpt from Porsche~ The Road To Zuffenhausen, Dennis Adler writes of Ferry Porsche account with Max Hoffman (original importer of Porsche Cars to the USA).

Pg. 93 ~ 95

With the name Porsche being spoken in more places and in more languages, by 1952 the first steps were taken toward creating a Porsche emblem or coat of arms. “Max Hoffman had been urging us to do this for some time,” recalled Ferry. “He cited the example of the English and said what beautiful emblems they had and that we should produce something similar. He considered this important for the American market. He made the suggestion to me one day while we were lunching together in New York, and I quickly sketched out a piece of heraldry on a napkin. I said to Hoffman as I was drawing, ‘If all you want is a coat of arms, you can get one from us!’”
Ferry then sketched the crest of the House of Wurttemberg and in the middle put the coat of arms of the city of Stuggart: rampant horse, above which he placed the Porsche name. (Enzo Ferrari had also used the rampant horse for his personal emblem since 1923, when the Countess Paolina Baracca presented the Stuttgart coat of arms to Ferrari after his victory in the Circuit of Savio race.) Upon his return to Stuttgart, Ferry gave the napkin to Erwin Komenda and asked him to draw a clean copy. “We then took the design to the state government and the City of Stuttgart and requested that they authorize the design for use as our emblem The authorities raised no objections, and so from 1953 onward Porsche cars bore their own emblem, to the great pleasure of all concerned,” said Ferry. Today, both Porsche and Ferrari still use the rampant horse as part of their company emblem. . .

And so it is with a fair amount of certainty I would say Enzo was using the stallion first.