Original Ferrari V8 Book out of Print

Glad I bought mine a few months ago at a relative pittance compared to those prices.

Doug

 

When the "Original..." series of books first came out, I was quite excited about them. The first couple I read were for Porsche cars (911 and 944), and to be honest, I was disappointed. They were so highly touted by the magazines, but I found myself saying, "That's it? Is that all?" upon reading them. They were nowhere near complete -- didn't even have a majority of photos/examples of colors and options -- had possibly a few errors in specification for certain years, were lacking in detail differences between U.S. and European models, and lacking in detail that was truly usable for the restorer. For what these books are/were touted to be, they (the Porsche ones, at least) fail miserably.

From a restorer's or point of view, a book such as those in this series is not worth much if it doesn't go into the real details, the nitty gritty. One could use the Porsche books as a "guide" for restoration and get any model of 911 or 944 completely wrong from a "correctness" and/or detail standpoint. And a potential new owner looking for an original example or someone curious about "how they should be" would be equally left out of the cold. Ultimately they are nice books for the coffee table, but the information contained in them was, is, and has been common knowledge for most people who actually would need a guide to originality for restoration/concours selection purposes.

Due to my experiences with other "Original" titles, I never got too excited about the book for the 308 series. I think I checked it out at a friend's home one time and found it nothing special (like all the others) and forgot about it. I recognize the author as an excellent writer whose work I have read elsewhere and appreciated, but at $180 for a copy, I'll do something better with my money. I can see why it's out of print today; maybe these books were impressive back when they were published, but what may have once been considered a great collection of information has now been surpassed by the world wide web. For all the garbage floating around on the internet, the best and most information in the world on these cars is all out there (here) on the internet, too.

 

Yes, and unfortunately, a lot of what is on the internet is garbage, and just plain wrong.

You are correct about the Blumel book, it is very incomplete,and in not anyways a restorers guide. It does have period photos that are good reference, though. I do wish they had included a color selection as you mentioned. I think I paid $36 for mine, worth its price for what it is.

That said, I ordered some Delorean cum Ferrari seat belts earlier, as those won't be around forever, either. I will save my takeoffs to sell on ebay when NOS parts aren't available.

Get it while you can.

Doug

 

You may have more luck looking for a clean used copy; I got mine through
www.abebooks.com

 

Got mine last year at B & N

 

I just went downstairs and can't find mine

 

Several mistakes in that book.

 

I'm going to put mine in a fire-proof safe. At this rate it will make for a nice down payment towards my next F-car.

 

I have both the V8 and V12 book

 

And what would you know.

 

Beat me to it.

 

Any other 308 books to recommend to a rookie? Is this the best book for 308/328? Maybe there is already a list of books available here, otherwise we could create one

 

LOL

 

allautobooks.com has this book for 26 british pounds. i was looking for something else and just saw it there. i bought mine in australia for $60 a few years ago. cheers

 

I haunt the Half Price Books stores, looking for old Doug Sahm CDs.......

I'll pick this one up, and post here as I find 'em.....

Of course I have it in my library, too, if anyone needs to look up anything!

Out of Print just means "hard to find"...the link here to Abe Books is helpful, too

 

Dang... Serious coin. In the summer of 2000 I picked this book up at one of the vendors at Monterey Historic's week... One of the many tents at Concorso Italiano. It was offered at the $39.95 sticker price. I read it for about 10 minutes then I passed on it as I had just dumped a wad of cash on something else plus a dress my wife saw at the fashion show (bigger wad). A few weeks later I was killing time between appointments downtown and wandered into my favorite used book store, Beers Books (Cliff, any relation?), and there it was on display on an end cap for $5. Someone had dumped a sizable Ferrari book collection on them and I bought this and four others for a whopping $28. Best Ferrari book day ever.

Rick

 

I've got mine two years ago.

Found it on this site by US$ 42.95

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=1114971985&searchurl=sts%3Dt%26tn%3DOriginal%2BFerrari%2BV8%26x%3D72%26y%3D14

About mistakes, yeas, the book has some errors, and he left some important information. But it's a good book, and on the market you can't find another one like this.
With all the info here at FChat, we would be able to write a very good book...

 

I think you're right about none of these books being be adequate for doing a real restoration.

But overall, if someone is trying to decide what year/version of a car to buy, there is a lot of good information. I.e., in the 911 book, Peter Morgan describes when various upgrades took place, so that instead of just going shopping for any early 911 you might decide the LWB with the 2.2L is the best for your needs, and that the early 2.7L/impact bumper cars can be troublesome. The Ferrari book is useful in the same way, in that it gives the newcomer a pretty good idea of why the 328 is a different car from the 308, how trim changed during the run, etc.

It's certainly more of a starting point than a comprehensive data bank, but it will quickly take you from knowing zero to knowing maybe 80-90 percent of what matters with regard to 308/328s. And it presents it in a structured way, without too many bikini pictures and timing belt controversies, so that you can learn.

 

i didn't know doug sahm was into writing about v-8 ferraris.
hell, i thought he was the front man for sir douglas quintet.

i learn something new here everyday!

_______________________________________________________________________
why it's so simple a child of 5 could do it. quick, someone send out for a child of 5!
marx

 

I think I paid $8 for mine, it was in the bargain bin somewhere a couple years ago. I wish I would have bought the whole pile now.

 

my book just had its 5000 mile service. its been a garage queen!

 

LOL!

You are correct, Sir!
His passion was actually baseball, not cars.

If anyone has $1,000 for it I'll mail mine TOMORROW!!

I was just explaining what I was up to in the Book Store...as others have posted every once in a while some 'good stuff" will turn up!!!

 

I got the book several years ago. It's a good book imo.