tongascrew's brief book reviews

I am finally getting to read some of the 472 book titles in my collection. This collection of these books plus complete issues of Cavallino and Forza mags and 120 early copies of Prancing Horse and Ferrari Italian Style mags is now being cross referenced into my files on 1182 individual sn files starting with 01C and going up thru the P4 machines.I thought it might be of interest to pass on some brief thoughts on each volume."The Limit" by Michael Cannell 318 pages. Though written for the mass audience it does, graphicly at times, describe the often deadly aspect of mainly European and other forms of motor racing.The two featured drivers are Phil Hill and vonTrips.The author gives interesting insights into the backgrounds and personalities of these two drivers and , holding no punches,is a relatively quick read. Principle period is the year 1961 but lots leading up to that year."Maston Gregory the maverick" by Patrick Sinibaldi, 267 pages. In depth recording of his personality, personal life[very unique and complicated] personal wealth and driving record.Interesting comments on his relation ships with Enzo Ferrari, Lucky Casner and others. Missing is his extraudinary abilities as a mechanic, engine tuner particularly with Parravano's Ferraris and as a test driver and project developer for Ferrari. For a student of the period details of this important aspect of his career may be just as important as his driving.Gregory probably should have the title of fastest mechanic who ever drove a race car. Comments? tongascrew

 

"Red Hot Rivals" by Karl Ludvigsen, 336 pages.A very detailed discussion of mostly the competition cars from Ferrari and Maserati from 1947 thu the 1960s.Covered are the design,construction,performance,drivers,managers,results etc etc of each model.Don't expect anything about Alfa,OSCA,Lancia or any of the other competing stables. Also no mention of Dino whose name is on so many cars. Very good but take it slow.."AI13 EDITION,ENZO FERRARI, Enzio Ferrari, Parole di Passione", Maurizio Valentini. 119 pages of quotations of Enzo Ferrari and some excelent pictures. To quote just a few"Many people wanted me to produce tractors....Can you imagine that? Can you imagine a tractor on the track with my prancing horse".Who do you suppose his was directed at?."I limit myself to building motors, then I add tyres". and many many more."Ferrari 1947-1997, The Official Book" many contributed.403 pages.If you want primer on the Ferrari legend this is as good as any.Titles of individual sections are "Five Decades of Engineering Innovation",Deeds and Days","Testimonials and Memoirs","Changing Times 1960-1969" "1970-1979 Return to Glory" 1980-1989/The Pursuit" "1990-1997/Toward The Year 2000" Lots of good pictures and design drawings and interesting, well written text. Enjoy. tongascrew

 

Hi this Book Reviews thread seem to be where I put it,If it is to be moved please let me know where and I will go there.This thread will be devoted to the Ferrari Vintage era 1946-1970 and the 482 volumes of Ferrari books etc of that period in my collection.It would be nice if it remained in the Vintage section. tongascrew

 

Maybe a little less of the above would make room for "a Few Book Reviews" which is really about the overall main subject, Vintage Ferraris. tongascrew

 

#1"Ferrari The Man, The machines" 348 pages, edited by Stan Grayson. Ten interesting chapters by different important men of the period featuring , Ferrari,The Golden Years 1946-1967. Of particular interest is Phil Hill"s introspective reminiscing about his experiences as a works Ferrari driver.If you are interested in details of racing engine design of the period, the chapter by Jan Norbye is one of the best I have read. A good read. all Collins C #2"Mille Miglia 1957" by Carie Doicini 168 pages,Italian/English including many great photos.Interesting comments of the Portage crash. Also of interest is his section on the preparations, or not, of the Ferrari works drivers drivers in the days before the start. Also of interest is how Gendebien came close to the overall win driving his 250 GT Ferrari.Also the description of Collins in his big Ferrari having a real go with Cabianca in his 90bhp OSCA mile after mile going over the Raticosa and Futa passes in the rain is a classic.This event was worthy of it own volume. Enjoy ongascrew

 

I trust you. Bought them.

 

I also purchased The FERRARI the MAN.

 

They are part of my collection "Ferrari the Golden Years 1946-1966" which I started over 10 years ago and now has over 900 books,magazines,photographs and documents.The collection is continuing to grow and I am finally getting around to doing brief reviews of each volume.Enjoy. tongascrew

 

1] "Runways & Racers,Sports car races held on military airfields in America 1952-1954", by Terry O'Neil; Veloce Pub.5/2011 208 pages; limited interest; Gives good background to how these events came to being. Also stats on the very profitable results which went to the USAF SAC base housing fund.Attendance was between 40K -100K.Not all events included;no Sebring.Tables of results for all classes. All Ferraris listed with their s/n; good for the statistician.Lots of nice period photos. 2] "The Ferrari 250 GT Story, Tour de France" by John Starkey, Foulis Pub. 1986 134 pages. A must have covering the beginnings and basics of these very special cars.Of particular interest and unique to this book is the interview with Oliver Gendebien who scored the most impressive results with the cars and owned one.Also Chapter 5 describes in detail the restoration process by the author of 0911. A good lesson for anyone considering the restoration of an aging Ferrari. Enjoy tongascrew

 

There is a new edition of this book published by Veloce Publishing. It has 144 pages.
Chapter 9 discusses the restoration of 0707 and 0911.

 

Rather than buying the new addition for just a few additional pages can you give a brief rendition of the restorations. If you wish you can do this in PM to me Thanks tongascrew

 

These three are best selected for the relative "new comer" to the world of Ferrari as a way to help get them started;#1"Ferrari Design. the definitive study" by Glen Smale; 2010,Haynes North America;large format hard back;272 pages;starts with AAC 815 and goes up to the modern 612 machines;except for a few early 166,212,340 machines it exclusively covers the road cars;Lots of nice color photographs and brief text of each model's stats. A good general starter;#2"Ferrari Sports Cars & Prototypes" by Giulio Schmidt;93 pages;soft back; large format;starts with the early 166,212,340 machines and goes up to the 1986 F40 machines;soft back;' Nada pub;;good color modern photographs; basic stats and race histories of each model.#3"Legendary 250" Ferrari SpA pub;Galleria Ferrari Collection;hard back;large format; 92 unnumbered pages;excellent period color and B&W photographs; Italian/English ; brief stats and history of each machine. Numbers #1 and #3 would make a nice starter kit. tongascrew

 

I own and have read the Gregory book. I had no idea that he had any mechanical
abilities whatsoever. How did you learn that?

As stated in the Wikipedia article about the 1970's movie "American Graffiti", one scene
in this movie goes as follows:

Curt is desperate to find the mysterious blonde, but is coerced by a group of greasers
("The Pharaohs") through an initiation rite that involves hooking a chain to a
police car and successfully ripping out its back axle.

The movie was made many years after Masten Gregory actually performed this
trick while he was in high school, as one can learn by reading the book.

 

I did not mean to say that the book said that Gregory's stunt actually removed the rear axle,
but after rereading what I wrote either says or implies this to be the case. Sorry. As
I remember it, the book said that Gregory et al. chained the real axle of a police car
to a heavy pole. They then went by the cops in a car at a rapid speed. The cops tried
to chase them, but could not break the chain and so were stuck.

The scene in the movie was very funny, but it did not look real to me.

I grew up long ago in a town 137 miles SE of Modesto. I hung out with a bunch of
older hot rod kids. I never heard that urban legend at that time. But I've always been out of touch.

 

It really is a fascinating tale of his exploits during his period with Von Neuman. He basically maintained,tuned, modified and switched engines for Von Neuman's Ferraris. He also raced these cars on occasion and quite successfully.During his career in Europe mostly as an independent, Ferrari used him quite often for testing and modifying his cars.His very independent and somewhat aloof attitude kept him from being a regular works driver, but all this is well documented in the book.And yes that scene in "American Graffiti" is one of the great scenes in one of the great period moving pictures of all time. tongascrew

 

It appears that we are talking about different books.

I have Masten Gregory Totally Fearless by Michael J. Cox. (I cannot find the Sinibaldi book on Amazon. When was it written?)

Cox's book says nothing about Gregory's mechanical skill.

Here you say that the Sinibaldi book has no mention of this either, but then in
your latest note you say that it does if I read you right.

 

I saw that movie with my wife and another American couple when we were living in Kensington, London.
It was just like my childhood. For everyone else in the theater it appeared to take place on another planet.

 

Sinibaldi book, "Masten Gregory The Maverick: 5/3/1997, originally in French; this issue with English translation. Just Google the title and you will have a choice of dealers.Interesting that the the Cox book also has nothing on the subject of Gregory the mechanic, Everything I have is as a result of researching Von Neuman and his Ferraris. Probably the best thing to do is to Google each of Von Neuman's Ferraris by sn then transpose this onto a Barchetta printout of the car. I have done this on 1182 different Ferraris starting with 01C and going up to the P4 cars. I started this 10 years ago and am still at it. tongascrew

 

#1 "Ferrari, The Man and His Machines" by Pete Lyons;Large format;hard cover;320 pages; Publications Intl.1989' Very nice bio of E.F by Lyons with some excellent early B&W photos; Balance mostly the road cars starting with 815 up the the F40 with many excellent current and a few early photos;very good text by Lyons. May be the best of the introductory books.#2"L'annata Automobilistica 1960-61" by Gianni Marin;255 pages;Italian text;This is the Italian equivalent of the Automobile Year series but in considerably more detail;Short descriptions of many European and U S drivers,maps and descriptions of major European tracks,1960 major European race/rally results and nearly all Italian competitive race and rally events with many great photos, and more including the schedule of major 1961 events.I have only been able to locate this one issue.For any Italian enthusiast I would recommend any of these issues for the particular period. Enjoy tongascrew

 

#1 : The Autobiography David McKay's Scuderia Veloce" by David McKay;Turton & Armstrong;2001;309 pages hard cover; Very detailed rendition of the S.V's history;If you have a particular interest in 250LM #6321 then this is a must.If you want more info on P4 #0858[as if one really needs more] and how it came to Australia and its short life there, there are a few pages. Of the most interesting is the description of opening the many crates of spares that came with the car. Otherwise this book has limited interest to most F Chatters.#2 "Automobile Year Annual, Automobile Review"Auto -Jahr during the year following the title date. hard back; large format,;200 +or - pages;These early editions are hard to come by today but do give the reader a real taste of what was going on in Europe and America for the everyman and in F 1 and major rally events. I have issues #4-#11. Not necessarily for every collector but an important addition to any major collection of the period.Enjoy tongascrew

 

"The Limit" is an enjoyable read, but not to be relied upon for historical accuracy. It left me with the impression that the author wrote it with the sale of film rights in mind. I think a lot of it is "reimagined" in the current parlance.

 

I just finished reading this book. It is indeed a good read.