Official book collectors thread

Well, on March 3rd, 2021, Mr. Keith Bluemel wrote the following comment on this great book:

Along with the likes of Ecurie Francorchamps, Maranello Concessionaires, the North American Racing Team and Scuderia Filipinetti, the Pozzi Ferrari France racing team successfully flew the Ferrari flag in GT racing and rallies. They may not have started as early as their renowned compatriots on the racetracks of the world, but when they did join the fray in 1971, it was done in a most professional manner.

Arnaud Meunier’s extensive tome on Charles Pozzi the man, his company and its racing activities was first published by him in French in 2016, and since then the volume has been expanded, so that the new English edition has around 40 more pages than the original one. It offers a truly interesting chronological history, starting with Charles Pozzi’s early life, leading into his love affair with cars, his garage activities, leading into his racing career in the post war years, his car dealerships, culminating in him becoming the official Ferrari importer for France in 1969.

There are numerous interviews with a variety of people involved with the company through the years, from mechanics to racing drivers, featuring plenty of anecdotal stories that make fascinating reading, whilst also painting a vivid picture of its development from a single outlet in Paris to a nationwide distributor. An account is given of each of these outlets, with a potted history of how it became part of the network. The company’s competition years occupy a good portion of the book, with accounts of the races and rallies in which they participated, together with details of the cars that they ran, naturally accompanied by an extensive array of archive images.

This is a well researched and eminently readable encapsulation of one of Europe’s leading Ferrari concessionaires, whose activities, both commercial and racing, are now brought to the attention of the masses beyond the French borders, through this fine English language edition – heartily recommended!

 

Hi Natan, in my view (I have the newer edition) it is highly recommendable.

Arnaud Meunier has gone to some lenghts to research every possible bit of information about the man and the organisation Pozzi. He includes many interviews with witnesses of contemporary events, and I do not man people in the limelight whose recollections you have read about already, but people who worked at Pozzi and had stayed in the background so far.

The quality of the layout and of the reproduction of images is very good. And at the closing pages of the book Arnaud gives a splendid presentation of every single car raced by the Pozzi team.

 

Opinions may vary.

Marcel Massini

 

Thanks everybody! That is convincing enough for me to order a copy.

Natan

 

I do not. Sorry.

Marcel Massini

 

NART / Écurie Garage Francorchamps / Maranello Concessionnaires / Scuderia Filipinetti / David Piper:

What a wonderful set of books it would make, all in the same format and in the appropriate colours with a nice slipcase...

I think about this since quite a long time.
Even if the quoted books on the subject exist, I consider them as not definitive histories or necessitating a renewal.

Now who would be the predestined author for such a labour of love?

 

…..and Ch. Pozzi.

 

Big big set

 

Do you have any information in your archive on S/N 82881?

Thanks,
Natan

 

A dream would come true!!! That would be fantastic. And they should start with David Piper and his green cars. As I said before, I don't understand why there is no book about him.

 

I would buy a copy. Hey Doug?!!

 

Maybe because of too many skeletons in the closet?
Also, some people are very litigious.

Marcel Massini

 

There is a book on David Piper, not his whole career:

Title is "Pipes, David Piper and the Springbok Series".

Soft-back book, 244pgs, 9.5" x 6.5", plenty of photos including a 30pg colour section. Includes a brief biography of Piper, then his racing exploits in South Africa from the 1962 250 GTO through to the 330 P3/4.
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Presumably the P3/4 is 412 P #0854?

 

I interviewed David about 10 years ago, and told him that I would like to interview him at length and write a book about him. David's wife Liz was present and said "You can't do it. I'm going to do it." At the time I thought "It will never happen" and sadly I was right.
Nathan

 

But, there are lots of inaccuracies in the last section, "Notes on the Cars" including a photo caption with the wrong date on it. Nevertheless it's a nice little book and still worth having.
Nathan

 

See post #4268.

Marcel Massini

 

Piper book is a nice idea, but he isn’t really in the same category as Chinetti, Hoare, Pozzi and Swaters.

 

Then one could easily also add Scuderia Three Bears or David McKay's Scuderia Veloce or some of the Scandinavian race teams which campaigned a bunch of Ferraris, or Jim Kimberly in USA, etc.

Marcel Massini

 

Also the U.S.A.west coast guys, Tony Parravano, Johnny von Neumann, Bev Spencer, etc.

There’s already a good book about Spencer, MotorBinder , by his son Roy. I reviewed it at www.speedreaders.info

 

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Interesting background information, or rather: sad information, because I think your book would have been a great treat of his career and cars.

 

There is already the excellent book by Michael T. Lynch, William Edgar and Ron Parravano titled "American Sports Car Racing in the 1950s", published 1998 by MBI in WI/USA, covering John Von Neumann, Tony Parravano and John Edgar.

Marcel Massini

 

Yes, it is excellent.

 

Thank you!