tongascrew's brief book reviews

"V 65 degree L'efficia di un' idea";.
Large format;soft back; 45 pages;Pubblic Realizzala della Ferrari SpA;Galleria Ferrari di Maranello (Marzo Maggio 2001);. Don't panic when you open this to all Italian text, just the first 35 pages. the last 10 pages cover all the previous Italian text in English, French and German.The many images are excellent. The text is very technical. I don't recommend this necessarily for the novice Ferrari enthusiast, but to my knowledge there is nothing else out there like this. It can be expensive and a copy is hard to find. Good Luck, tonga's crew

 

"FORTY YEARS OF FERRARI V-12 ENGINES"; by W.E. Gas/Ch;Society of Automotive Engines, Inc.,Warrendale Pa., 1990;large format; hard back;cloth cover; clear plastic dust cover {probably not original); a collection of images from the Peter Sachs collection of Klementsky images;Robert Donner paintings reproductions by Manfred Lampe & Barry Taylor; Ferranissima & Motor Trend; 80 pages of high gloss prints, 8 chapters plus Appendix and References. From 1990 prices varied from $2643.30 to as little as $95.00 ("all used-very good"). I have no record of what I paid, most likely around $95.00, and I have added 37 pages of articles from Motor Trend, The Autocar, Ferrari Chat etc.on the subject. The eight chapters have titles like Analysis, Road Car Engines, Sports Car Engines, Grand Prix Engines covering topics such as "piston speed"," compression ratios", "bore and stroke ratios" "BMEP" and more,as well as charts and statistics of these topics. I know of no other volume anything like this. You will have to decide if you need this but it should be included in any comprehensive collection of Ferrari historic literature. Enjoy. tonga's crew

 

"MILLE MIGLIA 1957 Last Act in a LegendaryRace,"; by Carlo Dolcini; 186 pages;large format; hard back with high gloss finish;Georgio Nada Edito, Srl pub;This is one of the great ones. Yes it is about just one and the very last Mille Miglia as an all out speed event.It is in Italian/English. The writing is in vivid and almost classic in style.The research done and the quotations are from many of the protagonists. If you wish just read this for this for the outstanding prose. There are fifteen chapters each based on a 50-100 mile section progressively from Brescia back to Brescia The first four chapters are preparation and warm up segments such as "The Protognasts", "Preparations" "Scrutinearing: and 'Start" with titles such as "Brescia to Ravenna" and so on. Chapter 15 is devoted to the Portago crash in considerable detail.The collection of images covers a signifigant collection of the cars from the Ferraris, FIATs Gordinis and even a Ford Thunderbird to many more. There are to many interesting quotations from personalities to mention some of them here. You will need several readings of this one in order to take it all in. Enjoy; tonga's crew

 

"SPORTS CAR RACING IN CAMERA 1950-1959" by Paul Parker; Haynes Publishing ,Sparkford, Yeoville, Somerset, Somerset U.K.; large format;hard back; glossy paper dust cover;256 pages. One of the best coffee table books; covering 10 years of Cooper PanhardIt, MG, XK Jaguars, Talbot Largo,HWM, Porsche,Alfa Romeo,Lancia, Bristol, Peugeot,Cooper, Connaught, Osca,Gordini,D B Panhard,Lotus,Triumph, Arnolt Bristol, Chevrolet, Lister, FIAT,Peerless, Sprite, Lola, etc etc. are shown mostly in brilliant color.There is a list of over 140 team names. There are countless paragraphs of superfluous starts and general comments. You may find bits of information of interest in the endless prose but not telling much of anything new.The real purpose of this book? Well there really isn't any but the pictures are very nice. and it's a nice way to spend part of a rainy afternoon. You may find some new pieces of info in the endless pages of historic prose most of which have better sources. The many images are nice to look at but.......tonga's crew

 

Yes I know it well. My "brief book reviews" site seems to be quite popular with over 30,700 hits Glad you enjoy it. tonga's crew

 

"FANTASTIC FERRARIS" by Antoine Prunet and Peter Vann; large format;hard back; glossy paper dust cover;First Pub. 1987 in French; 1988 Motorbooks International Pub.Osceola, Wisconsin USA in English; 203 glossy pages.The text is one of the best of its kind.For example;page 17 the Rosier GP to sports car chassis. One of the most unique Farraris ever created.and rarely discussed.Page 56 ;Image of Fangio "luke warm about road racing" and in the Mille Miglia mountains taking a blind left hand corner in the rain with spectators standing IN the road less than a meter from his car. He also referred to his 290 MM Ferrari as "the bathtub" caused by air vents filling the cockpit with rain water. Can you blame him?Page 66 a 250 Cabriolet Series 1 described as having a multitude of customer requested details from dashboards, fender vents, fog lights, bumpers. Porsche syncromesh gear box and more.This was an exception but in three years of "production" no two were exactly the same in many ways. Ever hear of "blind end' cylinder heads? Neither have I. Problems with the 250 Testa Rossa " to much front end engine weight with wet oil pan and gearbox mounted with the engine on the customer cars and drum brakes. It was the "private" 250 GTOs which brought a second World Championship to Ferrari. And with the 250 LM disquaified the modified 250 GTO continued to win.Then the chassis tubes of the 330P carried oil and coolant with a new larger V12. and the original Dino V6 badge was replaced with the Ferrari badge which ment the Dino experiment was over. The front engine street cars continued with larger more powerful engines with such notable exceptions as a three front seater with the driver in the middle seat(only three built).And then the first of the mid engine street cars came along and this is where the book ends. The many full color images are exceptional as is the text which I have only covered very briefly. Get this one.I guarantee you will refer to it often. tonga'screw

 

"SCARLET PASSION" "Ferrari's famed sports cars 1963-73"; large format; Haynes Publishing, Sparkford , Somerset U.K.; June 2005; large format; hard back; glossy paper dust cover; 272 pages. In the "Introduction" pages 8-19 Enzo Ferrari is described as "the most feared, hated and respected in Italian motor racing" I might add I think this went well beyond Italy. His egoism, paranoia and ruthlessness are also mentioned as well as the possibility of an unknown financial backer (in addition to his wife). Now there are a total of 17 chapters, one for each year 1962- 1973 followed by chapters with Mauro Forghieri, John Surtees, Brian Redman and Ronnie Hoare, in my opinion an interesting combination, followed by 4 chapters with such titles as "Dramatic Personas" "Specifications on Ferrari....." Championship results" and " Chassis Information". The discussion of the Cobra Wars , the 1965 season," is described as a"hollow victory" In the Prototype chapter the NART operation is described as having " low standards of preparation and inefficient pit work, and .Ronnie Hoare "did everything in an amazing style"..Each of the following years are described with very entertaining writing. There is more on the P3-4s, the flat 12s, the F 1 problems, Matra, and Forghieri with no excuses for the lingering problems. This is one volume that tell the REAL story. Enjoy. tonga's crew

 

Ferrari "I QUATRO CILINDRI" by Francesco Scarletti;Mito Rosso,Rome Pub.1998;large format; hard back with cloth cover;heavy cardboard sleeve with full color images; 273 glossy pages. Italian language with English translation on each page. The description od the light alloy cylinder heads and cylinder liners reads "This meant that the cast iron liners were able to expand at a different rate from the head and block, since they were no longer compressed inside the block but could slide freely inside it,"Ok go figure The rest of the book is much more of "the same" broken up with a brief discussions of every major racing event they participated in. There are countless images of just about every engine type and many of the individual parts.As an example, the successes and failures of the various engines and the cars they were in from the first 625 &500 F1 and F2 machines to the failures of the Supersqualo to the successes of the 860- Monza, described by Fangio as his favorite Ferrari,i are covered in considerable detail. Any major collection of Ferrari literature needs this one as well as anyone who has a real fascination with these four cylinder engines and the cars built around them. Enjoy tonga's crew

 

FERRARI Year books: My collection includes the following years and Year books; 1930-1931-1932-1933 years, in one volume as reprints of the originals, by Stabilmento Polgrafilo Modena via Fallopia 10, Modena;Italy; undated, and issues of all individual original Ferrari Yearbooks 1951-1966.These all usually have, ware and condition issues. Prices for these original issues vary widely depending on the year covered.As long as any issue is complete with binding and all pages in tact it is considered by me as" collectable". Prices today have, on the whole, come down a bit in the past several years and can vary today of between $500 to over $1500 depending on several variables. The most expensive and difficult to find is an original of the 1951 Year Book. There are reprints of almost every year I refer to in this period.If there is a particular year one is seriously interested in, a reprint can usually be found on the internet, but the entire text will be in Italian. As of this writing there are reasonable prices on many depending on the year. For the average collector you might consider a reprint as satisfactory.If however you must have an "original" be very careful.If a copy is advertised as "original as new" it probably isn't.Most issues have changed hands several times, so doing you homework is important when considering a possible "original"issue.Be careful. tonga's crew

 

"EMOTION FERRARI (Europe 1947-1972); by Maurice Louche; (this is copy #1703);AMIGON & RIMBAUD a' Cavaillon Pub.; October 14, 2005; 503 pages; large format; hard back;French/English; Introduction by Maurice Lnich; This collection gives the reader hours of unique reading and provides hours of detailed background history of individual cars in a wide variety of historical events with much more than a few statistics. The is a vast collection of mostly B & W period images. The is brief text with each image. These images feature individual drivers, racing in and out of their cars ,in the pits with a wide variety of activity and odd track scenes and much more. Open wheel and sports cars of these years are captured and at rest and in all kinds of racing situations. S/Ns are noted with almost every image along with comments about the drivers, the event, and much . more.There are plenty of character studies and plenty of on and off track gossip.It is difficult in words to capture what really goes on between the covers of this volume. Triumph ,tragedy , humor, back room chat and more is written about. Every reader will find themselves involved in this book to. or some degree of " Oh, I didn't know that", or 'would you believe that". There is really no other book I know of that has the variety of just plain "stuff" to enjoy on this subject. Enjoy tonga's crew

 

"BAHAMAS SPEED WEEKS"; by Terry O'Neil; forward by Denise McCluggage;large format; hard back; cloth cover;Veloce Publications, Dorchester England;367 pages. This covers much more than just Ferrari.It was however the most unusual motor raceing event on the calander for many years. This book covers all the years 1954-1966. The events were attended by many of the best professional and amateur drivers of the day and owners of some of the best racing sports cars of the day and not just from America.There were events for production and pure race cars of just about every category even including home built specials, motor cycles and speed boats.The first several years used a 3.5 mile track made up from the runways of Winchester Airport and were all amateur events.Then in 1957 it all changed to the new track at Oaks Field of over 4 more challenging miles and some impressive prize money was introduced.Many of the professional drivers like Phil Hill, Shelby, Stirling Moss, Joe Bonnier, Von Trips showed up for the parties, beach fun, bars and of course the many different racing events.Maserattis, Ferraris,Aston Martins Jaguars, Cobras and Listers showed up along with the countless MGs TR3s Healys Lotus Porsche VWs etc. etc.for the many races. There has been considerable discussion as to whether it was the racing, the parties the beaches or so many beautiful women that brought so much XXXXX to Nassau and now many "hung over" drivers were racing. One thing for sure, fun and more was enjoyed by all and the images and text of this book tells much of it that's "fit to print". Enjoy ;tonga's crew

 

True but if you shop around you can usually find one for a bit less.I have been at this for 15 years and have enjoyed almost every moment. This book is all part of my collection "Ferrari The Golden Years 1947-1967.Much more to come as I am not even half way thru the book reviews The collection will be for sale some day and also includes 1142 files on individual s/ns starting with 01C. and more. Anyone interested can register with me.A charitable donation is also a considerartion. You can register at "[email protected]. tongascrew (George Burgess)

 

"MAKING A DIFFERENCE'=" VOLUME #1. # 30/99", by Angelo Tito Anselmi with Marcel Massini; English/ Italian;Le Edizionoi dell' Opificio, Milan Feb 2006 Pub;hard back;leather binding with leather carrying case and CD; 255 pages;It opens with an introduction and forward pages 7-39. and is followed byCarozzerias Fantuzzi, Ghia, Scaglietti, Vignale and more. This all starts with some pre WWII chat and then the Auto Avio 815, though officially not a Ferrari. It then goes on with "Automobilia Ferrari, the Search for visual Idendity" with text and images inside the first Ferrari factory by Mailander and others.What follows show and describes some of the great designs from Allamino Torino, Bertone and Motto.Then comes the "Uvovo" and chassis s/n #0030, #0086 with wonderful B & W images and pages of text telling the story in great detail.Ghia comes next along with Ghia "Aigle".From page 126 -188, though not the most spectacular, these designs were perfect for the gentleman driver of the period.Then we go on to the more obscure designers like Neri, Bonacini, and Anselmo and Gentilini. The Nembo badge was then created and the likes of Sergio Braide and an American Tom Mead contributed.Scaglietti comes next pages 196- 229 with obscure info you may have come across. The final pages are devoted to a few obscure Carozerrias you may have never heard of.There is a much less expensive edition available than this deluxe issue but all are difficult to find.If you can find one get it right away.This is as important an offering as there is. A review of volume II will follow.Enjoy tonga's crew

 

"MAKING A DIFFERENCE Volume II"; by Angelo Tito Anselmi with Marcel Massini: Le Edizioni dell dell Opi Ficio: Milan- February 2006; large format; hard back leather binding; 265 glossy pages; English/Italian;"Early Ferrari Coachbuilders"; ( Note the pages in this volume start with pages 264 to 511 where Volume 1 ended). This volume starts with "Stabilimenti Industrials, Giovanni Farina-Torino" and ends with Carrozzeria Zigato- Milano. Now where do you suppose Pinin Farina comes in? Well except for a small reference on page 265 with "Pinin Farina started up his own business only 14 years later". I can only surmise that so much had already been written about P.F., it was time that all the others got there full due.As a result these two volumes tell the stories of the "the others" who both seperatly and together gave so much to the Ferrari legacy.What this book does is more on Stabilmenti Farina fro Volume 1 followed by a detailed look inside Touring,Vignale and Zagato. The real emphasis is on the first two and rightly so.These two provided cars that were prized by gentlemen drivers and some of the best racing drivers of the day.There are pages of text and many period B & W images.The classic image of Chinetti's Le Mans wining Touring bodied car driving slowly down a back road back to its garage after 24 hours of victorious racing.One gets the feeling the driver may well have stopped somewhere along the way for a coffee. Then of course there is Giavonni Michalotti who was given a free had in designing some of the most venerated body work which was also well known to have each side built just slightly different from the other.Let's not forget Vignale for in addition to Ferrari designed body work for Cadillac,FIAT,Mersedes Osca, Alfa Romeo,Maseratti and others. No two were ever the same but were memorable.Learn and Enjoy. tonga's crew

 

"FERRARI 125;Progretto.Technica.Storia"; by Giovanni Rogliatti; large format;cloth hard back;Puntografico SPA Editor;Maru Bandera Filippini Pub.(undated);153 glossy pages; heavy board slip cover;Italian English:. 1945 the war is over. Enzo Ferrari had two relatively small factories building machine tools.Giachino Colombo is laid off at Alpha Romeo.E F gets him right away. He is already enthusiastic about the V12 engine design. Franco Cortese was already a long timer at Ferrari in charge of sales and was told by E.F to stop and get ready to go racing again. Immediately there were problems with the bearings. Giacelino Ramponi another old timer with E.F. who had escaped the war in England arrived with the U S A design for the Vanwall "thin wall bearings" and so things really got started.The first two chapters are details and copies of the design drawings and a large collection of lavish color images of the "reproduction" of 01C. One thing of concern here is the tendency of these images to adhere to each other particularly near the binding.To prevent any further damage I have put a sheet of parchment paper between each pare of pages which has prevented further damage.The second half of of the book details the competition career of O1C. This is followed by an interesting discussion of the persona of E.F..One particular statement reads "The truth is that his( E.F.} public image was largely of his own creation". There is much more in the final chapter "Biographies" of the most significant people who had so much to do with creating his image.This book is unique in so many ways of telling this widely varying saga. Enjoy, tonga's crew

 

"FERRARI ECURIE GARAGE FRANCORCHAMP"; by Gianni Rogliati;1992 Georgio NADA Editore;large format; hard back,cloth cover;243 pages; English, French,Italian; One of the very few great independent motor racing organizations, Jaques Swaters didn't build race cars.Instead he started a successful racing career in 1958 with Paul Frere and his first 166 Ferrari. This grew into a partnership and work shop preparing MG,BMW and Veritas racing cars. Ecurie Belgique was then created. If you want a quick synopsis of the subject, pages 17-19 gives is to you year by year. The balance of this book describes every Ferrari that passed thru the Swaters organization with text and period images, many unique to this volume.It starts with a 500 F2 500/0208 delivered to Swaters in may of 1952. His unique business plan comes into focus right here with Roger Laurent, Charles de Tonaco and Swaters driving this car with considerable success. Swaters won the Berlin Grans Prix at the Avus on July 12 1953.This was followed by 0014, a 234 AL, for King Leopold of Belgium. Other drivers either leasing a car for in individual event or well known drivers like Gendebien for a selection of events.Ferrari road cars such as the 375 went to wealthy royalty. The list of cars driven by owners just grew on.The Swaters business plan was like no other and the relationship between Swaters and Enzo Ferrari was unique.Often a car was acquired from Maranello and used by all manor of independent and profesional drivers and later returned to Maranello as part of another new Ferrari chassis deal. This business plan was used by others but no one perfected it as well as Swaters did. This arrangement with Ferrari continued right up thru the era of the 250LM and 365 P machines.There has never been an organization in motor racing to equal Garage Francorchamps,After reading this you may want more. P.S. No mention is made of 0384. Enjoy. tonga's crew

 

"1952- 2002 FERRARI 5O anni di passione Garage FRANCORCHAMPS A Ferrari Jubilee; soft back; 79 pages; English Italian; by Denis Asselberghs; Starts with four brief chapters about The Commendentore" Preface by Piero Ferrari Forward by Sergio Pininfarina;Testimony by Pierre Dieudonne and an Interview with Jaques Swaters; followed by sic chapters covering 10 year periods from "the Fifties' to "The Nineties"; january 2002; and more. Interesting gossip format which will add much to the previous book review with topics about Swaters and others,and the Garage Francorchamps and Maranello.Enjoy tonga's crew

 

"Enzo Ferrari & Maranello"; a cura di ICARO Ptogetti x Larte; testi di Elisabetta Barbolini Ferrari ([ plus 8 others); Copyright 2010 by Palgrafico SpA 41123 Modena; Via Emila Over T 7669; Comune de Maranello; large format; Hard back, cloth cover; 315(?) high gloss pages; OK you guessed correctly.With the exception of one lone short line about the "Copyright 2010", the entire text is in Italian.Now my collection includes over 600 images a few may never have been published and are owned by museums,the photographer or are in private collections. Just when you think you have seen most of these, along comes this volume.The many personalities in this collection of images are well identified and are familiar like Colombo, Castaloti, Bazzi PazzuoliLampredi. Others however are names most of us are not familiar with or images rarely if ever published at all. What I have written here is just a taste of what is between the covers of this book.Its not for beginners on the subject of Ferrari but even the most knowledgeable will be challenged particularly if fluent in Italian.And many of the spectacular B & W and color images are a real rarity.Enjoy; tonga's crew