Ferrari Fever | FerrariChat

Ferrari Fever

Discussion in 'Collectables, Literature, & Models' started by tongascrew, Feb 25, 2014.

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  1. tongascrew

    tongascrew F1 Rookie

    Jan 3, 2006
    2,989
    tewksbury
    Full Name:
    george burgess
    I have just received a copy of this remarkable volume by Paul Schouwenburg. It is a beautiful presentation of 384 pages in heavy dust jacket and is extremely well written in English with many period photographs and sketches many never before published. It covers a period of almost seven decades of a man whose profession was surgeon specialist and whose avocation was a dedicated collector,restorer.competitor and historian of primarily Ferraris.I have not yet completed the entire volume but can say this. Of the over 700 volumes of books and magazines in my collection this is amongst the very best. It is unique in its perspective and I can highly recommend it to anyone with more than just a passing interest in Ferrari provenance. tongascrew
     
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  2. michael platzer

    michael platzer F1 Veteran

    Nov 12, 2003
    5,220
    Austria
    Full Name:
    Michael Platzer
    I have seen a copy yesterday and ordered mine today.

    its 85,-- GBP plus shipping at Eau Rouge Publishing · Eau Rouge Publishing

    many interesting pics and a very personal point of view.

    It will be really interesting if and how Schouwenburg explains the "0720TR-case".

    There are lots of pics of the car in the book but i had no chance to read it yesterday.
     
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  3. tongascrew

    tongascrew F1 Rookie

    Jan 3, 2006
    2,989
    tewksbury
    Full Name:
    george burgess
    I haven't gotten that far yet. I am sure there will be plenty of opinions. Similar in a way to the Swatters controversy. By the way where and why was this thread moved tongascrew
     
  4. Buchpilot

    Buchpilot Formula Junior

    Sep 3, 2021
    501
    Germany
    Full Name:
    Sven
    To my shame, I had never heard of Paul Schouwenburg until, this morning, I came across "Ferrari Fever" by coincidence in the online shop of Matthias Disch. It looked so interesting that I instantly ordered it. Now that I read you comments here, I know I made the right decision :cool:
     
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  5. bloomberg

    bloomberg Formula Junior

    Mar 7, 2011
    564
    Also on sale at Chaters: GBP 60.00!
     
  6. Buchpilot

    Buchpilot Formula Junior

    Sep 3, 2021
    501
    Germany
    Full Name:
    Sven
    My copy arrived today and I had time to look through the whole book. What an excellent book, indeed! Of course, I didn't have time to start reading it, but I read numerous captions, which often displayed a fine sense of humour. I am looking forward to spending some more hours with this fine account of Paul Schouwenburg's life and car passion.
     
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  7. Jack-the-lad

    Jack-the-lad Six Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Jun 22, 2004
    69,037
    Moot Pointe
    It’s a really good book. I forget how I heard about it, but I bought it as soon as it came out.
     
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  8. Nembo1777

    Nembo1777 F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Nov 4, 2006
    10,147
    opposite lock
    Full Name:
    Marc Sonnery
    I am very happy and proud to have babysitted this book from Paul's rough draft to finished product. It was quite a journey and he is a truly unique character but more on this tomorrow as I just got home from the Chantilly concours dead tired, bedtime.
     
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  9. Nembo1777

    Nembo1777 F1 World Champ
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    Nov 4, 2006
    10,147
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    Full Name:
    Marc Sonnery
    #9 Nembo1777, Sep 27, 2022
    Last edited: Sep 27, 2022
    So a few words on Ferrari fever.

    it all started when my friend Philip Kantor, head of Bonhams Europe, mentioned that a friend of his, a Dutch racer-restorer-collector, needed a writer to help him rewrite his manuscript and get the book published.

    We got in touch and Paul sent me his script. It was like a rough diamond still covered with mud; his story was extraordinary. He had incredible energy and drive and had tracked down, acquired, restored raced and sold numerous important Ferraris during a time when they could be found cheap and all you had to go on was a small classified ad or even a rumor that a red old racing car sat in a village over yonder....

    His English was laced with Dutch, what I call Schouwenburgian dialect so I had to work the quirks out of it which took two entire rewrites.

    The story was rich in quality and quantity of cars, people, anecdotes based on an excellent memory and the clincher was the sheer quantity of good photos he had from his entire life. This is highly unusual as so many just have a few poor shots.

    So my publisher Doug Blair of Eau Rouge Publishing loved the story and photos and we got busy.

    Paul can be a bit abrupt so had ruffled some feathers in Holland, with a few quick to claim he has a big ego but in fact I found nothing of the sort. he had written nothing about his career and I encouraged him to do so explaining that if people were going to read his automotive life's account they surely would like to know what he did during working hours. Turns out he was a brain surgeon with numerous ideas on how to solve brain tumor issues in small children, brilliant world class skills. He was honored professionally for his exceptional career. Oh and after I insisted he delivered a chapter on his career...just a couple of pages. So the ego claims I feel are wrong.
    He was clearly very fast as a driver as he won numerous races and some of the tales such as heading to remote Switzerland with Rob de la Rive Box to buy a 250LM with Porsche (!) bodywork by getting the seller progressively inebriated with a bottle of pear liquor are priceless.

    He had a couple of text portions that were not acceptable though. One was endlessly belaboring a point that was not interesting...and after much convincing he relented and it was dropped. The other was regarding a medical matter when he worked in a hospital. Even some time after WWII what was acceptable then would not be now, very different times, so after 2 hours of back and forth he accepted to edit it to make it innocuous.
    Likewise when I suggested a certain photo would make a great cover he said oh no are you joking never...yet there he is standing in his empty engine bay with a steering wheel in hand on the cover so bedankt for listening Paul:)!

    Then the cherry on the cake was when I contacted Nick Mason and he accepted to write the foreword:)

    Here a couple of photos from when he came to my house in Burgundy in November 2012 with his wife and Mercedes station wagon filled to the roof with photo albums. An intense two days of choosing countless photos and their sizes, allocating them to their respective chapters.

    The same Merc station wagon he drove me flat out in around Zandwoort 3 months later:) He knew the track manager so we just showed up and got a few laps in!

    Doug Blair really believed in the book, did a really excellent job with layout and print quality and voila book ready.

    Then a photo of Retromobile, February 2014, on launch day with the raw script he had sent me a year earlier and the finished product!:)

    Octane and Classic & Sports car both gave us book of the month in their respective May 2014 issues so that was very rewarding!

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  10. bloomberg

    bloomberg Formula Junior

    Mar 7, 2011
    564
    Love the book Marc, kudos to you!
     
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  11. Buchpilot

    Buchpilot Formula Junior

    Sep 3, 2021
    501
    Germany
    Full Name:
    Sven
    Thank you very much Marc @Nembo1777 for providing this precious background information!
     
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  12. Jack-the-lad

    Jack-the-lad Six Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Jun 22, 2004
    69,037
    Moot Pointe
    I’m going to print Marc’s comments and slip the page into the book.
     
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  13. Balsamina

    Balsamina Formula Junior

    May 19, 2010
    927
    San Francisco Area
    Full Name:
    S
    Thank you for sharing the backstory. I have greatly enjoyed my copy of the book.

    Great idea!
     
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  14. Buchpilot

    Buchpilot Formula Junior

    Sep 3, 2021
    501
    Germany
    Full Name:
    Sven

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