I bought off ebay the other day a Special Issue of Sports Cars from September of 1959 titled "The fabulous cars of Enzo Ferrari". I am enjoying it very very much. It has cover to cover Ferrari stuff including complete technical specs, cutaway drawing of the 128d 250gt engine and pictures of various iterations of Ferraris, engines etc. I paid $10 plus shipping I think, and its just fabulous. Tom W
I take it 'Sports Cars' is a magazine? Published where? How many pages in this special edition? Are you going to post some of it? Thanks
It's not really a "special issue", it's a normal monthly edition of the magazine, but it does have plenty of Ferrari content. Those were the days, my friend.... The cover photo is credited to Jesse Alexander, all rights reserved, blah blah blah. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I gave about 45 years of SCI (and C and D), R&T and SCG to a museum's research department a few years ago. Those were great magazines....wonderful writing (Manney, Ludvigsen, Coltrin, Sloniger, Yates, etc) and illustration (Alexander, Cahier, Motta, Klemantaski, etc). Sure better than the pap that gets published now. Of course, given the standard of material (both the cars and the racing) that editors have to work with these days..... Jack.
Especially Henry N Manney III - who had a turn of phrase unequalled since P.G.Wodehouse. No collection of early Auto literature is complete without "Road & Track on Henry Manney at Large and Aboard" published by Brooklands. Cheers Warren
A quick plug for Warren Weith in C&D. Another one who could turn a phrase. As he once described someone else "A man who stuck in your mind like a burr in an argyle sock".
I will throw in another on: Tom McCahill who wrote for Mechanix Illustrated. He could certainly turn a phrase. He may have tested the American Iron but that was not all he drove. Kicking around with friends and hunting quail at the Bonnette Hunting club near Palm Beach he got to experience that 'import stuff' to during some great drives. All this, long before things got built up down there. CH
Warren Weith....that guy could write. I wish somebody would publish a collection of his columns. Thanks for reminding me of him. There was some strong talent at Car and Driver in those days. Jack.
Hi Guys: Are we seeing the hint of a new thread - Favorite Automotive Journalists and/or favorite (Ferrari?) quotes? Cheers Warren
Sorry to disappoint. I remember when it switched to car and driver. I am pretty sure I bought at least one issue before the change. It is even in my mind the last issue before the change but that's probably not right. I really liked Tony Hogg at Road and Track.....Innes Ireland was a really fun writer too. Rob Walker too. Guys who could drive, did drive and other things as well and could really really write. I remember reading Rob Walker 25 years ago and just enjoying his writing with no clue until years later the breadth of his Automotive accomplishments and passion. I remember that whenever they did standing start contests with the test cars Rob could beat all the younger drivers even when he was quite old. I have had this old magazine for about a week now and I am still not done reading everything. I am used to modern magazines which I can usually read everything in them in one night or so. Books deserve a separate thread. Tom W
Great thread. We have mentioned some of the really fine automotive writers of the period, and having an entire bookcase devoted to plastic sleeved issues of R&T, Sport Car Illustrated and C and D, dating from the 1950s through the 70s, I can agree with all. One of the truly great articles of the period was in a '63 or '64 R&T when Henry Manney and Russell Brockbank went to a nudist colony off the coast of France. Maney for the writing and Brockbank for the incomparable wit of his illustrations, to call them cartoons is insufficient, make it a great example of the editorial quality of the period. And yes, laugh out loud funny. My copy of it is somewhere in the stacks. Will locate it over the weekend. And we are talking an era of automotive publishing here, the Mid-Century. I mention Brockbank to shine the spotlight on another aspect of these great publications, and that is the artwork of their covers and the art direction of the magazine layouts. It all expresses a vibrancy and enthusiasm of this sport car culture, with the fresh modern design. One of the best in this regard was John Christy's Sports Car Graphic. With Bernard Cahier running the European desk, with his direct writing style and fine photos, and established relationships in the Euro car community, this magazine had arguably the most depth of European coverage for an American title. As example of the fine graphics here are three covers to shine the light on Al Isaacs the art director. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
