Official book collectors thread

Maybe crap is too strong a word, I would call the PF books I have greatly disappointing. Black and white studio photos and that's about it. No drawings, no models, no text about the design process. Completely worthless.

 

Look for the old Pininfarina Yearbooks - they are brillant!

I covered the 1972/1973 edition at Instagram a while ago:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CJIw0wulO9k/?igsh=dWZ0NTY5aGQ2Mm85

 

The Figoni books by Peter Larsen and Ben Erikson continue with Bugatti Vol. 2 & 3. Available this spring.

https://www.moteurs.dk/figoni-bugatti

 

I have them.

 

Some other PF books to consider are Pininfarina Solitaires, Pininfarina Sessantanni, Pininfarina Sixty Years, and the aforementioned Fioravanti's Il Cavallino Nel Cuore.


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Nice collection Furman.

Getting back to your original question I would also include a book about the man himself to your library.

Either the Brock Yates book (that the Ferrari movie is based on) or the Dal Monte book are a good start.


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Agree but I believe the more recent DalMonte book is the better of the two. He had much better access and more recent information

 

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100%
The Dal Monte book is the better read no question.

 

To bad that T33/2 body is gone.

 

This is one of the most disappointing books I own.
Firstly, the graphic quality of the book is very average.
Secondly, it's not a book about car design, but a compilation of cars supposedly designed by Gandini, with very little information about the creative process that led to their conception - Gandini isn't very talkative in real life, and he doesn't say much in this book either, plus he doesn't own his archives... Don't expect much interesting material in it, it's mostly just uninteresting photos.
Thirdly, the author is a fan of Gandini, so he takes everything he says at face value. And God knows that designers always tend to hijack the work of others... There's no journalistic or historical work here to check the facts. It's pure hagiography. Cars not designed by Gandini are attributed to him, like the Bertone Citroën Camargue - and there are surely others.
Every time I hope to use it as a reference book for an article, I close it in disappointment. Wikipedia is better than this book...

In contrast Fioravanti's Il Cavallino Nel Cuore is a must have.

 

“And God knows that designers always tend to hijack the work of others... “

 

While I don’t have first hand knowledge of some of the things you allege, I also was very disappointed by the book. My concerns have mostly to do with the book itself, its mediocre quality, design, etc. As I say, I don’t have the knowledge necessary to critique the editorial content, but I have no reason to doubt what you say about the author and the subject.

By the way the same publisher and author have what appears to be a second edition of the book (revisions? new information?) coming out this year.

 

Same author ? What do you expect ?

Out of curiosity, I've just done a bit of fact-checking and found another very common error in the book... I don't like to criticise the work of my colleagues, but when you call yourself a journalist specialising in Italian car design and you fill such an important book with aproximations and urban legends (no doubt to please your idol), it's lamentable.
With a group of friends, we try (I say we, but I don't do much, apart from relaying their findings in my medias when I can) by interviewing witnesses and discovering archives to find the people behind certain car designs and give them justice - you'll be surprised at the extent to which some design 'legends' didn't do a quarter of what they're known for...
So when a book reproduces without checking the nonsense you read everywhere, it annoys me.

 

Good to know guys. I have no time for mediocre books, none. I mean, it's cool and all to have rows and rows of car books but after looking at many of the books I have, specifically the Pininfarina books, I'm done with that crap.

At this point, for me to buy a book, it has to be excellent. If that means I only own a handful of books, so be it.

On that note, looking forward to receiving my copy of the Dino Compendium I ordered over the weekend.

 

You won’t be disappointed with the Dino book.

 

Even though I have a very large collection of Ferrari and other motoring books I do agree that less can sometimes be more.

You'll love the Dino Compendium. I think as you said prior, you should invest in a copy of Ferrari in Camera and then finally buy a few model specific books relating to the model of Ferrari you love.

The 288 GTO is a dream car for me so I have pretty much most of the books ever written about that car (good, bad or otherwise).

Unless you're a complete book tragic like me, that's really all you need to have a great collection of Ferrari books you can refer to time and time again.

 

I have Joe Sackey's 288 GTO, it's not bad. Before I throw down for Ferrari in Camera I'm probably going to purchase Inside Line. And before that I'll probably get the Enzo Ferrari biography mentioned above or Piloti, che genti. One of those will be next.

 

You mean Inside Track ?

 

Yes, that's what I meant. Looking at some of the pics from those two volumes, fantastic photos. I may have to bump that one to next in line.

 

I think Inside Track is one of the best non Ferrari specific books going around.

As I've said before if you want a book on Phil Hill that features Ferrari's then Inside Track is the book for you.

If you want a book on Ferrari's that features Phil Hill then A Champions View is a good read.




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I finally got another copy. I 'lost' my original copy moving houses many years ago (still hoping I will find it). I had forgotten what a good book it was and spent a good deal of time in it today.

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Does anyone know of a good book on the 400 Superamerica? All I can find is Ferrari America, Superamerica, Superfast by Bruno Alfieri. Does anyone have this book?
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So after we had a run on disliking bi-lingual books, this one a a tri-lingual will get a worse recession…
But in my eyes it‘s nice and offers more Superamerica content than most others but i‘m still
disappoint to date that the manage to show zero technic pics and only a pair of interior pics.