Lamm’s Ferrari Book: Not New but Still Good (and cheap)

BOOK REVIEW:
Ferrari: Stories from Those who Lived the Legend
Author: John Lamm
Book Design: Chuck Queener
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Motorbooks; 1st edition
(October 15, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0760328331
ISBN-13: 978-0760328330
Shipping Weight: 5.2 pounds
Price:$60 On Sale, $15

To Order:Motorbooks
1-800-458-0454

A good book on Ferrari need not be expensive…

Review by Wallace Wyss and the Editor (in Italics)

There are car books written by those who, embarrassingly, never drove the cars they write about, or, if it’s race cars, never met one of the racers who raced one personally.

Fortunately, with this title, first issued in 2007, John Lamm, the author, (also the photographer) has lived a life intimately involved with Ferraris for the last 40 plus years as a result of his long association as a contributor to Road & Track.

[I agree. Lamm has truly been there and done that, much to the benefit of the reader. He was the one that got to do all of the good stuff, like visit Enzo Ferrari with Phil Hill. Lamm IS the glory years of R&T–PV.]

It is mostly a picture book, and a lush grand beautiful example of the genre; large format, beautifully illustrated, one so big that you need a reinforced coffee table to hold it.

[In a sense, a thinking man’s coffee table book. Far better than most. The one problem with the size and layout is a square format which means that many great shots are separated by the binder–PV.]

This book is one you buy primarily for the pictures—many shot with long telephoto lenses that give these stylish cars real impact that isn’t so evident in old historical pictures shot with more “normal” lenses like a 55-mm. But the words are interesting too. Instead of summarizing Ferrari history in a dry format (“And then in 1967 they added another half liter” Lamm did a series of interviews with famous Ferrari owners and race-drivers who are intimately involved with the marque. So, we have Ferrari-lore from drivers the likes of Phil Hill, Mario Andretti, Dan Gurney and Brian Redman. Lamm has made many trips to Italy, so he personally knew many of the people involved in shaping Ferrari, such as Sergio Pininfarina, Giorgetto Giugiaro and Sergio Scaglietti.

[Lamm is able to bring forth old information in a new manner, even when writing of Ferrari’s meeting with Batista Farina. He adds to the mix fresh interviews with collectors such as Bob Lee, and Dario Franchitti, drivers Gino Munaron and Dan Gurney. Sprinkle in a variety of the best archival photos with Lamm’s own outstanding photography and you have a great recipe–PV.]

There’s a sprinkling of celebrity owners, some of whom, in this writer’s opinion, deserve to be there like Ralph Lauren, but one has to wonder about including the guy who gets a few pages on his Enzo when he in fact entered a race in it without looking at the course beforehand, ran his car up to 206 mph with disastrous results. Why should we give space to someone so dumb?

[Why should he give space to Lauren? I suppose, because we do get to read Lauren’s thoughts. But when the ex-tie salesman says of his TR 250, “ Every detail on the car is an art piece as far as I’m concerned”, I get concerned. I totally agree with the Enzo crash story. In a book which has some truly excellent interviews, a long chapter is devoted to Richard Losee, who had the misfortune to destroy an Enzo and almost himself and writes seven paragraphs of humble explanation. There is no socially redeeming value here–PV.]

The only thing I find lamentable is in the later sections, some of the cars are really not significant in terms of history, say like the Mondial, but get space that takes away space from the cars that are interesting historically. But then this is not titled “Ferrari’s most significant cars.” I can’t complain about the book it isn’t, only about the book it is.

[Ah, kudos to the Mondial. And the rest of the poor early V8s. If someone could find a way to reduce the labor costs on belt replacements their value would skyrocket. It’s nice to see Lamm put them up there with the real Ferraris. But whatever the historical significance or market value of the early eights, there is no doubt that they kept the company viable through a tough time and are, in fact, the cars that saved Ferrari–PV.]

He also leaves out the “cut” cars, like say, the Boxers cut into Targas or full convertibles by people like Richard Straman. This was probably a good idea, because whenever you include the modified cars, you are starting down a slippery slope as to what’s “factory” and what isn’t with endless confusion (say the 400 convertible, which though it was never mass produced by the factory was made in a run of just two for experimental purposes. Lamm leaves all the modified cars out except for cars like the NART spyder which were built by Ferrari).

[I agree. Slippery slope for sure. Lamm has good footing–PV.]

It is intended probably as a gift book to Ferrari fans and thus has to cover a wide range so the ultra-purists will knock it for not concentrating solely on “their” cars. But you can never satisfy the ultra-purists–unless the book costs $40,000 (there is a book like that, look for the review if we get one…)

This book is not meant to be read front to back in one sitting but instead to be a book you can relax with in the evening after dinner with a good glass of wine—a little dip into what made you a Ferrari fan in the first place.

[To aid in this, the publishers have seen fit to install a date bar by decade at the top of the pages…which doesn’t do much for the layout but does help you find your decade of interest quickly. There is also a fairly complete index at the back of the book. The organization is intelligent. Arranged by decades, beginning with the 1940s to the 2000s, from there it is broken up into production cars, sports racing cars (where appropriate) and Grand Prix cars. Within those headings are interviews and many images–PV.]

In sum, there is probably no better photographer who could have furnished so many delectable images of beautiful Ferraris. And no writer who, year in and year out, keeps in touch with the world of Ferrari just enough so he can give us his view which is as a reporter shown the inside view, a view not available to just anyone.

[In a very appropriate move, Lamm chose Luca Cordero di Montezemolo to give voice to the last chapter of the book. Europe has a unique ability to retain what is great from the past and yet forge into the future and Ferrari is a good example of that tradition. As Montezemolo put it, “So we must maintain the same passion, same exclusivity, same challenge, an same innovation spirit without losing the links to the past….” At the end of the chapters, we see that Lamm’s book illustrate exactly those attributes–PV.]

This one is a keeper. Now on sale for only $15, it’s a steal.

[Thanks Mr. Lamm Now will you write the real story?–PV]

THE REVIEWER: Wallace Wyss is an automotive reporter who has authored two non-fiction books on Ferrari and promises to release his novel set in the Ferrari world in the coming months.