Description
Observations on Ferrari takes the now established editorial route of S. Scott Callan’s Publications by placing the characters and the company in the landscape of the time. Here the reader stands amidst the rubble of the immediate post World War II period and travels on to the height of the Mid-Century Modern era.
He tells the story of how Enzo Ferrari sought to resurrect his Scuderia, and in the process taking it from racing team to race car manufacturer. And doing so in an industrially devastated Italy.
To bring this into clear focus the Prologue begins with the arrest of Mussolini in 1943, and examines the social, economic and cultural destruction that followed, thus setting the stage for the surreal challenges faced.
The story then takes the reader through the geopolitical and socio economic events that rebuilt and unified Europe. Events of such epic proportion that it transformed Ferrari’s operation from race car builder to significant player in the international automotive community. In observing the transformation the reader attends the races as they evolved from competition of surviving pre-War hardware to engineering of a modern era once only imagined.
We will also walk the factory floors, as we examine the unique Italian relationship between automobile manufacturer, with their focus of capital on engineering, and the Carrozzeria, whose industrial design concentration was on defining and driving fashion.
At its base, this is the story of people, a select group of whom have the responsibility of foresight, to see the future of the automobile.
In this case, the high performance automobile..in its ultimate state.
And the subtitle: The King’s Eyes? Well, Just like any good mystery, it’s revealed in the story.
Observations reflects the author’s experience in the Italian motor industry, with its special focus on high performance engines, manufacturing throughput and finance.
For insight into the depth of research behind Observations here is a link to the Observer’s Guide research document I composed at the onset of the project. It details every Ferrari made during the 1946 to 1966 period, as they evolved to face the challenge of each season’s competition in Formula 1 and the World Sportscar Championship and the new generations of road cars the were developed directly from their engineering.
416 pages.
94 photographs, mostly color
37 illustrations
34 charts of the Ferrari models, the F1 races and some WSC Championship races, all in detail.
Photography and illustrations by S. Scott Callan
Period photography by Bernard Cahier
