Wyss, Legate, Friedman, Mills.. Where's the 427 book???

[DTurnbull]

Alright,

I know at least a couple of you hang out here from time to time. And, I know at least one of you is not at all interested in this title. But, isn't it time for a 427 book???? Shouldn't those who have braved the baddest race car ever (and set records) and the wickedest street car of all time have their own book? Shouldn't those who crave the most highly sought after and most expensive prize of collectors anywhere be able to endulge themselves in at least some juicy pictures and tid-bits. Yes, I love the 289's and their history, but enough already! Let's hear it for the big-block! We need this book. Why do you think someones "resoration" guide can can get over $500 on Ebay these days? Could it be because it has an S/C on it's cover?

Dave -

[Mark IV]

Trevor has it in his pocket. Wally is STILL waiting for someone else to write the book, shoot the photos and mail him the galley proofs!

While the 427 is the car America remembers (bigger, badder, faster.....) the rest of the world sees Cobras as the "World Champions" who made good in a day. (think 289....)

Perhaps you could write the book, enough info is out there and if you can't find what you need, do a Wally and ask for free information!

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by Mark IV

Trevor has it in his pocket. Wally is STILL waiting for someone else to write the book, shoot the photos and mail him the galley proofs!

[DTurnbull]

I like Wally's books. I think there's some good food for thought in them. But, maybe I will have to write it. I'm tired of waiting for one.

[Historybuff]

I would write it but for the cost of the artwork. Michael Lynch, a historian who is a paragon of research and a good writer too, told me he has various historical books he wants to write but can't afford to buy all the photos.

I would like to nominate some authors, some of whom you might not be familiar with.

Jerry Heasley might have enough info and pictures, his latest Corvette book is very lively and well photographed. Leffingwell , one of the great car photographrs, has the money to write it (married to a Chandler, yes those Chandlers) but he is not really a racing writer per se (I say that after he did three pages on the King Cobra but mistakingly pictured Gurney's Lotus instead).

Joe Scalzo, a long time Indy writer, is said to be working on a new book that is going to have two chapters on Shelby. He is the kind who could detail race histories and still be entertaining to read.

Brock Yates is a very lively writer who would be fun to read but who knows exactly what kind of book should be written? Where is the market? It all depends on how detailed a book you want. If all you want is race victories listed and serial numbers, that's not a Yates style book--that is more of a Ronnie Spain type thing, a one car per page ararnged by serial number thing. Poor Ronnie was sued when he "outed" some fake GT40s so think of the danger that awaits those who in print try to separate real 427 Cobras from those purporting to be real (one Los Angeles lawyer I interviewed showed me five of them he had made up, cars that even used real Cobras' serial numbers!).

It is an irony that the 289 won most of the Cobra's battles but the 427 is the car everyone wants to read about. Kind of like Hollywood making a movie and every reviewer ignores the star and instead lavishes praise on some supporting actor who stole the picture...

[jay bentley]

I don't think Heasley would be a good nomination for a Shelby book at this point in time.

[Power Surge]

I'd love to see a 427 book myself, but there's just not a lot of history behind them like there is with the small block cars. It would probably be a pretty thin book.

Still would love to see it .

[Jamo]

Trev...bathroom reading size this time, please.

[gt350pilot]

Historybuff,
I agree that Heasley would be a horrible choice. Of course the latest scrap with the hatchet job he did on SAAC but also his lack of attention to detail.

I work on both the Pacesetter Lotus and the USRRC Cobra featured in the Shelby book you mentioned. We spent the better part of the morning moving cars around and worked our rears off at the Monterey Historics for the photos in the book. Imagine the disappointment when the owner got a copy only to find that despite all of the Lotus badging he somehow thought it was a King Cobra! This was not a small typo but a glaring error easily fixed with a small amount of research. It did not give the credit due to either the true King Cobras but also a disservice to the Pacesetter Lotus which has it's own link to Shelby and I storied history of its own.

[Jamo]

"It is an irony that the 289 won most of the Cobra's battles but the 427 is the car everyone wants to read about. Kind of like Hollywood making a movie and every reviewer ignores the star and instead lavishes praise on some supporting actor who stole the picture..."

And it is exactly that assinine view (without any disrespect intended upon the little brothers) that flat pisses off those of us who are interested in having the elitest attitude corrected about the later models which have a racing history in America all their own...Dick Smith, etc. As noted, we would love to supplement our bookshelf with some materials on 427s, but generally make due with the last chapter of books dedicated to 289s and a half dozen Daytonas.

JMHO of course.

[A-Snake]

Originally Posted by Jamo

(without any disrespect intended upon the little brothers)
JMHO of course.

Jamo,

Little brothers? Are you talking about the real AC Cobras?

[Mark IV]

[quote=Historybuff;853530]
Brock Yates is a very lively writer who would be fun to read but who knows exactly what kind of book should be written? Where is the market? It all depends on how detailed a book you want. If all you want is race victories listed and serial numbers, that's not a Yates style book--that is more of a Ronnie Spain type thing, a one car per page ararnged by serial number thing. /QUOTE]

I know Yates (in fact, I am in Sunday Driver, I was an Agor Racing "gofer") and he can't write it as he cannot figure out how to use "Shibboleth", "Usurp" and "Yeasty stream of consciousness" in the text regarding the 427!

He is "persona non grata" in Italy for suggesting the Laura Ferrari (Enzo's wife, not one of his mistrisses) was a common prostitute prior to marrying Enzo.

[Jamo]

Originally Posted by A-Snake

Jamo,

Little brothers? Are you talking about the real AC Cobras?

Borrowed the term of endearment given by B17 crews to the Mustangs.

They both have their stories to be told me thinks.

[saltytri]

[quote=Mark IV;853623]

Originally Posted by Historybuff

He is "persona non grata" in Italy for suggesting the Laura Ferrari (Enzo's wife, not one of his mistrisses) was a common prostitute prior to marrying Enzo.

So, the Italian Ferrari fans prefer that she be thought of as an exceptional prostitute?

[Mark IV]

[quote=saltytri;853658]

Originally Posted by Mark IV

So, the Italian Ferrari fans prefer that she be thought of as an exceptional prostitute?

If you are going to do something, do it well!

[saltytri]

My thought exactly. Mediocrity is so boring. Especially where Italian prostitutes are concerned.

[Historybuff]

As long as we are talking about Yates, I enjoyed his book Of Death and Time, mostly about Indy racing in '55 (with a little bit of James Dean's death thrown in,)
until at the end of the book I realized that he had said at the outset that a fictional reporter was going to be employed throughout. So that meant that every quote in the book from race drivers and such didn't happen because if the reporter didn't exist there was no witness to what each person quoted said. I used a few paragraphs done in a similar fly-on-the-wall style to set the opening scene in my book but the chapters that follow employ real quotes wherever possible. So while a Yates on Shelby book would be fun to read and very flamboyant , I don't want to read it if that damn fictional reporter comes back.

(And what section of the library does the librarian put such a book, in fiction or non-fiction?)
As to why he found it necessary to use a fictional reporter, I suspect that since the year 1955 was over 50 years ago, maybe his journalistic career wasn't yet developed enough at that point for him to go and interview the big time Indy racers that the book is about, though I think Yates was publishing books while he was still in his 20s.

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by Historybuff

As long as we are talking about Yates, I enjoyed his book Of Death and Time, mostly about Indy racing in '55 (with a little bit of James Dean's death thrown in,)
until at the end of the book I realized that he had said at the outset that a fictional reporter was going to be employed throughout. So that meant that every quote in the book from race drivers and such didn't happen because if the reporter didn't exist there was no witness to what each person quoted said. I used a few paragraphs done in a similar fly-on-the-wall style to set the opening scene in my book but the chapters that follow employ real quotes wherever possible. So while a Yates on Shelby book would be fun to read and very flamboyant , I don't want to read it if that damn fictional reporter comes back.

(And what section of the library does the librarian put such a book, in fiction or non-fiction?)
As to why he found it necessary to use a fictional reporter, I suspect that since the year 1955 was over 50 years ago, maybe his journalistic career wasn't yet developed enough at that point for him to go and interview the big time Indy racers that the book is about, though I think Yates was publishing books while he was still in his 20s.

Wally,

A lot of similar things could be said about your writings, born on the back of others and jumbled together by your own mind to be published as your own. It's a sad, sad day when you have to put down others works to make yourself or your own works feel more "self important" than the others. Once again, as with your past, you show your true colors.


Bill S.

[A-Snake]

Originally Posted by Historybuff

I used a few paragraphs done in a similar fly-on-the-wall style to set the opening scene in my book but the chapters that follow employ real quotes wherever possible.

But do they employ real facts?

[Trevor Legate]

'Morning gents

I guess as an (ex) owner of a 7-litre AC 'Cobra' MkIII I should be banging on about about how wunnerful the 427 was/is but I still prefer the 'smaller' engine. Sorry, it's the way of the world in the UK. Do you know how many 427s there are in the UK? Neither do I, but it's not a lot - at one time I think there were two. So I find myself on the wrong continent to do the ultimate 427 book, much as I would enjoy every minute of the task. Having owned one of the blighters I guess I ought to do the book.

To be totally honest, young Wally did hit the nail on the head with his "where's the market" comment. As I believe I have mentioned in the past, my latest book cost north of $120,000 to get to the shoppes and that aint peanuts in my world. Once you further refine the market, you sell fewer books, the production costs remain the same (in fact they increase since smaller print runs cost more) so the price has to increase since the profits margins on any book are so small as to be almost invisible. I've often been asked to produce a book about the FIA cars but how many copies do you honestly think that might sell (far fewer than you think...!!)

Be that as it may, if anyone out there has that kind of money to spare and would like to finance me for the best part of a year - or more - to tour the USA photographing 427s and collect the necessary information, including paying for photo reproduction rights, maybe lending me their spare room, hiring a car, feeding me, paying for gas and all my associated but necessary luxuries, then I'll happily accept the challenge!! And to get the ball rolling, I have a photo of the very first 427 in action at the Silverstone circuit, being tested by Chris Amon - the first time the car turned a wheel....

Writing specialist books is expensive. I was talking with a well-known author who recently got involved in a motorcycle book - he managed to get an advance but ended up spending almost six times that amount just to shoot the photographs, never mind write the thing! He also did another book that involved travelling around the USA and Europe and the advance payment never arrived.....mind you, I've never had an advance of any kind (trying for the sympathy vote here)

I'm sure I can do the job that MkIV dreams of - I can use words like 'Usurp' as in "the 427 usurped the 289 in the production schedule" and "the 427 was, in turn, usurped by the GT40". Pure gold. I'm still trying to include the yates-ism of a 'yeasty stream of conciousness' as that aint Ingerlish like wot I know it. Bloody gibberish actually. I can include Shibboleth since I used to play one before the strings broke....

So that's decided then - we'll have a ClubCobra whip-round and gather up a minimum of $200,000+ and I'll take up the challenge. Job done.