“Just remember, as I write this, I’m ninety-five years old and no longer have any of my files, so there might be a few errors. I do have a photographic memory, but I may run out of film!” – Prologue from “Adventures in Ferrari Land”
The book’s author, Ed Niles, doesn’t give himself enough credit. His two-volume “Adventures in Ferrari Land” is a thorough and heartfelt tribute to one man’s love of Ferrari and the pursuit of the next project car. He definitely has a great memory and his book shows that.
Niles bought his first Ferrari while on vacation in Italy in 1959 and the cherry red 250 Europa would start his opus of collecting, restoring and selling Ferraris. This two volume, 372-page coffee-table work encompasses a lifetime of Ferrari passion with personal anecdotes, extensive documentation, and a overall feeling of love for collecting cars.
Volume 1 is autobiographical. It documents the cars and people Niles has met along the way. Niles’ warmth and passion are evident, he made a lot of friends along the way as he explored his passion for Ferraris.
Volume 2 is a collection of Niles’ writings about Ferraris, including his column that was published in the FCA Southwest Region’s Sempre Ferrari magazine.
Ferrari devotees and collector car fans will enjoy Adventures in Ferrari Land. It’s a sentimental history of Ferrari from a fan and collector’s perspective, while also providing a history lesson for Maranello.
“I think that a word or two about my motivation might be appropriate. Yes, I always tried to make a profit on each car,” Niles said. “I usually succeeded, but not always. I took a loss on a few. Even when I made a profit, if I counted my labor bringing a car up to saleable standards, I would have been working for about two cents per hour.”
Reviewed
Adventures in Ferrari Land
By Edwin K. Niles
Octane Press, 2022
ISBN-13: 9781642340839
Hardcover, 372 pages
$150.00