La vie en rouge Ferrari / Life in Ferrari Red
by Christian Martin & Jean-Marc Thévenet
“The Ferrari cars are very photogenic. They have very beautiful shapes, where one needs to manipulate the light to highlight all the features of the car. This is a skill that can be learned.”
(French / English) Nothing peculiar or unclear about that sentiment. And certainly something a photographer would say, which is what Christian Martin is.
His work has been published in many magazines and he has been commissioned by a number of automakers. He’s been at it for years, decades even, so he is most definitely not a stranger to communicating, nor is coauthor Thévenet. This book, however, is not at all easy to understand.
This 335S is the first car in the book and covered on several pages, a deserving choice in both regards because it is ex-Pierre Bardinon (1931–2012), one of the most famous Ferrari collectors in the world. Martin calls it a once-in-a-lifetime shoot.
If you’re yearning for the opportunity to use the French expression je ne sais quoi in a sentence, this book will give you many occasions to utter it because “a quality that cannot be described or named easily” is not really what a reader is looking for in a book, even a coffee table book that has no aspirations beyond looking pretty. It does look pretty and one wants to embrace it for that, but is it really asking for too much to expect its makers to explain what they have in mind?
One of the few cars that has a chassis number listed. One of two examples bodied by Pinin Farina. The caption discloses nothing terribly important or even relevant even though this 250 Monza is widely known.
There is no Table of Contents so it’ll take you a couple dozen pages of looking at random cars in no discernible order—mostly photos with minimal text—to wonder if this is what the press material means when it talks about “a visual journey through legendary Ferrari models.” Elsewhere the fusion of “art, automobile photography and a catalogue raisonné” is touted but that’s even more of a stretch.
An entire section of cars under plastic covers. Why? Art. There’s also a section on Ferraris in accidents, miniatures, prototypes and many other surprising things.
The names/numeric designations of models are mentioned but almost never a production year; it seems a big ask to think even Ferrari enthusiasts will be on solid ground here (and certainly there is no such thing as a chassis number which seems a missed opportunity because at least a few of the cars are historically significant).
The authors assume you don’t need an explanation why there is a Ferrari angle to Nick Mason or why 1997 was “a year dedicated to Ferrari.” They apparently also assume that proofreaders are a wasted expense. (Did you notice the big caption in white?) But the photos really are good—technically correct, nicely framed, pleasing color (the latter isn’t a figure of speech but an actual criterion in scanning/reproduction).
The Carrozzeria Brandoli shop. That name will definitely be familiar to anyone with historic interests because Egidio Brandoli came from the prestigious Scaglietti bodyshop where he was Sergio Scaglietti’s righthand man and headed the restoration division.
This is a French book and it obviously wants to play internationally, which is why it is bilingual, but the French motoring events, collectors, collections, studios, shops etc. shown here will not be widely known to a foreign audience.
The linen cover is so deeply debossed the lettering almost feels like tire treads.
Even a French audience would surely want to know more than the few cryptic remarks the author/s offer. Martin certainly knows his cars, and every now and then a finely observed point about, say, a special feature only used in a particular model year or for a specific customer shows that. So, yes, je ne sais quoi indeed.
In terms of bookmaking skill this is certainly a lavish affair with high production values. In the US it is not going to be an easy book to find (no official distributor although the UK distributor has a US branch) so there’s the novelty of having something of a unicorn to show off on the coffee table.
How the sausage is made. Martin à son métier. Which brings us back to the opening quote.
Copyright 2025, Sabu Advani (Speedreaders.info
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