As the Head of Corporate Communications for our favourite weekend destination, St. Moritz, Fabrizio has supported Classic Driver’s endeavours in the Swiss mountains for years – and also pulled a lot of strings for our first Fiat Panda 4x4 Meet St. Moritz in December 2019. But Fabrizio, who grew up in Klosters, is also a highly talented photographer (you rarely see him without his Leica M), copywriter, creative director – and a true petrolhead with a passion for timeless aesthetics and 20th century hedonism. Now he has published his first solo book «Car Guys – The Culture of Owning a Classic Car». And we must confess: It’s an instant classic!
Being exposed to the distinguished car culture of the Engadine valley, with its exceptional classic car density and its countless rally events, Fabrizio began to wonder why people were so obviously obsessed with these vintage Alfas, Lancias, Ferraris and Porsches – and what the allura was all about. “What is life like with your vintage car? How do other people react to it? And what led you to buy it? These are the seemingly banal questions that intrigue classic car lovers of all stripes”, says Fabrizio, who travelled from St. Moritz via Monte Carlo to Capri to interview collectors, trend setters and other and other people who love cars and shoot 30 breathtakingly beautilful black-and-white photo stories.
While «Car Guys» features numerous long-time Classic Driver friends and acquantances like Andrea Klainguti, Carl Gustav Magnusson, Marco Makaus, Ronnie Kessel, Christian Jott Jenny, Eugenio Amos, Duccio Lopresto and Guglielmo Miani, others are less well-known in the collector car scene – but no less interesting or inspiring! In between the personal stories, which Fabrizio tells in his very own, highly sensitive and timelessly elegant style of photography and writing, the independently published 432-page coffee table book offers reflections on contemporary car culture by Stefan Bogner, Shayan Bokaie, Federico Fabbri, Ted Gushue, Alberto Vassallo – and Jan Baedeker, Classic Driver’s Editor-in-Chief.
“Car Guys is a very simple book”, says Fabrizio. “Its purpose is not to shine a light on an especially fascinating automotive topic. Rather, it’s an honest depiction of how different people live with their classic cars – that’s it. At first, I was looking for such a book to read, but I didn’t find one. That’s how I came up with the idea to publish it myself.”
There is nothing we can add but: Buy this book! «Car Guys – The Culture of Owning a Classic Car» by Fabrizio D’Aloisio is now available in the Classic Driver Shop.
Photos: Andrea Klainguti / Ted Gushue
