Luca Dal Monte is thoroughly Italian. Born and raised in Cremona, home of Stradivari, in the Lombardy region of northern Italy by the left bank of the River Po. Lives today in Milan. Ran press operations for Ferrari and Maserati, two of the most essential, essentially Italian marques. He’s also written several books, including a novel called La Scuderia and, most recently, Ferrari Rex, a weighty yet wonderfully colorful biography of Enzo Ferrari. There’s a fair chance it will become an Italian miniseries.

Yet, intriguingly, 55-year-old Dal Monte credits America—where Ferrari Rex is only just now available in English and retitled as Enzo Ferrari: Power, Politics, and the Making of an Automotive Empire—for his success. On a U.S. press tour, Dal Monte has come to meet us at Dominick European Car Repair, a mecca for all things old-car Italian, in White Plains, New York. We’re meant to drive off in a rare and valuable 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB belonging to a generous customer, an early-production long-nose model with several unique details and a value in excess of $3 million.