SpeedReaders.info

Rolls-Royce Chassis Card Index; Vol 1: 40/50 HP (Ghost) plus very early cars
complied by Barrie Gillings

Anyone with an interest in the impact of the early motorcar on culture and society, early automobility, industrial history, or even a Who’s Who of the early 20th century will find in the almost 40,000 Rolls-Royce files on DVD an inexhaustible store of raw data. Rarely do people other than researchers have access to source material like this. Rarer still is it to have such a treasure trove at one’s very fingertips. Unusual among automakers, Rolls-Royce—fully cognizant of its building important cars for important people—kept meticulous records from the beginning and, more importantly, saw to it that they were preserved.

This DVD contains the R-R company Sales Cards for all the pre-Ghost and Ghost chassis. With the touch of a mouse you can now locate any Ghost of the 6,000-odd Manchester and Derby production in seconds. To do this by hand from the original card shelves, holding about 20,000 cards for these models alone, might take hours—or almost forever if the cards are out of place.

You can now find, in seconds, that Silver Ghost chassis 60551 did indeed have silvered fittings. Look at chassis 60558, only seven numbers later, and find that it was ordered by US tobacco king JB Duke. Discover the cost of an early 2-cylinder Rolls-Royce, or that the largest Ghost series by far was that built for the War Office from 1915–1927. Look at the first R-R sold and find it was one of several bought by Paris Singer, the sewing machine company heir.

Read more! »

1997 Society of Automotive Historians
Cugnot Award of Distinction

A Century of Automotive Style; 100 Years of American Car Design
by Michael Lamm & Dave Holls

The book debuted in 1996 as a hardbound and garnered raves from everywhere and everyone including magazines as prestigious as Scientific American and The New Yorker. The automotive media heaped on still more praise, exemplified by this written by Paul Lienert in Automobile Magazine, “Authors Lamm and Holls provide the big picture…the most ambitious and comprehensive look yet at this side of the auto business.”

Thus, no surprise the first printing sold out quickly, as did a second printing. In 2002 publisher Lamm-Morada issued a softcover version. These too sold, quickly going o/p. So, on the chance that you didn’t purchase either of the print editions and don’t wish to pay the prices they are selling for on the collectibles market, you will be glad to know that earlier this year (2009) Lamm-Morada reissued the entire book as a searchable DVD. And it is all there, not a single word or photo is missing. The only difference, you can’t sit in your armchair turning pages…this form requires you either sit at your computer, or with your laptop in your lap, in order to see and read.

Read more! »

1953 BAFTA Award for Best British Film

Genevieve
by Henry Cornelius

Had a rough day at the office? Need to escape from the pressures of modern day life, yet don’t quite feel up to the continuous explosions and pyrotechnics that pass for entertainment in today’s motion pictures? Want to see one of the nicest films about automobiles ever made? Then, I highly recommend the movie Genevieve.

This film, made in 1953 on a super-tight budget, by a 39 year-old director who was also the film’s producer, has old cars, romance, comedy, gentle action, along with sex appeal and charm enough to drain away the day’s tensions—it almost guarantees you’ll be in a good mood after seeing it.

The story is simple: two couples are entered in the annual London to Brighton Rally, which (for those unfamiliar with it) is for cars built before 1905. Alan McKim (played by John Gregson) is a lawyer (barrister in the UK) whose wife Wendy (played by Dinah Sheridan) is growing tired of going on the event each year. She’s also unhappy about the time that McKim lavishes on his automobile, the 1904 Darracq named Genevieve.

Meanwhile, the wonderfully named Ambrose Claverhouse (played by Kenneth More), who is an advertising executive and something of a playboy, boasts about the reliability and performance of his 1904 Spyker. Claverhouse shows up at the starting line each year with a different female companion—invariably young, glamorous, and beautiful. This year he arrives with fashion model Rosalind Peters (played by Kay Kendall, whose career as an actress was beginning to wane before she took the role in Genevieve). Kendall plays the role of a pampered and spoiled diva to perfection.

Read more! »

On Any Sunday
by Bruce Brown

Every kid needs a hero. Movies and sports work hard to supply.

Adults seek people to respect. Talent, humility, and integrity are fine beginnings.

Bruce Brown became known for his visually arresting surfing documentary Endless Summer. His camera captured the same sense of danger—and the people who respond to it—in another of film titled On Any Sunday. Much of it was shot at motorcycle competitions that were held over many weekends. It is colorful, and noisy—and quite instructive.

Viewers follow American Motorcycle Association Championship contender Mert Lawwill as he drives his van full of Harleys to dirt and road courses across America seeking to again earn the AMA championship laurels. Brown’s film makes it plain that this is a lonely journey, filled with long hours, hard work and few luxuries. As we watch, it is impossible not to be impressed with the quiet, determined Lawwill.

As it happens, Lawwill also has a famous riding friend and supporter in movie star Steve McQueen. McQueen had established his riding bona fides (on-screen and off) in The Great Escape. Here in On Any Sunday we see him riding in local enduros and desert runs under a false name in order to stay under the radar of other riders and the studio bosses who didn’t want their investment damaged.

Read more! »

The World’s Fastest Indian
by Roger Donaldson

(Note to readers: This review is co-authored. Comments by Helen V Hutchings are printed plain text and Kevin Clemens words are in italics.)

The World’s Fastest Indian is not a documentary. It was made commercially to distribute and play in theaters for entertainment—with the object to generate income through box office sales. With Anthony Hopkins portraying the legendary Bert (Herbert James) Munro, the New Zealander from Invercargil with a dream to set a record at Bonneville on the Indian motorbike that he had owned for forty-some-odd years, since purchasing it new in 1920, with Diane Ladd and others in fine supporting roles—including a scene-stealing youth played by New Zealand actor Aaron Murphy—there’s much to enjoy.

I frankly didn’t expect much, but went to see this film when it was first released in theaters anyway. Let’s face it; most fictional feature-length motion pictures that deal with cars and/or bikes have been pretty awful. The story lines are usually contrived, the action often improbable, and the car-guy or motorcyclist stuff is rarely right.

Read more! »