The Red Car
by Don Stanford
“It was red, fire-engine red. It was low, as Steve’s MG was low, but it had none of the chunky look of the yellow car outside. This one was lean and racy and angular, with fenders that made no attempt to curve or blur into the body lines, but stood out in a clean sharp sweep over the wheels.
“The wheels were enormous; they were almost ludicrous at first glance. They were gleaming silvery wire wheels, standing high and narrow with the rakish scarlet body of the car slung low between them, looking even now as though it were crouched close to the ground, ready to spring forward. The car looked almost alive. It had a personality all its own–an arrogant, insolent, challenging way of looking you right in the eye and saying ‘Drop dead!’”
The above passage is from a slim paperback novel called The Red Car. It was written by Don Stanford and published by Scholastic Book Services in 1954. The car he is talking about is a 1948 MG TC roadster that Stanford’s main character, sixteen year-old Happy “Hap” Adams, is seeing for the first time. The car has been heavily wrecked by having been driven off a mountain road and young Hap hatches a wild scheme to bring the little sportscar back to life. There are certain defining moments when you are growing up. Events that shape your life and your future. For me it was finding a copy of The Red Car at the public library when I was twelve years old.
Don Stanford was a magazine writer in the 1950s. He lived in Norfolk, Connecticut and was also an amateur racer. His experiences while racing in Colorado led him to set The Red Car there. Although Stanford had already written stories and serialized novels for True magazine and others, The Red Car was his first novel specifically written for a younger audience. The book was quite popular in its time and had its fifth printing in 1965.
The story is a straightforward one, and is filled with references to the importance of truth and respect for parents. This was the 1950s, after all. But, beyond all of the admirable values and lesson learned by Hap Adams, is a kind of blueprint of how to be a sportscar enthusiast of the first order. When the book first came out, this was important. Sportscars were still relatively new to American highways and it is clear that Stanford wanted to convert as many young people to the cause as he possibly could. He explained why these cars are the way they are: “The little car rode hard: there didn’t seem to be any springs under it at all. It bounced and jarred and danced over the road; but it was instantly responsive to the slightest touch on the steering wheel–and Hap could see that it wouldn’t be, if it were floating along on mushily comfortable springs, there would be too much sway, too much give in the spring to compensate for. Comfort in this case, was well-sacrificed to precision; the car felt sensitive and spirited, but you felt you could really depend on it.”
To explain the intricacies of sportscar driving and racing, Stanford invented the character of Phillippe “Frenchy” Lascelle, a French nobleman and racer who had moved to the United States under mysterious circumstances and opened a garage in Hap Adam’s hometown. Frenchy helps Hap repair and rebuild the wrecked MG and then teaches him how to drive a sportscar. “He tapped the big dial of the tachometer with a finger, and the gesture seemed to remind him that Hap was beside him. He turned, his eyes were alive again; he said with emphasis, tapping the dial of the tachometer: ‘It is with this instrument one drives this car, Happy, not with the speedometer, there. When you have a little engine, a good engine but an engine that is not big, you must learn where is her best power, and you must drive her there, eh? An engine has a power curve, Happy: when she goes slow she must fight to turn herself over before she can do anything else, before she can work for a car. When she goes a little faster her momentum helps her to turn herself over; then more of her power can work for you. But when she goes too fast, she is not efficient anymore, the curve comes down again. And there is a point she will break, if she goes too fast. You must learn to know your engine, Happy. You must find the peak of her power curve, the speed where she is happiest working for you, where she delivers the most power. And there you must drive her, always. To change speeds you have gears; you do not put such a car as this one in the wrong gear and simply use the engine to make her go faster or slower. She does not have the extra power; she has only what she needs. But she has all she needs!’”
To a twelve-year old, these words were like some sort of secret magical code. To learn them promised entrance into a secret society. One filled with exotic racy cars and seductive women. Yes, Stanford also had several women’s roles in his novel, somewhat stereotypical, as this was the fifties, but at least women weren’t excluded from this view of sports car heaven.
The mid-fifties were a time of controversy in American sportscar racing as the concept of amateur versus professional drivers was at the forefront. Stanford doesn’t shy away from the subject and creates a road race in the streets of Hap’s hometown to strongly favor the idea of gentleman amateur drivers. “‘There isn’t any rule against that, no,’ Les Bailey answered, and now there was cold dislike in his voice, ‘although we’d’ve made one if we’d known your friend was a hotshoe professional driver. This isn’t that kind of a race, Mister. This is a quiet little get-together for amateurs; for novices, mostly. It isn’t a Grand Prix, and it isn’t for blood, and it isn’t for the record. There aren’t even any trophies, to amount to anything; this one is for fun. And I don’t think John Arata drives for fun! How’d you do at Le Mans last year? How about the Carrera Pan Americana, the Mexican Road Race?’ ‘Not bad both times,’ Arata said, sneering. ‘And you forget, kid. I can drive professional out of the country, if you’re going to bring that up, and it doesn’t affect my amateur standing in the USA.’”
This is pretty heady stuff for a kid’s book about sportscars and it was hard to read it without feeling like you were being drawn into a battle of amateurs against professionals that had already been fought and lost by the time I read The Red Car at the end of the sixties.
I found my copy of The Red Car over the internet. It was in a used bookshop in California and the price was $3.00. Reading it now, as an adult, I expected to find it childish and simplistic. I have been lucky enough to drive a wide range of different automobiles and even to race a fifties MG. But, just as I was 30 years ago, I was drawn into a world of sportscars and gentlemanly driving that only exist today in the memories of those who took part in these earliest days of the sportscar movement. Maybe it’s not a definitive history, nor great literature. But this slim book captures the spirit of the time, a spirit that many are trying to recapture at vintage race meetings around the country. This book should be required reading for everyone who likes old sportscars, no matter what their age.
Don Stanford dedicated The Red Car to his son. The inscription sums up the entire early sportscar era as well as anything written in the period: “To Donald K. Stanford, Jr. and to other boys of all ages who admire fine cars and good sportsmanship.”
Copyright 2009, Kevin Clemens (speedreaders.info)
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Don Stanford was my father, and this book “The Red Car” was dedicated to my brother Kent. His other famous book for Youth, “The Horsemasters” was dedicated to me, and was later made into a Disney movie in England with my personal favorite, Annette Funicello. Thanks for a great memory!!
I found a copy of one of Don Stanford’s books amongst some of my vintage books. It has a great hardcover image of a skier, with the title, Ski Town! Published in 1958 and illustrated by Stan Campbell. I can’t find any mention of it online at all–why doesn’t anyone mention it?
I first read this book at the age of seven years old as an English schoolboy, it has been a great influence on my life. Over the years I have remembered the story and loved all red cars, especially MG,s. At the age of 67, I tracked down the book, bought it, read it and enjoyed it once again. At the age of 68 I finally capitulated and bought a red sports car, not an MG, but a brand new factory built Caterham Seven, which shares the drop dead look of the MG but is considerably faster, I have never driven it with the top up out of reverence for Don. Sports cars should be driven open, with the wind in your hair and the burble of the exhaust in your ears. Whenever out in the car I think of Don Stanford and his great book. This should be essential reading for all kids of seven or eight, not just for the love and enjoyment of cars, but for the love and enjoyment of life! There is a lot to learn from this story about fairness, persistence and respect for others. Don’s book now lives by my bedside and is read over and over again. It has been a constant in my life, and I consider it a classic work of literature, not just a good story.
As a writer of short stories myself, I have recently written a short ghost story, centered around a 1936 MG Magnette touring car. The story is called – ” The Green MG”. No appologies to Don Stanford, as he and his book has been the inspiration for my life.
I read “The Red Car” when I was in junior high in the late 1950s. It was the inspiration of my love of MGs. In 1965 I saw a movie which featured an MG (1948-1953)and fell in love with it again. Two days after being discharged from the Navy in 1965 I drove my ’62 Impala from Charleston, SC to Baltimore, MD where I traded it for a 1952 MGTD. (The car title claims it is a 1953 but it is a 1952. And don’t allow my web address to throw you off.) I grew up near Morrison,Colorado in the 1950’s. I credit Don Stanford for my love of the ’48-’53 MGs. I still own mine and am rebuilding it from the frame up. Was sad to hear Don had passed, but thank him for “The Red Car”
I found this book in a school classroom when I was 13 and loved it so much my first car was ’52 MG TD (in 1970!) Later, my dad bought a TC and eventually, I had a more practical MGB-GT. When it was reprinted about 15 years ago, I made sure to buy a copy.
The Red Car is still one of my favourite books. Great literature? No… but a great read!
I still use Mr. Stanford’s books for reluctant readers in my high school classroom.
However,that little book about Hap and his MG is what inspired me to enjoy British sports cars. My Dad and I rebuilt a 64 Spitfire in an unheated garage (in Saskatchewan!) when I was 16. I drive a red 64 MGB that I restored to match we we looked at when I was in grade 1.
Dad is gone now, but I’ll treasure that memory as long as I live!
As for sports cars… they I know that Don Stanford’s Red Car is at the root of my avocation! I own two copies- one a more recent hardcover edition, and the other my dog eared much read original paperback. I re-read it every year or so and enjoy it anew each time.
I wish I could have met Mr. Stanford just to thank him, and tell him what I have written here.
I read Mr. Stanford’s book The Red Car which was obtained from my school library. I have been hooked on early T series MG”s ever since and am now nearing 70 years old. I have had a career as an auto restoration shop owner and have won many awards with some of them being MG’s. I always have one around as once hooked always hooked. Thank you Don Stanford for a wonderful book inspiring many young people in your wake. May you rest in peace.
I realize after reading the comments above that Don Stanford is infected with a love of MGs. I read that book in the late ’60s and it sparked an interest in MGs that has lasted a lifetime. I’m almost 60 now and finally took the plunge and bought a beautiful MGB. I love this car every bit as much as Hap loved his. I wonder if Mr. Sanford realized how many people he influenced writing that book!
It makes me so happy to read all these reviews, as Don Stanford was my dad! What a writer wants more than anything is to have his story read and enjoyed, and he would have just loved reading these reviews and seeing what an impact his story made on so many. To have his story build in the reader a love of reading, and a love of the subject of the story, is indeed “gravy”!
This book was Daddy’s first attempt at writing for a younger audience, and he prepared by immersing himself for months in the subject matter; this intense research shows in the finished product. There are several more books in this series of adventure books for middle school/high school readers, and each of them required the same level of preparation. The Red Car was dedicated to my brother Kent, and my book was The Horsemasters, which was later made into a Disney film with my idol Annette Funicello starring in it!
The author lived in Aspen and drove his MG in some of the very first sports-car races there, circa-1952-53, on dirt streets. The Aspen Historical Society has photographs!
I am so happy to have found a copy of The Red Car at Moss Motors! It was the first car book I read as a teenager sixty years ago looking forward to driving. I got it in my high school library, and I have been interested in cars ever since. Books can have a profound affect on the reader, and this one has positively influenced a huge number of readers.