Legends in Motion
Inside Stories and Driving Adventures from the Wonderful World of Cars
by Gary L. Witzenburg
“Everyone has opinions. Do you agree with mine?”
The book is organized into five loosely themed sections that author Gary Witzenburg calls chapters. Each contains anywhere from nine to sixteen magazine-length articles for that is what the entire book really is, a compilation of some of its author’s previously written and published articles. Publications for which he has written include Hagerty Media, Playboy magazine, Robb Report, Car and Driver, Collectible Automobile, and the Amelia Island show program among others. Mention of that last publication offers the opportunity to tell you that Amelia’s founder, Bill Warner, has written the Foreword and a touching and personal one it is, too.
As a youngster, the author rode around in a ’51 Buick. Then later he managed to acquire a ’67 Corvette that “looked great from 10 feet away.”
That first segment could rightfully have been titled youthful peccadilloes. However, it is the second segment you’ll likely want to pay close attention to since the cars these sixteen vignettes present are all ones with which Witzenburg has been involved in some way during his stints of employment within GM or with some other. Thus he’s able to lend to each those personal, first-person insights simply not possible for other writers who have only third-person perspectives.
There are others in the third segment where Witzenburg has included his personal experiences. These involve numerous of the Corvette greats including Zora himself and later Bill Mitchell who had hired Gary to write speeches for him. The latter was an association and honor Witzenburg was sworn to keep secret so could only be revealed well after Mitchell’s 1988 passing.
A few Classic® cars appear in two articles. One of those published in a 2011 issue of the Robb Report titled “The 10 Most Elegant Cars of All Time.” For this article a panel of 20 design leaders finally settled on their selection of which four they chose to recognize that had previously been designated as Classic® by the Classic Car Club of America. Further on is another multiple car list of “The 10 Most Beautiful Cars Ever Built” which appeared in a 2022 issue of Car and Driver. Most of those are too new to be full Classics®, but two do qualify. Those two are Bugatti’s Type 57 SC Atlantic Coupe and Alfa Romeo’s 8C 2900B Lungo Spider.
Left page illustrates ”How Chrysler and AMC Countered Ford’s Mustang.” Facing page is the ’67 Eldorado Witzenburg owned for a time, describing it as “a personal favorite.”
Opening page of article discussing the history of Packard’s Proving Grounds and how its “Significant Auto History [helped] Fight Development.”
The fourth chapter titled “On the Grid” contains 13 of the author’s own “great adventures and some wonderful wins in the amateur to pro racing and performance rallying” realms. The thirteenth Witzenburg reserved to pay tribute to some of the great women racers—seven by name and additional “others” noting there are “1,819 girls/women who have competed against boys/men as of December 6, 2010” according to the “Women in Racing Directory.”
For any reading this unfamiliar with author Gary Witzenburg or his background and achievements, he’s well educated and applied the learning of his engineering degree to help GM carry forward its electric car development programs. As he’s also adept at car control in more extreme situations (read racing and rallying), that knowledge and the combined experiences have contributed to forming his thoughts and opinions.
Some of those opinions Witzenburg has crafted into pieces in the concluding section. The opening quote is how he begins his last segment. Some of the topics he offers for readers to consider and agree or disagree with his position include “Myths of Speed and Speed Enforcement,” “DUI Laws Out of Control,” “Need for Tort Reform” and others. With each he invites his reader to consider his position and opinion even as he acknowledges the “other side” in his discussion. In the opinion of this reviewer these are the sort of important and polite differing opinion discourses that more need to engage in while still remaining friendly with and respectful of those with opposing views.
Author knew Zora and was a ghost speech-writer for Bill Mitchell. Thus Corvette history and lore are well represented.
The book’s cover is genuinely attractive. Your commentator inquired about it and Witzenburg responded that he’d provided his printer’s artist “with the core image of the 1967 Corvette and that artist had photo-shopped it into that lovely scene” of his book. The finished tome is worthy of your time to read for enjoyment even as it invites you to think.
Copyright 2026 Helen V Hutchings (speedreaders.info)
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