Classic Cars Review: Revised Edition
by Michael Görmann, editor
“But there’s more. This book also contains the world’s most high-end concours’ as well as the most exciting classic car rallies, there are portraits of the leading auction companies as well as valuable background information about classic cars.
To appreciate the old, to prevent it from being forgotten, to admire its technical perfection and make it tangible—that is our goal.”
(English / German) “But there’s more.” Indeed.
You could think of this book as a year’s worth of ultra-high-end car magazines. It presents itself as a compendium, which is just the right word. Photos, feature stories, a little of this, a little of that, esoteric topics and practical bits like insurance and collection management. Except that a book has presence and a magazine page does not, certainly not a web page. In fact, you need to see and touch and smell this book to appreciate the esthetic.
This is the last photo in the book but a good one to put at the front of the review: living with cars is the message here.
If you’re on a diet, an occasional indulgence is welcome. If you’re on a book diet of proper, straight-laced just-the-facts books, this Classic Cars Review is definitely an indulgence. The sheer monumentality, the weight, the size, the velvety velour cover, the paper stiff enough to serve a drink on. Well, if you drink from a thimble, but still.
The book is about 11.4 x 14.5 inches and the layout is appropriately expansive. The photos will make you drool—don’t, but don’t be afraid to touch them all you want: even the blacks are totally fingerprint-proof. We chose this particular photo because it so technically challenging, both for the photographer—a masterclass in lighting here—and also the printer—not a speck of noise. Also feast your eyes on the two halves of the top of the radiator shell and also the badge. Try taking a photo like that . . . and despair.
But let’s say you’re lucky enough to be a connoisseur of such books and you know that German publisher Gestalten Verlag (an imprint of teNeues) just about owns this segment. In that case you know that having just one solitary book is a bit of a freak outlier whereas a whole shelf of giants makes total sense.
Sure you’ve seen a Camaro before. Except you wouldn’t see this scene if you stood 20 feet away—unless you have bionic vision that works in the infrared spectrum. As a photographer Görmann is particularly interested in this way of seeing and has special camera equipment. He likes to say that he hasn’t worked in decades—because pursuing his passions, of which he has many, allows him a living and never feels like work.
As a stand-alone book, this one is a fully thought-out, interesting, relevant, pleasing affair that accomplishes what the opening quote above sets forth. It has things to say and, more to the point, show. You would not be bored, and if you are drawn to bookmaking and photography you will be seriously impressed. And wondering how all this splendor can be priced at only $125. But . . . note the word “revised” in the title. It begs investigation.
There has indeed been a predecessor, in 2018, about 120 pages longer than this one—which is an unexpected metric for a revision which usually implies corrections, updates, expansion. As editor Michael Görmann notes in his Foreword, much has changed, but he does not elaborate how that is reflected in the new book. There is indeed entirely new material in this revision but about half the pages reproduce previous coverage as a straight pick-up, and obviously some material has been dropped to achieve that smaller page count. But surely some collections, collectors, specific cars, events that carry over, even the actual analysis/thought processes from seven years ago are no longer the same today and would have benefited from updating. Well, it is what it is, and if there is a practical consequence to this thought it is that if you do already have the 2018 book you’ll want to keep it, make your peace with some duplication, and enjoy the new material.
Not everything in this book is super-exotic because that would be counter to the message of connoisseurship. Although, an Opel Diplomat Coupé is plenty rare, even in its native land. Less than 350 were built and each cost as much as seven VW Beetles.
Most noteworthy among the new material is a feature about the fabled private collection of German industrialist Friedhelm Loh (a particularly big name in Bugatti circles) which remained very much under the radar until a part of it went on display in the form of a public museum in 2023 as the National Automobile Museum. It probably has no equal.
The basic structure is the same as before: four main parts—Collections, Events, Connections, Photography—each subdivided into various sections. Also, the reason that the new book looks and feels just like the previous one is that the same creative team is in play (also the same Italian printer).
This is from the section on how to grade car condition.
Since the book picks up material from the 2018 one we too will allow ourselves to pick up an earlier comment: “This book has been called, more than once, a ‘concours d’elégance in book form,’ by probably well-intended reviewers—who totally did not get what the book is really about. Sure there are a good number of concours-worthy and otherwise important / rare / expensive cars in the line-up here, but their preservation and the lifestyle that has grown up around them is merely the byproduct of something else: connoisseurship—as opposed to an investor or flipper mentality. Right from the outset the book’s editor—who quite fittingly describes his role as that of a curator—and his cohorts make it a point to establish that an appreciation of the classic car, or by extension any ‘special’ car regardless of vintage, begins with an affinity for craft and creativity, and consequently an ability to discriminate.” This is a worthy thought.
So, let this book school you as a connoisseur—including of bookmaking!
Everything about the Goodwood Revival and FoS is about nostalgia. Here, even the photos have a vintage treatment.
Copyright 2026, Sabu Advani (speedreaders.info).
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