Archive for Author 'Charly Baumann', only excerpts shown, click title for full entry.

The A-Z of 21st-Century Cars

by Tony Lewin

Not to be mistaken for an encyclopedia-like blow-by-blow/model-by-model compendium of automobiles, this book looks at people, firms, and models that “changed the course of car design.”

Ocean Liner Posters

by Cadringher & Massey

Ocean-crossing passenger ships did not make the world a global village but they were, especially when steam replaced (or augmented) sail which allowed them to overcome the capriciousness of wind and current, the first and for quite a long time only means of personal transport to different parts of the planet on a more or less repeatable and predictable basis.

Survivor: The Unrestored Collector Car

by Kris Palmer

Yes, “it’s original only once.” But when is fading paint hallowed patina and when is it ugly “car acne”? What is the dividing line between benign neglect and being just cheap? Is a Bugatti more deserving of restoration than a bread and butter first-generation Honda Accord?

The British at Indianapolis

by Ian Wagstaff

The race that bills itself as “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” turned 100 in 2011. This book celebrates the British contribution to the race, not just the drivers but the mechanics, engineers, designers, and even officials.

Motorcycle Survivor: Tips and Tales in the Unrestored Realm

by Kris Palmer

Back in 1865 German physicist Rudolf Clausius introduced us to the term entropy. Much like the issue of degradation it addresses, the use of the word itself has degraded over time. Central to the second law of thermodynamics and vastly complicated, it is here used in the gravely simplified sense of “the steady degradation of matter in the universe.”

Aston Martin V8

by William Presland

Built from 1969 to 2000 Aston Martin’s V8 cars represent a fairly late entry into the V8 segment. Customers had been clamoring for a larger mill for years and Aston began development in 1963, aiming for a 1967 release. The new car that was to go with the new engine, the DBS, did get done in time but the new engine designed by Tadek Marek took another two years.

The Fate of the Sleeping Beauties

by Ard & Arnoud op de Weegh, Kay Hottendorff

This is one book that could have used a subtitle! Not only are there several others with the words “sleeping beauties” in their tile, one of them covers the exact same subject—except . . . it tells a vastly different story and its sins of omission and commission are the raison d’être for this new one.

Porsche, A History of Excellence

by Randy Leffingwell

First published in 2008 in hardcover form, this book takes a fairly thorough look at the history of Porsche’s road and racing cars. The publisher, Motorbooks, routinely re-issues successful books a few years later, with a different binding and a reduced price.

You Can’t Wear Out an Indian Scout: Indians and the Wall of Death

by A J Ford & N Corble

If you’ve never seen near-vertical motorcyclists careening around a Wall of Death you’ll need to have 3D-capable imagination to fully appreciate the gut-wrenching gravity-defying stunts! This book examines what it is that makes the Scout the tool of choice for wall riders.

History of Air-to-Air Refuelling

by Richard M Tanner

“Fill ‘er up!” How would you do if you had to fill up while you’re moving, and the pump is moving, and the hose is moving? And you can’t just reach out and grab the nozzle with that wonderfully articulated arm of yours—instead you have to maneuver the entire vehicle—which is the length of a city bus, or two—and line up the filler neck with the nozzle just so. And let’s throw in wind….

Original Austin-Healey: The Restorer’s Guide to 100, 100-Six and 3000

by Anders Ditlev Clausager

The appeal of the 1953–1968 Big Healeys may be timeless but their innards are not. Naturally, not everything that has perished has been replaced with the correct parts or proper finishes, and the information in this book will provide the restorer and potential buyer with a definitive catalog of the way things should be.

Original Mini Cooper: The Restorer’s Guide to 997 & 998 Cooper and 970, 1071 & 1275 Cooper S

by John Parnell

As quintessentially British as the Rolls-Royce the Mini occupied the very other end of the sociological spectrum. Despite of this the Mini was, as UK designer Terence Conran called it, “a classy little classless car.”

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