Archive for Author 'Helen Hutchings', only excerpts shown, click title for full entry.

Virginia Bader, A Collage of Memories of the First Lady of Aviation Art

by Jill Amadio

A pioneering force in aviation art, not as an artist but a dealer / gallerist, especially of prints signed by the artists and where possible, the pilots. Later, she was the first organizer of symposia that connected artists and their public.

Racing With Roger Penske, A History of a Motorsport Dynasty

by Sigur E. Whitaker

Dynasty implies succession but The Captain, after several years as a race car driver, built his empire from scratch and is still involved in many of its aspects. “Most successful” describes most his accomplishments, and this book seems much too small to do them justice.

Raoul ‘Sonny’ Balcaen

by Raoul ‘Sonny’ Balcaen III

You may not know the name, or even how to pronounce it (hint: it’s of Belgian origin) but you would recognize the cars and the people you’ll encounter in this memoir justly subtitled “My Exciting True Life Story.” He could take a car apart by the age of 11 and he’s not stopped since.

The Michelin Man, 100 Years of Bibendum

by Olivier Darmon

One of the world’s oldest trademarks still in active use, Bib has been around for longer than there have been cars. His custodians over the decades embraced change to their mascot, just as the times around him changed, and that’s what this book shows.

NASCAR 75 Years

by Pearce, Hembree, Crandall, Creed

No matter what you think about the racing action, as an organization and business NASCAR is an uncommon success with staying power. What started as 40 races in the first season has grown to over 1,500 sanctioned events in multiple countries.

Corvette, Legend or Myth & Zora’s Marque of Excellence, Vol II

by Kenneth W. Kayser

The Corvette program began in the 1950s and you’d think by now every morsel of data has been turned over multiple times and the canon is rock solid. Well, this deep dive by a retired GM engineer offers new wrinkles—and he shows the internal docs to prove it.

Discovering Lost Automobiles And Their Stories

by Michael Ware

For the writer of this book, a barn find is about a different kind of treasure: not the physical car itself but the story behind it which he turns into monthly columns in British magazines.

Porsche 356 75th Anniversary 

by Gordon Maltby

It took a while to get noticed by the masses but from its start in 1948 this Porsche combined attributes that would set it apart from others and make it a lasting success and the cornerstone of a company philosophy.

S.F. Edge, Maker of Motoring History

by Simon Fisher

When it came to speed, wether it was bicycles or powerboats, he was on the cutting edge of all the new happenings of this time, as a competitor, a manufacturer, an agent for other makers, and also as a promoter and sponsor. His personality matched his achievements. Ah, drama.

Boost! Roger Bailey’s Extraordinary Motor Racing Career

by Gordon Kirby

Bailey’s professional life spanned more than five decades and included such a variety of positions—mechanic, team boss, official, administrator—that you think you’re dealing with more than one person. No wonder his nickname was Boost!

The Devil’s Mercedes: The Bizarre and Disturbing Adventures of Hitler’s Limousine in America

by Robert Klara

Leave it to a librarian to find answers to difficult questions. A Big Mercedes of the 1930s is plenty rare any old day but the one that stars in this book, war booty as others of its kind, suffered a case of mistaken identity for decades.

The Tom Mix Cord: Saga of a Western Film Star’s Classic Motorcar

by Bob M. White

The “King of Cowboys” was the Hollywood action hero of his day and the highest-paid actor of the silent film era. He did his own stunts so of course he loved fast cars—and this 1937 Cord is the one in which he had that fatal crash.