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

Studebaker Avanti Operation Airlift, May 1962

by John Hull

Studebaker planned to sell 20,000 of these luxury coupes in its launch year, 1962. It had radical styling, was the fastest production car of the time, and the world clearly wanted this type of car. A year later Studebaker threw in the towel. But no one would forget the flying circus that was this airlift.

Never Stop Driving: A Better Life Behind the Wheel

by Larry Webster, Zach Bowman, Jack Baruth, Brett Berk

For anyone for whom the car is more than an appliance. Finding, owning, using, repairing, the fellowship of other car people—life is better with a car!

World War II Veterans in Motorsports

by Art Evans

As both a former race driver and movie industry PR man, the author understands his topic from both sides. Plus, the 23 men and women covered here were personal friends of his.

One Man’s Vision

by Marjorie Teetor Meyer

Industry leader, SAE president, Automotive Hall of Famer. But do you know of him?? Next time you engage that “Speedostat” (aka cruise control) give a thought to Teetor who invented it and many other things—and was blind! (Don’t play with knives, kids.)

Michigan’s C. Harold Wills

by Alan Naldrett and Lynn Lyon Naldrett

His engineering skills were high, indeed. The car he eventually designed and built, though in small numbers, was and is to this day highly respected for its high quality. Sadly this book about C. Harold Wills is a disappointment.

Fins

by William Knoedelseder

Either the cover car is really low or the fella really tall. It’s more the latter—and Earl towered not only over his department (“team” was not a word in his vocabulary) but his industry, and, for a while, the consumer. But tastes did change; Earl did not.

F1 Mavericks

by Pete Biro and George Levy

Motor racing regs change pretty much every year but the period captured here, 1958–82, saw especially sweeping core changes in F1. From designers and engineers to drivers and team personnel to, of course, cars and components, this photo book takes you there.

Motorola [Two books about_]

Those pesky batteries, always prone to run out when you need them most. Enter, Motorola. That was 1928. Motorola, Inc divided itself into two companies in 2011, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions, still run from longtime Chicago facilities. We look at two books.

The Automobile Book

by the editors of The Saturday Evening Post

This American magazine was founded in 1821 and became a weekly in 1897 reaching millions of homes. It covered current events—and the automobile and the people behind and around it were most certainly that. Here is a collection of ads, commentaries, poems, stories, essays, reminiscences, and illustrations.

The International Harvester Company

by Chaim M. Rosenberg

And you thought farm equipment is boring…! Well, it may be, to some, but this book isn’t about the machinery but the machinations of the people at the helm of one of America’s biggest firms.

America’s Round-Engine Airliners

by Craig Kodera and William Pearce

Vibration, noise, roughness, creature comforts—early air travel really was rudimentary. The radial or star engine opened a new chapter and, for a while, was the best technical solution. But in its very advantages (cooling) lay the roots of its obsolescence (drag).

Hubert Platt: Fast Fords of the “Georgia Shaker”

by Allen Platt

From moonshine runner to multiple Hall of Famer, Platt was a showman on and off the track. And if Chevrolet hadn’t pulled out of racing, the subtitle might well be reading differently. Written by one of his sons, who is himself a racer, the book explores an iconic career.