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

Fin Tales: Saving Cadillac, America’s Luxury Icon

by John F. Smith

Cadillac, used to being the name in American luxury cars, once dropped back far enough to resort to inflating year-end sales reports to edge out Lincoln for the top spot, requiring an official apology from the top brass. The author was there for the soul searching and the corrective action.

Mercedes-Benz C111: Fackelträger, Traumsportwagen und Rekordjäger

by Kalbhenn, Heidbrink, Hack

Those gullwing doors are about all the C111 had in common with the famous SL300 whose impact M-B was so eager to replicate. Only a few were built, mainly serving as test beds, and the successor C112 was scrapped altogether but this is a big and interesting story.

Glamour Road

by Jeff Stork and Tom Dolle

Few “movements” touched so many aspects of life and lifestyle as that archly American endevor we now call Midcentury Modern: architecture, fashion, consumer goods, graphics, even gender roles. How do cars fit the dictum of clean lines, absence of decorative embellishments, and honest use of materials? This book shows how it all meshes.

Around the World in a Napier – the Story of Two Motoring Pioneers

by Andrew M. Jepson

Around the world in 80 days?? Nah. Make that six years—and 46,528 miles, and 39 countries. They literally went were no one had been before. And you can follow them here.

Internal Fire, The Internal Combustion Engine 1673–1900

by C. Lyle Cummins, Jr.

Follow the history of the internal-combustion engine from as far back as the 1600s to sideshows such as the use of gunpowder as a motive force to its ca. 1900—and still absurdly inefficient—iteration.

Colin Chapman: Inside the Innovator (republished)

by Karl Ludvigsen

When this important 2010 book went out of print, it left a hole. Thank goodness it’s back, in exactly the same form. History has had no reason to fundamentally change its views of the mercurial Lotus founder in the interim so the recollections and analysis gathered here remain valid.

Masters of Mayhem

by James Stejskal

Context-rich, this book is not just another flogger of the T.E. Lawrence myth. Its overarching theme is that of small, agile teams acting as a force multiplier, a concept of timeless relevance and urgency to warfighting practice.

Morris – the Cars and the Company

by Jon Pressnell

There once was a time when modest Morris owned the largest-ever share of the British market. What happened? Lots of new material sheds light on the matter.

Faster, Higher, Farther: The Inside Story of the Volkswagen Scandal

by Jack Ewing

When VW became the world’s largest automaker, in 2015, it seemed entirely plausible that such a large automotive group should have the chops. Except . . . they cheated to get there. What went wrong in the hearts and minds of executives? And just how did a handful of US researchers cotton on to the rigged emissions data and ring the alarm?

Mr Radley Drives to Vienna

by John Kennedy

Look closely at that cover. Looks like a color print of a b/w photo, right? No! Everything is re-staged—a hundred years apart.

Damsels in Design

by Constance A. Smith

No one thinks twice about women picking wallpaper and hubby’s wardrobe—but planes, trains, automobiles?? And more than seventy years ago? Only one of the twenty considered here made it a lifetime career but all left their mark.

Farman: De l’Aviation á l’Automobile

by Claude Rouxel, Laurent Friry

Built to last forever, Farman cars fell victim to their complexity and the value of the raw materials from which they were made. As the first serious study of the marque, there’s every reason to believe this fascinating and long-awaited book will outlast its subject.

« Older Entries