Archive for Items Categorized 'Automobiles', only excerpts shown, click title for full entry.

John Woolfe: The Man Who Bought a Porsche 917

by Ian Wagstaff & Dave Riswick

… and crashed it in the opening lap of the 1969 Le Mans 24 Hours. And died. It was his first competitive outing in a new-to-him car that was very powerful and very finicky. It’s easy to blame this on hubris; the book paints a more nuanced picture.

The SAE Story, One Hundred Years of Mobility

by Robert C. Post

Early automobile engineering and construction was all over the place. Standards, guidelines, Best Practices were needed, which required the free and willing exchange of ideas. Industry leaders championed the idea and members from all areas of mobility-related professions came together.

Citroën DS Decapotable: Eclipse of the Sun-Goddess

by Stuart Ager

A feat of (re)engineering, the roofless French “goddess” debuted in 1960 only to be suddenly withdrawn from the UK market in 1967 and in mainland Europe by 1972. Why? Big story, much bigger than the car that found itself a victim of social and cultural forces.

Louie Mattar’s Fabulous Car

by Heidi Lewis

Are we there yet? A 6300-mile journey (actually there was another, even longer one) by car sounds exhausting. It sounds outright impossible if it’s nonstop, literally no stopping of any kind for any reason. It helps to be an inventor, and to have compatible co-drivers.

Pensive Racing Drivers

by Max Küng

The quiet moments, before a race when the mind settles in on the task at hand, or after, when the last hand has been played. Even the victor lugging his magnum of champagne looks oddly spent. These are the moments captured here.

Birth of a Giant, The Men and Incidents that Gave America the Motorcar

by Richard Crabb

Even today this 1969 book is worth consulting. Make that especially today because many of its primary sources are no longer with us to correct the errors that inevitably creep into the retelling of their stories.

An Illustrated Guide to the McLaren F1

by Joel Fletcher

None other than the designer of the car thinks this book is “pure genius” so how could you resist? The designer of the book didn’t initially mean to also write it but then did so that this visual guide to all 106 cars built would be in one voice.

Chrome Dreams, Automobile Styling Since 1893

by Paul C. Wilson

Illustrated with line drawings instead of photos this book aims to draw attention to what design features worked and/or found favor. The book is decades old by now and so makes for an interesting case study, also in regards to the author’s analytical abilities.

Curves: 15 Perspectives on Car Design

by Fabio Filippini

You know what you like, but can you articulate why? Follow a design pro down the rabbit hole, from thinking the idea to giving it physical shape—a masterclass for under $30!

Mustang vs. Camaro, The Battle for Pony Car Supremacy

by David Newhardt

If you have a wild horse as the emblem for your new car don’t be surprised if someone calls it a pony car. How annoying is it for the guy fielding a competitor to also have it called pony car! GM told the press that a Camaro was “a small, vicious animal that eats Mustangs.” Over 60 years later—no winner.

First Highways of America

John L. Butler

The US played a pioneering role in terms of cars but lagged in road development. Why? It’s a big country, duh. This book may be old but it belongs on the shelves of any serious transportation historian as it documents the earliest days of road building in America.

Packard: 1940–A Pivotal Year

by James A. Hollingsworth

A pivotal year indeed, and a pivotal book that is getting harder to find. If you have a Packard from the four separate lines of cars offered for 1940, this one book combines a multitude of source material into one convenient reference work.

« Older Entries