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

Discovered: The Nineteenth Rolls-Royce Phantom IV

by Bill Wolf

Spoiler alert: there really are only eighteen, and only available (when new) to royalty which is why everything there is to know about them is known. But, asketh the fiction writer, What If?

Lee Noble, Supercar Genius

by Christopher Catto

Noble Automotive started out building kit cars and did it so well that soon enough customers asked for complete cars. Of the many models over the decades are some that moved the needle so decisively that established automakers had to do some hard thinking. This is the first book to tell the full story.

Rolls-Royce Memories, A Coming-of-Age Souvenir

H. Massac Buist

Written in 1926, this memoir offers both a personal and in-depth look into yesteryear when cars and airplanes were new and wondrous. We are given a contemporary account of the doings of Charles Stewart Rolls and F. Henry Royce. It’s like watching the old TV show “You are There.”

Bentley Mark VI & R-Type

Including the Bentley Continental and the Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn

by Martin Bennett

For decades, Rolls-Royce produced “chassis-only” motorcars—with coachbuilders supplying the body and interior. After WWII the company decided to begin manufacturing complete cars in-house and this book examines in great detail the outcome of this historic decision.

Riley & Wolseley Cars of the 1950s, 1960s & 1970s, A Pictorial History

by David Rowe

The cars of the era covered by this book are hardly of the same appeal as the ones that had made the names of these marques. Once illustrious they descended into such obscurity that they are rarely covered in other books.

The Rover Story 

by Graham Robson

Except for Land Rovers you can’t buy a new Rover anymore these days but you can now get this long out of print book again. Well-organized, it focuses on the core period 1877–1988 while also touching on the years before and after.

On The Prowl, The Definitive History of the Walkinshaw Jaguar Sports Car Team

by Neil Smith

TWR was associated with several marques, not to mention a great variety of privateer efforts, but the relationship with Jaguar was a particularly bright one and very much deserving of a book as exceptional as this.

The Austin Pedal Car Story, The Fascinating History of Austin’s J40 and Pathfinder from 1946 to Present Day

by David Whyley

Austin J40 pedal cars may be diminutive. Telling their story is anything but. With over 32,000 produced since the first ones 75 years ago, they are being made again albeit with re-engineered, contemporary mechanical components.

Lola GT: The DNA of the Ford GT40

by John Starkey

This book fills a gap in the timeline between Ford getting snubbed by Ferrari and finding a new partner with whom to build race cars. Lola already had their own prototype bolted together, and Ford made them a deal. The rest is history—except the telling of that history has been incomplete.

Nash-Healey, A Grand Alliance

by Nikas and Chevalier

If you know the marque, you know that there has not been a prior book. If you don’t, this one will take you into a much deeper rabbit hole than just those cars. And if you appreciate intelligent writing and good design you will see here just how much is achievable.

McLaren: The Road Cars, 2010–2024

by Kyle Fortune

Most carmakers build road cars to finance their racing effort. McLaren went the other way. With full access to their archives and personnel, along with driving impressions by automotive journalists, this book seems to tick so many boxes that even company insiders say they learned something.

The MG Century: 100 Years—Safety Fast!

by David Knowles

A really fine, wide-ranging book by an authoritative writer who has unearthed a few new morsels; If you put MG out of your mind decades ago, it’s time to wake up and realize the brand is now “the export pinnacle of one of the world’s largest carmakers.”