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

Aston Martin: Power, Beauty and Soul

by David Dowsey

Unlike the mostly premium-priced Aston Martin cars, this refreshingly cheap Aston Martin book leaves the buyer with the distinct satisfaction of having received great value for money (unless you must have the 2007 first edition which will set you back a pretty penny). And like the cars, this book is upscale, in presentation as much as in content.

Aston Martin V8

by William Presland

Built from 1969 to 2000 Aston Martin’s V8 cars represent a fairly late entry into the V8 segment. Customers had been clamoring for a larger mill for years and Aston began development in 1963, aiming for a 1967 release. The new car that was to go with the new engine, the DBS, did get done in time but the new engine designed by Tadek Marek took another two years.

Jaguar XJ220: The Inside Story

by Mike Moreton

If you had never heard of the XJ220 and all you were told is that it was the fastest production car of its day, with a V12, all-wheel drive, spectacularly good-looking coachwork with scissor doors and luxuriously trimmed interior, you’d think it must have sold like hot cakes. Not!

Original MGA

The Restorer’s Guide to all Roadsters and Coupé Models Including Twin Cam

by Anders Ditlev Clausager

The 1955–62 MGA is not at all an uncommon sight on today’s roads. Strong mechanicals, easy parts availability, decent top speed, and good looks account for this model’s desirability. Add to that healthy auction prices and you have a car you’ll want to keep at or restore to the top of its game.

Original MGB With MGC and MGB GT V8: The Restorer’s Guide to all Roadsters and GT Models 1962–80

by Anders Ditlev Clausager

The MGB is the successor to the MGA about which Clausager wrote a similar book. More than 500,000 of this all-time best-selling British sports car were built over an 18-year span. If you want to make yours as original as the factory intended, you need this book.

British Car Advertising of the 1960s

by Heon Stevenson

The run from Land’s End in Cornwall to John O’Groats in the north of Scotland is the longest distance in the British Isles. No wonder that for years the British have had a hard time comprehending America’s wide open spaces. Their misperception of the space we occupy has, albeit indirectly, influenced the advertising that is the subject of this book.

Silver Ghosts of Australia and New Zealand

by Ian L Irwin

Unlike books written “on spec” for commercial gain or a misguided yearning for immortality, this 2-volume opus is the proverbial labor of love of one enthusiast’s lifelong unwavering interest.

Rallying in a Royal Rolls-Royce

Preparations, Pitfalls and Passion on the 1997 Peking to Paris Motor Challenge

by Jeanne Eve

If you are a Rolls-Royce enthusiast seeking information on compression ratios and piston stroke, then this one may not be your cup of tea. However, if you have a pulse, if you have ever felt the call of the open road, and you don’t treat your car like a trailer queen, then you must read this!

The Forerunners of Jaguar in Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia

by John Clucas & Terry McGrath

British Jaguar expert Paul Skilleter, who is the publisher of this book, introduces it on the flyleaf by stating “If you thought you knew all about the forerunners of Jaguar, think again. . . . Extraordinarily comprehensive and full of fascinating new details.”

W.O. Bentley: The Man Behind The Marque

by Malcolm Bobbitt

Bentley is one of the most storied marques in British history. Despite its racing successes, more precisely because of them and their drain on the corporate coffers, Bentley did not survive the Great Depression as an independent marque but rather found itself the neglected stepchild in the Rolls-Royce family.

Pistons to Blades
: Small Gas Turbine Developments 
by the Rover Company

by Mark C S Barnard

A gas turbine-powered Bentley in the late 1940s? Could have happened! The background to this book is the swap of Rover’s jet engine work for Rolls-Royce’s Meteor tank engine program in 1943.

My Life and My Cars

by W.O. Bentley

The autobiography ends with a gathering of the Bentley Drivers Club at Bentley’s home in Shamely Green, in 1959; he then was in retirement and had kept close ties with the BDC. The last paragraph of the book is nearly wistful—that of a man looking back over an exciting and distinguished career. There seems to be a smile on his face.

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