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

The Rootes Story, The Making of a Global Automotive Empire  

by Geoff Carverhill 

Rootes is about as British a carmaker/distributor as it gets but US connections abound, not least the Raymond Loewy one. This book is quite the deep dive and dispenses lots of detail in a very readable manner.

Fuelin’ Around

by J.K. Kelly

There once was a racer who wondered if his fuel was all it could be. He taught himself chemistry and physics, didn’t blow himself up, and founded VP Racing Fuels which today is an internationally known name. This memoir is by someone who worked there for 30 years.

Porsche 356: Made by Reutter

by Frank Jung

For the first time ever a book reproduces some of the correspondence between the two firms, illustrating not just business details but the dynamics. Also, excerpts from oral histories accompany hundreds of photos from the shop floor.

Driverless America

by Joseph E. Hummer

Pick up any old consumer magazine and you’d think driverless cars are right around the corner. Well, it’s a big corner—but still, you should drive the heck out of whatever is in your garage right now! And also hope you don’t get run over . . . by an inattentive driver!

Forgotten Motoring, A Miscellany on the Open Road

by Peter Ashley

There is a certain charm in the assembly of miscellanies, and this book is an example of just how charming such an assemblage can be. Ashley’s eye, his sensibility, and his appreciation for ephemera combine to create quite the attractive volume, a sweetly polished little gem.

Indy Split: The Big Money Battle that Nearly Destroyed Indy Racing

by John Oreovicz

Big-time open-wheel racing in America is big business. And money is, as they say, the root of all evil. Followed by ego. If you can talk about CART, USAC, CRL, and IRL in the same sentence you know what this book will be about. It’s a bruising read—but there’s a happy end.

GT Love, 50 Years Opel GT

by Jens Cooper & Harald Hamprecht

This little Opel, the first-ever German concept car (1965), has more American connections that just being called the “baby Corvette.” As GM’s European subsidiary several US execs who would become industry heavyweights shaped the fates of this machine.

Porsche 911 ST 2.5

by Imhof, Keyser, Barth 

A 911 like no other. Not only was it rare in period, it did so many unique things in its early life that it seems inconceivable that it would just be thrown away. But some people kept looking. And now it lives again.

Mercedes 300 SL, Car of the Century

by Hans Kleissl and Harry Niemann

A truly different book about a car that so much has already been written about. No wonder, considering who the authors are.

The Land Rover Story

by Dave Phillips

Beginning with the 1970s Range Rover model, the Spartan, rugged Landy of yore has moved resolutely upmarket. It still goes, true to its motto, “Above & Beyond” but the firm has also just recorded its largest financial loss in history. A big story, told here by a marque expert.

The Face of Change: Portraits of Automotive Evolution

by John Nikas & Michael Furman

Cars have changed over time. Obviously. Suppose one analyzed the past and isolated specific reasons, could future change become predictable? If this is too highbrow just geek out on the sumptuous photos.

The Last Shelby Cobra: My Times with Carroll Shelby

by Chris P. Theodore

Carroll Shelby doesn’’t seem to have had an idle day in his long life and to the end was hatching new ideas. This book by a Ford exec who worked with him looks at the last 20-odd years.

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