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

Ed Pink, The Old Master

by Ed Pink with Bones Bourcier

There was a time, before crew chiefs, when engine builders were as famous as the star drivers because they saw to every aspect of a car’s performance. Having built thousands of engines, at 92, Pink finally called it quits and finished his biography instead.

Automotive Trade Journal

Its purpose is in the name: a magazine to the auto trade covering news and topics such as manufacture, maintenance, and sales. 1931 is a pivotal year as Germany’s economy collapsed that summer and the Great Depression is becoming entrenched.

Origin of the Checker Flag: A Search for Racing’s Holy Grail

by Fred R. Egloff

Ask ten people were the checkered flag used in racing comes from and you’ll get eleven answers. Get the straight dope here.

Leo Villa’s Bluebird Album, with 3D Images

by David de Lara with Kevin Desmond

The Leo Villa of the title spent almost his entire working life with the Campbell family of speed freaks, first Sir Malcolm Campbell and then his son Donald who between them held 21 land and water world speed records.

William Howard Taft and the First Motoring Presidency, 1909–1913  

by Michael L. Bromley

Impressively documented re-appraisal of oft-maligned president, with special emphasis on autos. At an important early stage, Taft, in the face of opposition, articulated a national interest in the auto industry and the social advances of widespread motorization.

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.

HOTOL: Britain’s Spaceplane 

by Dan Sharp

It’s the 1980s and the concept of a reusable winged launch vehicle is (once more?) top of mind in the space industry. HOTOL considered new solutions to old problems, problems that are still not solved today. In Earth’s atmosphere you need jet propulsion, which requires air, which does not exist in space. Now what?

Novi, The Legendary Indianapolis Race Car, Vols 1 + 2

by George Peters and Henri Greuter

Fan favorites, powerful, and certainly capable of winning, no Novi-engined racer ever won the one event they were designed for, the Indy 500.

The Kalamazoo Automobilist: 1891–1991

by David O. Lyon

You may have heard of a Wolverine, but probably not in an automotive context. Checker is a big name, of course. How about Barley, Blood, Cannon, Cornelian, Dort to name just a few of the makers you’ll encounter in this book. Street names are in many cases all that remains.

The Stylish Life Grand Prix

Texts by Elizabeth Smith

No matter what you take the title to mean, there’s a good chance you’ll be surprised by what’s in this book, not least the wide variety of photos. Some of them will really put your motorsports knowledge to the test.

The Story of a Stanley Steamer

by George Woodbury

This is not a company history but the saga of one specific 1917 model that a retired college professor took a shine to, returning a derelict to operational status. It was a complicated task in 1950 when this book was written, and would be harder now.

America’s Fire Engine, The American-LaFrance 700 Series, 1947–1959  

by Walter M. McCall and Alan M. Craig

Although that famous flat front was not the first example of cab-forward design, ALF’s success with it made it an industry standard and earned the 700 Series the nickname “America’s Fire Engine.”

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