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

When Wedge had the Edge

by Gautam Sen

Not every car design that is pointy on one end and thick on the other qualifies as a wedge. If this is news to you, or if you thought wedge styling had its moment half a century ago and was then relegated to the margins of history, read this book.

Against All the Others: Porsche’s Racing History, Volume 1 – 1968

by Randy Leffingwell

Porsche has participated in tens of thousands of motorsports events over the years so you can’t be surprised that it will take multiple books to cover them. Here is Volume 1. Prepare to be impressed.

The Complete Book of AMC Cars

American Motors Corporation 1954–1988

by Foster & Glatch

It was the largest corporate merger in US history when Nash and Hudson regrouped as AMC. Domestically, the Big Three were and remained the big kids on the block but AMC played well in Europe which would lead to a partnership with Renault.

Porsche Outlaws: Stuttgart Hot Rods

by Michael Alan Ross

Porsches are surely not the first marque that comes to mind when the conversation turns to hot rods. But making a car faster, cooler, and better-handling appeals to any gearhead, and once one person starts, things might just grow into a veritable movement.

Alvan Macauley of Packard: Detroit’s Forgotten Automotive Pioneer

by Charles E. Flinchbaugh

So much went right at Packard for so long—surviving the Depression and once outselling Cadillac—and then the company went under anyway, and during the greatest car-buying boom the US had ever seen.

The American Highway: The History and Culture of Roads in the United States

by William Kaszynski 

How did KFC start? Who was Colonel Sanders? From actual road construction to the genesis of road-related amenities, this book chronicles the story behind much of what we take for granted today.

Jacques Saoutchik, Maître Carrossier: 1948 Talbot-Lago Grand Sport Chassis 110101

by Peter M. Larsen and Ben Erickson

A car with a great story, and a book with a great story. A car with a forensic restoration, and a book with forensic research. Things like this don’t happen every day.

DeLorean: The Rise, Fall, and Second Acts of the DeLorean Motor Company

by Matt Stone

Big title for a small book. It doesn’t answer all questions and in a way doesn’t even ask all of them—but it does connect many dots and it certainly shines a light on the multitude of external factors the auto industry, not just boutique makers, faced in the Eighties.

Alfa Romeo: An Illustrated History, 1910–2020

by Christian Schön (editor)

As of April 2024 you can no longer order a gasoline-powered Alfa in the US. All the more reason to cast a wistful eye at the past with this book commemorating 110 years of history.

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.

The Phantom Corsair, A Remarkable Journey

by Meredith B. Jaffe

Wildly futuristic not just in looks but in technical features it cost around $24,000 to create in 1936 and if it had gone into production you could have bought one for the low-low price of $15,000—never mind that we just came out of the Great Depression. That’s not the only reason it didn’t happen.

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