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

Classic Cars: How to Choose Your Dream Car

by David Long

At last you’re flush with enthusiasm, flush with money too, and everybody at the pub talks about “them classic cars” and that “they don’t make ‘em like they used to!” You too will have a classic car. But you know nothing about the species . . . You, dear fellow, are the sort of reader this book aims to enlighten.

Maserati: Italian Luxury and Flair

by Martin C Buckley

These days, Maserati is going strong and is poised to remain that way. It was rarely so in the 90-year history of the firm, thanks to a multitude of different owners with different ideas, and this book gives an account of that.

Porsche, A History of Excellence

by Randy Leffingwell

First published in 2008 in hardcover form, this book takes a fairly thorough look at the history of Porsche’s road and racing cars. The publisher, Motorbooks, routinely re-issues successful books a few years later, with a different binding and a reduced price.

James Allison: A Biography of the Engine Manufacturer and Indianapolis 500 Cofounder

by Sigur E Whitaker

You know rearview mirrors, four-wheel brakes, front-wheel drive, and maybe even balloon tires. But do you know that all these things, and many more, can be traced back to one of the businesses that sprang from the fertile mind of James Allison (1872–1928)?

Real Racers – Formula 1 in the 1950s and 1960s

A Driver’s Perspective

by Stuart Codling

The “driver’s perspective” alluded to in the title takes here the form of commentary by drivers who raced during those decades. This is a useful approach, and certainly lively, entertaining and direct—but it does not [want to??] put its finger onto the core of the issue.

Russian Motor Vehicles: Soviet Limousines 1930–2003

by Maurice A. Kelly

Maybe the production of this book was already too near its end to include a notice that it was only May 2010 that Russian President Medvedev made it known that he desired to replace his Mercedes Benz state limousine with a proper domestic product. Not that there are any to choose from . . .

O’Keefe Winners Database 1895–2010

A Searchable Comprehensive Digital Database of Motor Racing Events 1895–2010

This CD-ROM is a digital version of O’Keefe’s The Winners Book: A Comprehensive Listing of Motor Racing Events 1895–2009. Unlike a printed book, a digital database can be kept current in perpetuity in the form of periodic updates.

Legends of the Open Road: The History, Technology and Future of Automobile Design

by Gabriella Belli (Editor)

The “Mart” (Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea) logo on the title page and the following three pages of densely printed names of staff, collectors and donors etc. are your first clue that this book might have something do to with a museum show. And so it does.

Karoserie Petera

by Jan Králík

Petera is not the first name that springs to mind when one thinks “coachbuilder.” However, this Czech firm was one of the most important coachbuilding firms in Central Europe from 1908 to the late 1970s, first making horse-drawn vehicles, sledges and hearses, then automobiles, trucks, coaches, and even gliders during World War Two.

Preston Tucker & Others: Tales of Brilliant Automotive Innovators and Innovations

by Arvid Linde

The book’s basic premise is true enough: at all times and in all fields there are those who think outside the box. More often than not they are unlauded, misunderstood, and unrewarded in their own time. Worse, they may be forgotten altogether—hence a book like this.

Runways and Racers: Sports Car Races Held on Military Airfields in America 1952–1954

by Terry O’Neil

Published a year after O’Neil’s 2010 opus Northeast American Sports Car Races 1950–1959 this new book on a directly related topic is not a sequel but, chronologically speaking, a prequel.

Avanti: Studebaker and Beyond

by John Hull

The marketing blurb for this photo-history book is “spot on” for anyone who is already knowledgeable regarding the marque. On its 94 pages are 120 large, sharp images that permit all the details of the scenes from the decades of Avanti history to be seen clearly. Avanti enthusiasts will enjoy perusing the pages and then studying them again more closely.