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

Differentials: Identification, Restoration & Repair

by Jim Allen and Randy Lyman

Part history book, part school book, part mechanics manual, part encyclopedia, and part sales guide for aftermarket alterations, this 394-page softcover book is a gearhead’s dream . . . if you want to dream about differentials, that is. If not, it could be slow going.

Hot Rod Garages

by Peter Vincent

Think of this book as a Shop Hop or Garage Crawl, a guided tour and look behind the curtain. This hot rod photographer/owner/builder doesn’t so much send you out for a look-see on your own but takes you along with him—all the while reminiscing and dispensing snippets of quotes and conversations, facts and factoids, and personal impressions.

Mustang: An American Classic, Yesterday – Today – Tomorrow

by Michael Mueller

Ford’s Mustang may have been the quintessential pony car but there is nothing pony about this oversize book—at over 14” tall it will tower over most anything else on the bookshelf. This lavish production is sort of a 45th birthday tribute to a wildly successful car that by then had sold about 9 million copies.

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.