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

The Diesel Odyssey of Clessie Cummins

by C. Lyle Cummins Jr.

Cummins is not only the name behind the ubiquitous Cummins Diesel truck engine but also a world speed and endurance record holder. Readers with historical awareness will recognize in the publisher’s name a clever homage to Sadi Carnot, the brilliant young French scientist who is considered the father of thermodynamics.

NSU, The Complete Story

by Mick Walker

From knitting machines in 1873—by way of bicycles, motorcycles, and cheap but well-built small cars—to the futuristic, luxurious, world-class Wankel-engined Ro 80 passenger car in 1967 (that year’s European “Car of the Year” and also unofficial Car of the Decade) NSU was one of Germany’s pioneering manufacturers.

Cord Complete

by Josh B. Malks

Cord Complete is simply the most appropriate title possible for this book for a myriad of reasons. Comprehensiveness is just one of those reasons. It is an amplification of Malks’ earlier volume on the same topic.

Thousand Mile Trial 1900

by Elizabeth Bennett

Imagine a time when the car was new, few people had seen let alone experienced one, and even the talking heads did not seriously expect it “to take.” What the world needed was proof of the motorcar’s effectiveness and resilience: 1000 miles through England and Scotland outta do it.

Bomber

by Len Deighton

This is a novel but the level of research and attention to detail Deighton brought to bear could have easily yielded a nonfiction analysis of one fateful day and night in 1943 pinning German air defenses and RAF Bomber Command against each other.

A History of Auto Racing in New England

Dick Berggren, editor

Unless you live there you probably had no idea how long ago racing started in that region. This excellent book connects many dots that extend far beyond those six states.

Postcards of the Army Service Corps 1902–1918: Coming of Age

by Michael Young

From eggs to ammo, the Army Service Corps kept front-line troops fighting. This book presents hundreds of postcards showing what the daily grind was like, and from locales to fashion, it gives anyone with an interest in things historical something to relate to.

Betrayed: Secrecy, Lies, and Consequences

by Frederic H. Martini

Being a POW is hard enough. Not being believed afterwards, and even being denied disability benefits is worse. Having someone who knew of your plight but didn’t help be hailed as a hero is . . . well . . . this book will make you question who the good guys are.

F1: The Pinnacle, The Pivotal Events That Made F1 the Greatest Motorsport Series

by Tony Dodgins and Simon Arron

From technical and regulatory issues to people and places, this book connects those dots in time whose influence were not fleeting but gave form to what the sport is now and, more importantly, will be tomorrow.

Isorivolta: The Men, the Machines

by Winston Scott Goodfellow

Curious minds want to know: why was a firm that produced competent and desirable cars not strong enough to survive? and if they were competent and desirable why did the cars fade from memory within a few short years? The author was one such curious mind and his answers are presented here..

Shipwrecked and Rescued, Cars and Crew

by Larry Jorgensen

Winter 1926. A cargo freighter sinks. Thousands of others have sunk in the Great Lakes but what makes this story different is that not only the crew was rescued but the cargo—over 240 new cars, one of which lived to see its odo roll past 200,000 miles.

Colin Chapman: Inside the Innovator (republished)

by Karl Ludvigsen

When this important 2010 book went out of print, it left a hole. Thank goodness it’s back, in exactly the same form. History has had no reason to fundamentally change its views of the mercurial Lotus founder in the interim so the recollections and analysis gathered here remain valid.