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

Alpine and Renault: The Development of the Revolutionary Turbo F1 Car 1968 to 1979

by Roy Smith

Neither Alpine nor Renault seem likely candidates for developoing the first turbocharged Grand Prix car. Finally there is proper book to tell the story of the people and ides behind it.

A Technical & Operational
 History of the Liberty Engine: Tanks, Ships and Aircraft 1917–1960

by Robert J. Neal

One of history’s most famous engines, and very possibly the one with the longest active military service life, the Liberty represents an ambitious and visionary solution to what could have become an intractable problem: too much creativity resulting in too muchf incompatibility.

André Lefebvre and the Cars He Created for Voisin and Citroën

by Gijsbert-Paul Berk

In addition to his work at Voisin, Lefebvre was in large part responsible for the Citroën Traction Avant, the H series trucks and vans, the 2CV and the DS—to have been responsible for just one of these cars would be worthy of nomination to the Engineering Hall of Fame!

Hitler’s Motor Racing Battles: The Silver Arrows under the Swastika

by Eberhard Reuss

Ever since producing a 1999 documentary on this subject for German television the author perceived a vacuum in the literature about the famous Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows of the pre-World War Two period.

Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, 50 Years of Flying

by Jarrod Cotter

Published on the occasion of the Flight’s golden anniversary, in 2007, this book is the first full account of the origins and activities of an organization (technically, it is a unit in the RAF) that is dear and near to the British, a veritable cultural touchstone.

Silver Arrows In Camera

A Photographic History of the Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union Racing Teams 1934–39

by Anthony Pritchard

This book delivers more than its subtitle promises! If the word “photographic” were missing, no one would feel short-changed. Not only is it an excellent source of period photography, it also contains a thorough textual treatment in the form of contextual narrative.

Men of Power: The Lives of Rolls-Royce Chief Test Pilots Harvey and Jim Heyworth

by Robert Jackson

Test pilot brothers are a rarity. Both Heyworths worked for the same company, at the same time, and both became chief test pilot. Harvey, the elder of the two became the third test pilot at Hucknall, where Rolls-Royce had its flight test establishment.

Bentley’s Great Eight: The Astonishing 50-Year Saga of one of History’s Greatest V8 Engines

by Karl Ludvigsen

A mighty engine of uncommon longevity, dissected here with customary Ludvigsen attention to detail. But why is it a Bentley and not a Rolls-Royce unit? That’s a whole other story.

Stanguellini: Big Little Racing Cars

by Luigi Orsini and Franco Zagari

Automobili Stanguellini was a maker of small racing and road cars in Modena, Italy. Modena, of course, is known as the home of Ferrari and Maserati but did you realize that they and Stanguellini had their premises all within the same square mile? Stanguellini, in fact, is older than the other two.

The Cars of Pullman

by Joe Welsh, Bill Howes, Kevin J Holland

Hotels on wheels—incorporated in 1867 as the Pullman Palace Car Company, New York cabinetmaker George Mortimer Pullman’s eponymous railroad cars crisscrossed North America for 102 years. They became a household word, so much so that especially sleeping cars were often generically referred to as Pullmans regardless of who made or ran them.

The Maserati 300S

by Walter Bäumer

Hard to imagine that there’s a living to be made being a full-time Maserati historian but that’s just what German photographer and car enthusiast Walter Bäumer decided to do in 2003. Incidentally, he also is the editor of the German Maserati Club’s excellent magazine Der Dreizack (The Trident).

Porsche Racing Cars: 1953 to 1975

by Brian Long

This book looks at Porsche’s purpose-built competition cars of the modern era, cars the author considers motorsports and design icons “the likes of which, sadly, we will never see again.”