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

Porsche 908: The Long Distance Runner

by Födisch, Neßhöver, Roßbach, Schwarz

The 908 was the company’s first car to have an engine of the maximum size the regulations allowed at the time of its inception, 3 liters. It was an important car in its day but is often overlooked nowadays, especially as it is overshadowed by its successor.

Galveston’s The Elissa, The Tall Ship of Texas

by Kurt D. Voss

Today the Elissa is recognized as “one of the finest maritime preservation projects in the world.” This slim book capably recounts her colorful story.

We Were the Ramchargers: Inside Drag Racing’s Legendary Team

by Dave Rockwell

The Ramchargers were a group of like-minded young engineers who formed an after-hours racing team to transform Chrysler’s stodgy image and make it into a performance brand, in the process becoming one of the most successful drag-racing teams.

The Automobiles of the Maharajas

by Manvendra Singh Barwani and Sharada Dwivedi

The book’s handsome presentation, with its copper-toned, deeply embossed dust jacket that protects the finely-textured fabric over the hardcovers, makes it virtually impossible to resist looking inside. Prepare to be transported far away.

The Cobra-Ferrari Wars 1963–1965

by Michael L. Shoen

First published twenty-five years after the “war”, Michael Shoen’s account, is still considered the definitive work on what is one of America’s greatest motorsports accomplishments of the sixties.

Sports Cars of the Future

by Strother MacMinn

First impression is this is a modest little book (especially if comparing it to some of the multi-pound coffee table picture books). But once read, especially if reading now in the 21st century, it is virtually impossible to forget.

Autos 1900–1905 and 1906–1912

Both of these little books were assembled and printed in 1972. And, while both have long been out-of-print, a recently discovered box of new-old, never-before-in-circulation stock of both of these two books makes it possible for them to be sold brand new again for as long as there is supply.

The Complete Book of Shelby Automobiles: Shelby Cobras, Mustangs, and Super Snakes

by Colin Comer

This is a good book saddled with only a fair title. It should have been called simply The Book of Shelby Automobiles. Complete, in the sense of being a truly comprehensive history, it isn’t.

Rolls-Royce 20 HP, 20/25, 25/30 & Wraith in Detail, 1922–1939

Rolls-Royce 20 HP, 20/25, 25/30 & Wraith in Detail, 1922–1939

by Nick Walker

All of these models were market successes for Rolls-Royce in the years between WWI and II. Launched in 1922, they at first added to the 40/50 hp (a/k/a Silver Ghost) range they followed, and then gradually outstripped it in sales.

Che’s Chevrolet, Fidel’s Oldsmobile: On the Road in Cuba

by Richard Schweid

A popular urban myth says that Cuba is filled with pristine examples of American cars from the 1950s and, that when Fidel Castro finally dies, a wave of these befinned wonders will roll up on our shores. Schweid traveled throughout the island nation researching its automotive history.

Racing for Mercedes-Benz, A Dictionary of the 240 Fastest Drivers of the Marque

by Hartmut Lehbrink

The firm we know now as Mercedes-Benz is among the longest-lived and most storied marques in the automotive firmament. Naturally, racing is a key element in its success, and here, for the first time, is a compendium of the names that made it so.

Of Firebirds & Moonmen: A Designer’s Story from the Golden Age

by Norman J James

If you were a newly-minted designer in the 1950s, the place you would want to go to work would be GM. Legendary Harley Earl ran his design division as his own private fiefdom, and his Knight’s Errant were his designers.

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