Fiat 500, The Design Book

You know it when you see it—which is the whole point of heritage cars like Mini, Bettle, and Fiat 500. How do the designers and brand managers—and even the engineers—go about extracting the DNA of a past success? This book shows it.

The Avro Manchester: The Legend Behind the Lancaster

by Robert Kirby

If it weren’t for the subtitle many readers would probably not even know into what period to place this all but forgotten aircraft. Developed during times in which neither the technology nor the mission was entirely clear it lived a short and difficult life—but it was not for naught.

The Hawke History of MMM Competition Cars

by Karl-Joachim Wiessmann (editor)

MG midgets may not seem impressive but the racing versions were very successful and driven by anybody who was anybody. This book isn’t a historical narrative but presents the hard data behind the story.

Porsche – The Racing 914s

by Roy Smith

Unless you are a racer, you may have never given the boxy 914 a second look. The victim of development shortcuts and marketing tussles, the car that is now beginning to be called “great” was born under a cloud.

Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908

by David B. Gero

Whereas the Geneva-based Aircraft Crashes Record Office compiles and makes public statistics on aviation accidents of aircraft capable of carrying more than six passengers (excluding helicopters, balloons, and fighter airplanes), the military keeps its cards closer to the vest.

Monteverdi: Geschichte einer Schweizer Automarke

by Gloor and Wagner

This small Swiss marque was created by an outstanding man with great vision who rose from car salesman to racer to F1 team boss, considered gasoline his drug, and owned 11,000 model cars. How could you not be interested? This is the only book about him and his cars.

Creative Industries of Detroit

by Leon Dixon

Thousands of projects over several decades came out of Creative, mostly super-secret, and this is the first book about them! Well, some of them, and some of it is necessarily speculative. Still, this book answers questions you couldn’t have known you have.

The Battleship Holiday: The Naval Treaties and Capital Ship Design

by Robert C. Stern

Battleship-building may have been forced to take a ten-year holiday in the 1920s but thinking and designing continued anyway, and the next generation of capital ship turned a new page. This excellent book describes the implications of treaties on technical developments.

Coachwork on Derby Bentleys

by James Taylor

Bentleys built at Derby after the firm had just been acquired by Rolls-Royce were and still are highly desirable cars of a mostly sporting flavor. All the coachbuilders of the day put bodies on them, and this book covers the majority of them.

Testbeds, Motherships & Parasites

by Frederick A. Johnsen

Written by a USAF historian this book showcases the flying laboratories that test the seemingly obvious and the utterly obscure bits without which safe aviating would be anything but.

Fighting the Great War at Sea: Strategy, Tactics and Technology

by Norman Friedman

A highly analytical examination of an aspect of WW I that gets overlooked a lot: naval activities. In a way, trade, and therefore the sea, was both a root cause and then an ongoing strategic goal in the war.

911R

by Mäder, Konradsheim, Gruber

This Porsche is certainly having a moment these days, both in terms of collector car prices and literature. A book like this makes you want to be a 911 owner, just to have a legitimate reason for owning it

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