Cool Car Books - recommendations?

[calais]

I have quite an extensive library of Automotive texts.

I am quite a collector of anything to do with what most would term Muscle or Pony cars.

I buy the majority of my books online. Most of them are published by a company called 'Motorbooks'. I do find however that a lot of the information contained within the books must be cross referenced to ensure accuracy, against what collector and car clubs deem to be fact. All part of the fun as far as I am concerned.

Some of my favourites are;

- the Hemi in the Barn and Cobra in the Barn books.
- Fuel and Guts (the birth of top fuel drag racing and Front Engine Dragsters)
- Book of the Car by Readers Digest
- Classic GM Muscle by Mueller

My better half just cant understand why I'm such an avid reader of all things automotive, but when the books are very well researched material in hardcover, and I keep them properly, they may as well last for ever. Something I cant say for typical month to month automotive journalism....

I am looking for more books to cover off on Australian Automotive History, however I have found a lot of what I have seen to be prohibitively expensive or so far off the mark, that the credibility of the material within is a waste of paper.

Seriously looking forward to what other members recommend!

[Dauphin]

Another two books I found recently:

ONE:

The Pictorial History of Australian Automobiles
By Andrew Clarke
Published through Bison Group.

A big book that tells the story of automotive development in Australia, right through to the E-series Falcon and VN Commodore. Lots of photos, text and discusses stuff like the Magna, Telstar, hatches, etc.

TWO:

The Man in the White Suit
By Ben Collins

This is the biography of The Stig (Ben Collins)'s time with Top Gear. At first I didn't think it would be very interesting but it's actually quite interesting in parts, and funny.

[platinumXR]

[stev3n]

Not a book but google "HO down the Hume" was an article published in Sports Car World. My grandfather had 2 copies of this mag, which I cut the pictures out of. Probably worth many dollars to a serious collector.

Great pic of a phase 3 at 144mph

[wrongwaynorris]

Originally Posted by loftie

I'll take a look when I get home...

I have a book called "Lemons - Failures from the Automotive Industry"
which is fantastic, and makes you realise how far we've come with technology!

(One of the cars was manufactured in Adelaide by a whitegoods manufacturer. They made a two-door wagon style car - but with cost cuts - forgot to make a rear door (ie like a panel van)... so you needed to fold down the front seats to gain access to the rear... oh wait a sec - they had to cut more costs - which meant that the front seats didn't fold down, rendering the entire rear of the car/wagon useless)...

The above is from memory - i'll find the book tonight and post the author/publisher...
It will make your sides hurt when you read it... great xmas stocking filler!!!!

I think you'll find you're talking about the Lightburn Zeta , the company also made concrete mixers . They entered the Ampol Trial in 1964 and from memeory finished last but then again a lot of cars did'nt finish at all , it was won by the old fox in a Cortina .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightburn

http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au...ampol_1964.htm

[Rev28K]

- Any of Georgio Piola’s yearly Formula 1 reviews
- True Blue by Bill Tuckey
- Any of the Car Design Yearbooks (now sadly not produced after number 8)


Haven’t read them but I’d like to try them:
- James Allen’s book on Michael Schumacher “The edge of greatness”
- A couple of the “taxi” drivers books (Skaife and Lowndes)
- Mark Webbers book “Up Front” (until the last 3 races)

+1 on Donohue’s “The unfair advantage”. You will be blown away by the number of cars he raced and developed, how little he knew at the start, how humble he comes off as and how stubborn and determined he was.
Also you’ll be impressed by how much the old guys raced (Andretti was the same)

[Dauphin]

The Car That Could: The Inside Story of GM's Revolutionary Electric Vehicle
By Michael Shnayerson
Published by Random House Books, 1996

A very interesting book about the GM EV1.

[Polyal]

I saw on ebay not long ago a book about Bill Bourke...anyone read it?

[hendoau99]

that "HO down the hume" is an awesome little read. really gives you a sense of the balls the phase III had. that being said, i'm yet to drive one.to anyone that has had the privilege, i'm sooo jealous

[gcg2503]

Originally Posted by Dauphin

I found this new book in the local library, thought I'd recommend it and see if anyone would like to recommend other books. (Can't see any thread of this topic in the search.)

Holden Vs Ford - The Cars, the Culture, the Competition

Written by Steve Bedwell
Published by Rockpool Publishing, 2009.

It covers all the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s period of rivals Holden and Ford in the showroom, concepts and motorsport, and how the political and environmental situation affected them. Pretty good stuff. You should see the XC-XD style ute concept, one ugly duckling.

Anyone like to recommend other cool books?

Excuse the thread mine

My Fairlane was sold to the author of this book

Lets hope he is looking after it - but I doubt it - not as much as me!

[OzJavelin]

Musclecar Confidential; confessions of a magazine test driver. I especially liked the chapter on the 71 AMC AMX (I own a 74 AMC Javelin) that lost a rear wheel/axle assembly

[Dauphin]

The Lexus Story

I picked this book up during a recent trip overseas and it's pretty fascinating. The development of the first Lexus (the ES 400) is an incredible read. The things the development team did to get ahead of the luxury brands of the time makes for amazing reading. They really deserve the success they got!

[tranquilized]

Originally Posted by Dauphin

I picked this book up during a recent trip overseas and it's pretty fascinating. The development of the first Lexus (the ES 400) is an incredible read. The things the development team did to get ahead of the luxury brands of the time makes for amazing reading. They really deserve the success they got!

That would be interesting!



I finished this a while back;



Fascinating broad look at the beginnings and history of the American motor industry, the immense success and the culture that bred which in turn nearly ruined the big 3. It can get a bit dry with detailed descriptions of corporate and government dealings, but its amazing how close GM and Chrysler came to closing up completely.

[OffRoadFalcon]

6 of the Best car books I have are...

The Worst Cars Ever Sold - Giles Chapman - Sutton Publishing

Are You For Wheel? The Most Amazing Cars Ever - Tony Davis - Random House Australia

You Must be Skidding! The biggest LOSERS of the car world - Tony Davis - Random House Australia

THE CAR BOOK-The Definitive Visual History - DK (probably the best of the lot, loads of awesome pictures and information of cars and brand themselves)

The Ultimate History of FAST CARS, Vehicles Built for the Fast Lane- Jonathon Wood - Parragon

CARS - Igloo

I'd like to find more humourous books, as well as more Australian car books, and some of American cars from the 50s to late 70s.






Edit: Has anyone seen any books about Station Wagons? I'd love to find some.

[hawkgirl]

Unsafe at Any Speed by Ralph Nader.

read it many years ago & still makes me think

[Dauphin]

The Complete Book of Mustang

It's a massive and heavy book that contains everything you could ever want to know about every single Mustang model since the idea for the car started at Ford. It doesn't shy away from the boring mid-seventies era either. The ultimate book on the Mustang.

[JimStone]

Originally Posted by hawkgirl

Unsafe at Any Speed by Ralph Nader.

read it many years ago & still makes me think

Still have the copy I was given in the late '70s, take it down off the shelf and re read it about every 5 years or so.

RS - the faster fords ; great read for anyone into the classic era of giant killing RS fords, spans 20 years from early days at AVO through to Sierras

Dunko The Inside story of Ross Dunkerton, an Australian Rally legend ; entertaining string of autobiographical tales right through the golden era of rallying.

High Performance Escorts MKII 1975-1980 - bound series of magazine and paper articles covering the period - interesting read and handy reference guide too

ANY genuine facotry service manual - seriously.....

[castellan]

Originally Posted by tranquilized

That would be interesting!



I finished this a while back;

image

Fascinating broad look at the beginnings and history of the American motor industry, the immense success and the culture that bred which in turn nearly ruined the big 3. It can get a bit dry with detailed descriptions of corporate and government dealings, but its amazing how close GM and Chrysler came to closing up completely.

I will have to get that book.
Probably due to only modern uni student types running the show now instead of the old Jewish foundation principles. as most of the uni type people are off with the pixies and just only little boys with only a limited field and no real love for cars. it's the same everywhere nowdays. like a bank manager used to know everything but not now. and the credentials for the countries leaders are only competent at lying and just puppets for low life criminals hiding in the shadows.

[Dauphin]

1001 Cars to Dream of Driving Before You Die

Very concise, even has reviews of the Falcon GTHO, XB Falcon GT (with a Mad Max poster) and the Dodge Monaco (Bluesmobile) jumping the Illinois Nazis.

[RedHotGT]

Well I stumped up my hard earned for this one - and it's actually very good!

Whilst the title may not be for everyone, now that i've read it there are plenty of things I thought I knew (which it turns out I didn't know) and also lots of great tips to help you with buying cars!
http://www.rossvasse.com

Anyone else seen this one?

[Joshmcmillan]

Originally Posted by Riksta

I love the books "Lemon" and "Extra Lemon" by Tony Davis.

They're small books, but they're a great read with a few laughs.

Basically all about cars that were failures in one way or another, some for their design, and others for sales. Includes write ups on things like Edsel, Delorean, even right down to the EA Falcon!!!

Just bought the new 'Total Lemons' from eBay

[Dauphin]

This great Aussie car book Muscle Car Mania is on sale at Big W from tomorrow 28 Wed 2013. I highly recommend it, even has a very interesting section about the Leyland P76 from memory:



And also this book is on sale too:

[Dauphin]

Forgot to mention they are $10 each.

[Franco Cozzo]

100 years of Ford:

http://www.amazon.com/FORD-CENTURY-F...ford+100+years

And my favorite:



http://www.amazon.com/Ford-F-Series-...=Ford+F+series

[351capri]

dick johnsons autobiography is a good read.

[Dauphin]

Iacocca - An Autobiography

An oldie but a goodie. Lee Iacocca's own words about his early days, rise to the top of Ford and the creation of the Falcon, Mustang and his later leadership of Chrysler.

The stories about the public's reaction to the first Mustang are astounding. I highly recommend this book.

[wozman]

Originally Posted by stev3n

Not a book but google "HO down the Hume" was an article published in Sports Car World. My grandfather had 2 copies of this mag, which I cut the pictures out of. Probably worth many dollars to a serious collector.

Great pic of a phase 3 at 144mph

I have that book!!!!!!!

[2011G6E]

Have a poke around old second hand book stores...you come across all sorts of interesting stuff in them.
Some years back I found a copy of "Torque", by Peter Wherret, a hard cover companion book to the old TV series from the late seventies or early eighties.

It's still a great read with some fantastic classic cars of all eras. Just, erm, try and ignore the section about "the future" where he says petrol will be practically all gone by the mid 1990's...
Still, at school in the seventies we thought that would be the way it was headed. Remember in the amazing Australian film "Running On Empty", the hero says the reason the like hotted up cars was that in the future they'd all be "riding around in electric wheelchairs" instead of petrol cars.

[DFB FGXR6]

My Other Wife Is A Car - Confessions of a car tragic
by John M. Wright

An aussie freelance motoring writer (Wheels, Motor now Unique Cars), basically tells the story of all the cars he has owned in his life time and the ups and downs that come with them.

A great and interesting read.

[XC GXL]

Golden Miles by Clinton Walker is quite a good read.



Wayne