Car Books Thread

[Randy Winkman]

Apologies if I'm missing something really obvious. I appreciate there's a thread on the book you are currently reading and I could start my own thread on any specific book I'm reading; but is there thread where people highlight and talk about specific car books they like?

[P5BNij]

I'm a serial buyer of the Brooklands road test reprint books, which might sound at first seem like a dry old read, but some of the period reviews are often very well written, quite jovial and even brutal in one or two cases.

I'm currently half way through Ermanno Cozza's 'Maserati At Heart', it's a very good insight into life inside the factory and working with the racing team in the '50s. Well worth a look. Lined up to read next are some biographies of Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt and Niki Lauda.

[Randy Winkman]

I used to buy those back in the 80s/90s which is where most of my car book collection comes from. Mostly Lambo/Ferrari/Porsche but also Lancia Stratos. I had lots of the magazines the articles came from but I still liked the books.

What inspired me to start the thread was that I recently bought my first car book for ages. After seeing a good review in Classic and Sports Car magazine I bought "Quest for Speed".

https://www.motorsportweek.com/2020/11/26/book-rev...

It's about speed record cars and is brilliant. So much work must have gone into the illustrations which to my mind are of more value than photographs would have been.

[williamp]

I buy lots of car books. Recently at auction I bought a job lot of books on older racing. Two by Prince Chula about B Bira racing. Mike hawthorn's championship year. One book about vintage motoring, written in the 50s. The two authors admire the prince henry vauxhall above all else, and almost racist towards Mercedes and dismissive towards the Italian marques. One about prewar grand prix racing, published in 1939 and looking hopeful for the next few years racing.... and a few othres I havent read yet, but all written in the 50s at the latest.

I agree with the Brooklands books, too. A great read. I have alot of Aston mArtin books, and quite a few others I have picked up over the years. Some very valuable now, but they ard not going anyhwre I might need to name them on the house insurance

[coppice]

I write reviews for speedreaders.info, a US non commercial website specialising in car, motorsport and aviation titles. I tend to do European titles , especially motorsport related ones . Recent highlights have included Richard Williams' wonderful book on Richard Seaman (who drove Mercedes for the Nazi funded team in the Thirties ) , David Tremayne's masterwork on Jim Clark , Gordon Murray's eyewateringly expensive book (worth every penny ) and , two recent books on Lauda .

The site is worth a browse- dig around and you can even find a nice review of my own book

[Randy Winkman]

Cheers. I like the idea of a book on Niki Lauda. I'm 56 years old and remember the Lauda crash well. In recent years I've seen a couple of good TV documentaries on him where I'm still struggling to decide what I think. I was involved in a really serious accident a few years ago so know what it's like to recover and get back to "normal" life. His recovery and return went beyond the normal.

[generationx]

Randy Winkman said:

Cheers. I like the idea of a book on Niki Lauda. I'm 56 years old and remember the Lauda crash well. In recent years I've seen a couple of good TV documentaries on him where I'm still struggling to decide what I think. I was involved in a really serious accident a few years ago so know what it's like to recover and get back to "normal" life. His recovery and return went beyond the normal.

Look for "To Hell and Back (N Lauda)" - it's a cracker.

[Equus]

Randy Winkman said:

What inspired me to start the thread was that I recently bought my first car book for ages. After seeing a good review in Classic and Sports Car magazine I bought "Quest for Speed".

If you're enjoying that, you might like The Fast Set by Charles Jennings, too. Not many illustrations, but a good tale about three of the important personalities from the LSR's first golden era.

Man Against the Salt isn't bad, either.

[coppice]

generationx said:

Look for "To Hell and Back (N Lauda)" - it's a cracker.

It is superb, as are Lauda's other books. I did find Maurice Hamilton's recent biography slightly lacking , with a disappointing absence of material about the man , rather than 'just' the racer but it is still worth the read .

Pick of the crop , however, is Jon Saltinstall's wonderful book,(Niki Lauda , his competition history ) which lists , and usually illustrates, Lauda's every event. Jon is a delightful man and his book really is something very special .

Like Hamilton , and many others, the first time I saw Lauda was at the legendary Mallory Park F2 meeting in March 1971 . Most eyes , mine included ,were on the likes of Ronnie Peterson however . But I was privileged to see Lauda win several Grands Prix from trackside , including his last GP win at Zandvoort in 1985 . That was a joy to watch .

[Randy Winkman]

coppice said:

generationx said:

Look for "To Hell and Back (N Lauda)" - it's a cracker.

It is superb, as are Lauda's other books. I did find Maurice Hamilton's recent biography slightly lacking , with a disappointing absence of material about the man , rather than 'just' the racer but it is still worth the read .

Pick of the crop , however, is Jon Saltinstall's wonderful book,(Niki Lauda , his competition history ) which lists , and usually illustrates, Lauda's every event. Jon is a delightful man and his book really is something very special .

Like Hamilton , and many others, the first time I saw Lauda was at the legendary Mallory Park F2 meeting in March 1971 . Most eyes , mine included ,were on the likes of Ronnie Peterson however . But I was privileged to see Lauda win several Grands Prix from trackside , including his last GP win at Zandvoort in 1985 . That was a joy to watch .

I didn't see Lauda drive at all; he had an injury which kept him out of the 1985 European Grand Prix qualifying where I'm pleased to say I saw Senna drive a JPS Lotus. John Player Special Lotus's are why I got into F1 in the first place when my parents bought me a wind-up Lotus 72. I'll certainly get one of those books though.

Equus said:

Randy Winkman said:

What inspired me to start the thread was that I recently bought my first car book for ages. After seeing a good review in Classic and Sports Car magazine I bought "Quest for Speed".

If you're enjoying that, you might like The Fast Set by Charles Jennings, too. Not many illustrations, but a good tale about three of the important personalities from the LSR's first golden era.

Man Against the Salt isn't bad, either.

Many thanks. My liking of F1 has all but disappeared now but I still love the idea of land speed record cars and bikes.

[nsa]

Great thread idea. I read most of these on Kindle:

Touch Wood - Duncan Hamilton
The Perfect Car: The Biography of John Barnard - Nick Skeens
The Yugo: The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History - Jason Vuic
Boring Car Trivia vol 1-2: Richard Porter (Sniff Petrol)
Survive. Drive. Win: The Inside Story of Brawn GP - Nick Fry
How to Build a Car - Adrian Newey
Are We Nearly There Yet, Dad?: From Croydon to Cairns. - Graham Naismith

And a couple not about cars but might appeal to car people.

Exactly: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World - Simon Winchester.
507 Mechanical Movements - Henry T Brown

Edited by nsa on Thursday 21st January 12:17

[Randy Winkman]

Thanks for those suggestions nsa. I think they illustrate why I started the topic because it's unlikely I would have simply chanced upon them. I think I'm attracted most to "Are we nearly there yet Dad? And the one on Yugo.

The motorsport ones could be a bit hit and miss for me depending on the subject. Though I've read dozens and dozens of biographies and I have learned that the quality of the writing is at least as important as the subject.

[coppice]

Please excuse the blatant self publicity alert , but my book (DRIVEN -an elegy to cars roads and motorsport ) has been named as the 15th best motorsport book of all time by the US website BookAuthority ,whose experts apparently include Martin Brundle .

I will confess that I've never heard of BookAuthority and while I'd prefer the Booker prize (in my bloody dreams ) I'll take any accolade going !

[yoshisdad]

coppice said:

Please excuse the blatant self publicity alert , but my book (DRIVEN -an elegy to cars roads and motorsport ) has been named as the 15th best motorsport book of all time by the US website BookAuthority ,whose experts apparently include Martin Brundle .

I will confess that I've never heard of BookAuthority and while I'd prefer the Booker prize (in my bloody dreams ) I'll take any accolade going !

Congratulations! There's still time for the Booker Prize.......

[williamp]

Wow thats great, well done!

[Evoluzione]

The last one I read was Adrian Neweys biography which was ok.

On a related note and purely for an excuse to ramble on a bit, I know one of the Worlds leading experts in old motoring books and magazines.
He runs the Vintage Motor Bookshop in Batley. I did a few jobs for him years ago and then got to know him reasonably well over the years. Once you get to know him he's a great guy to know, incredible knowledge as he's being doing it for so long. They have an Ebay shop and if you ever want anything old and rare then he's worth an ask, but never waste his time. There are other experts of course, but they are few and far between at the top end of this very niche market.
The kind of person you like to get to know and enjoy the company of once in a while, as when they're gone the hole they leave will not be filled.

[witteringon]

Another vote for Richard Hunt at The Vintage Motor Shop in Batley. I have known Richard for over 40 years and he is the most knowledgeable, fair and helpful bookseller you could hope to deal with, and a he's vintage car owner to boot!
Although I believe he no longer buys in book collections to add to to the vast stocks he has acquired over the years, he can usually be relied upon to find you anything you want in the way of books, brochures, workshop manuals, magazine runs, and any other transport related literature you might be searching for.

[dandarez]

yoshisdad said:

coppice said:

Please excuse the blatant self publicity alert , but my book (DRIVEN -an elegy to cars roads and motorsport ) has been named as the 15th best motorsport book of all time by the US website BookAuthority ,whose experts apparently include Martin Brundle .

I will confess that I've never heard of BookAuthority and while I'd prefer the Booker prize (in my bloody dreams ) I'll take any accolade going !

Congratulations! There's still time for the Booker Prize.......

No chance of the Booker prize I'm afraid.
Unless you're going to write some fiction or a novel. That's what it's awarded for.
Trust me, I know.

Who had the idea for the title, 'DRIVEN'?
I thought it was this book at first, well cheq flag, pretty girl etc.
There must be umpteen thousand books out there that start with the word 'Driven'.

Book titles and images are extremely important, first and foremost to grab attention. One of my best was a very late evening chatting with an author it was probably about 1am (I'm a night owl) whose book I was doing, and he said something out of the blue - I just went 'That's got to be the title of the book!' He replied 'Bloody hell, I agree. Superb!'


Anyway, congrats from me as well on the above.
Realised now yours is a Veloce title if I'm not mistaken, which is run by old friend of Haynes Publishing days, Rod Grainger and his lovely assistant from back then.
I started before them in 1987, then in 1990 slung my safe job in to go full time, a year before Rod departed Haynes and started Veloce.
Veloce could now be as big as Haynes were, almost mass market (well, maybe not, but they do 'doggie' books as well which must be a large market).
I should add, as I mentioned Haynes, if you didn't know they are now owned by the French, as are almost all our famous book printers, that is the ones who are left!
Me? I'm just very small fry, one-man-band, very specialist, and fiercely independent in comparison, but still love it even though way past retired!

Prior all that I did have a few books published. Actually, remembering back to those old 1980 days my first book was provisionally titled 'Life in the Fast Lane', but my publisher scrapped it, although personally I liked it - I assumed they didn't want 'The Eagles' threatening litigation! They were right though, so I put all my attention on the book and jacket design. I did all the dogsbody work, if I had not, it probably would not have been accepted. It paid off though as all were sold, leading to another edition.

I could recommend loads of car books but it might include some of the ones I've published - so I won't, I don't want a ban!

I will mention this book though. When I began my venture I made a list of ideas and marques etc I'd love to see books on. One car related book near the top of my list was a proper and full history of Elva Cars. I lost out there, although I'd conversed for some time with the person with all the knowledge and who was behind the owners' club.
When the definitive work appeared many moons later the task had been passed on to someone in the USA where it was published. On its publication I was gobsmacked! I could never have envisaged myself ever doing such a massive tome on one single, and let's be fair, small marque. Obviously I immediately got a copy, well actually I got two, of the very weighty book (I didn't want to pay full price as I'm a tight sod and got them with a hefty discount - being in the trade works wonders).



Sat with the 3.5kilo Elva book on my lap above - which would probably crack most coffee tables! - it went through my mind the costs of not just production, but actually posting the 'thing' out?
Today, via Royal Mail, it would be £15.85 postage alone, for a single copy - add in decent packaging and you're talking 20 quid p/p a copy - to cover it insurance wise, even more - crackers, imo. I'd have probably have printed a limited run and charged £200 a copy. And I bet I could have sold the lot.

Anyway, years on from that book's publication (10 years in fact) I always wondered how many were printed? No idea. But it's still available. The good news is it's now reduced from its original price of £64 to just £42.07 (why on earth bother with an odd 7p?) and... best of all, it's POST FREE!
If you are interested in smaller British marques, in my 'book' that's a bargain!

I hasten to add the Elva book is NOTHING whatsoever to do with me nor my business.

edit - to add it's on Amazon UK at that reduced price (where else!).
And again... nowt to do with me... at all. Cheers!

Edited by dandarez on Monday 22 February 12:11

[dandarez]

I've just been reliably informed by someone who spotted my post above tell me that there has been a car book out entitled Life in the Fast Lane.

'Really?' I said.

No less than the current PM himself (about 14 yrs ago apparently).
Bloody hell, must have missed that. However, I don't think it'll be my cup of tea, somehow.

Yep, he was correct. The stuff that passes us by (just as well sometimes).

[coppice]

dandarez said:

No chance of the Booker prize I'm afraid.
Unless you're going to write some fiction or a novel. That's what it's awarded for.
Trust me, I know.

Who had the idea for the title, 'DRIVEN'?
I thought it was this book at first, well cheq flag, pretty girl etc.
There must be umpteen thousand books out there that start with the word 'Driven'.

Edited by dandarez on Monday 22 February 12:11

I do know what the Booker's for - my tongue was in firmly in my cheek !

Title - it is a bloody sore point actually. My original title was 'Refuge of the Roads ' - a little nod to my beloved Joni Mitchell , and a name I use for my website. ( without a cease and desist letter from Ms Mitchell's lawyers (so far) ). I was told it was too oblique , and that for SEO reasons it had to be something more obvious . This rather pissed me off , as I already have had two other books published (on another subject ) with the titles I wanted , with no objection raised by my publishers. Despite suggesting a number of other titles none was acceptable and Rod insisted on Driven - only the 'elegy' bit was mine .... As you say it's an overused and worn out title and it still rankles ..

But I'm grateful, of course , that they published it at all and by then , three years after starting work , I wasn't going to go looking for another publisher . My main contact at Veloce , Tim , was a bloody star. Sadly the sub editor wasn't and although it is not the end of the world , as a fully a paid up pedant I was furious that she'd amended a few sentences without clearing them with me first . I had agreed to her Oxford comma thing through gritted teeth but seeing a few errors entirely of her own making was a tad galling !