Automotive Books

"This is the most complete book I've seen about the development of roads in the United States. The American Highway also has great histories and photos of gasoline retailers like Mobil and Phillips 66, early roadside restaurants such as Dairy Queen, A & W and Stuckey's, and motels (Holiday Inn, TraveLodge, etc.). Hundreds of historical photos, from the pinoeer days, modern-day turnpikes, up to the interstates. It's a must-have book for anyone interesting in highway travel. I would highly recommend this book." Dr jeff thompson

Based upon the Discovery Channel's popular weekly show 'American Hot Road', author and automotive expert William Scheller's "American Hot Rod: The Fine Art Of The Custom Hot Rod" is an informed and informative introduction to the history of hot rods, street rods and custom cars that were painstakingly created and crafted to express both cutting edge automotive development technical skills and expressive artistic and cultural imagination as expressed in design and performance. Profusely illustrated throughout, "American Hot Rod" showcases twelve of the best American hot rod cars, as well as fourteen Boyd Coddington Garage Cars as revealed on the popular TV show and held in fabulous privately owned hot rod collections. "American Hot Rod" will prove a welcome and popular addition to personal, professional, academic, and community library Automotive History reference collections.

Dean Batchelor grew up with the Southern California hot rod scene, and went on to pioneer much of the postwar LA publishing industry that launched hot rodding as a nationwide cultural phenomenon.

As an author, the late Dean Batchelor was a gem. Reflecting this, American Hot Rod - his last book - is uniquely well written, entertaining, and keenly balanced.

Anyone who ever admired a '32 deuce coupe (or wondered what the Beachboys were singing about) will love it. Lots of pictures; chapters on the birth of drag racing, Bonneville, flathead V8's - and all presented in a highly readable format. A book you'll keep and enjoy.

I really don't have much to say . . . only that the calendar arrived quickly, and it was in good shape when it got here. My husband really like muscles cars, and he likes the calendar.

..pacing, time, and distance. I focus on the starter, centered on his moves, I open the throttle..full. My motor launches, as from a catapult, almost ripping loose from my hold. My timing is of the essence, I see it, a flash from the starters gun, perfect timing. Cutting a hole through the pack of my competitors we have the lead. Full open throttle, and our speed is still increasing. We climb the boards, centrifical force pushing, I use the 62% banking as ammo, in my fight against force, and speed. Wreck ahead, I see both riders going down. Their machines wobble, ones going over the top, the other hits the boards hard. Splinters are flying, I partially close the throttle, and pick my path to avoid hitting downed riders, debris, and the broke-up motorcycle. Having no brakes, transmission, or other means of slowing down quickly I jockey clear of all...

To me, reading this book is like transporting in time. I become there. The year, 1912. The track, St.Louis, Missouri. The sport; Board track racing. Motorcycle racing, performed on tracks of wood. From 1/16mile in length, to 2 miles. Speeds reached in 1912? Lee Humiston, on Dec.30, 1912, at a 1mile board track in Los Angeles, became the first American motorcyclist to travel at 100mph(Excelsior).
This book to me, is a key. This key unlocks many, many, whys.

Patrick Ertel (also of Antique Power magazine fame) does a excellent job covering the various brands, uses, and history of steam traction engines. He also gives excellent descriptions of how a steam engine works, and there controls and parts. A excellent overall book!

Roger Huntington does a very good job of writing the story of the history of the American supercar. More than just an overview of musclears of the '60's, Roger Huntington goes further in depth by chronicling the heritage and evolution of the supercar up to the [early] 1980's. Although somewhat dated, this book is loaded with topics not found in other books on the subject. Huntington even covers the more obscure models offered as well as the engineering developments behind the performance. There are a few omissions in this book, notably the scarcity of information on Ford's 351 engines. There is nothing written about the 351 Windsor (not even its use in the Shelby GT Mustangs). There is very little mentioned about the 351 Cleveland (which was a high performance engine in disguise). There are no performance numbers appearing in the sidebar on either of these engines for comparison against their contemporaries. (come to think of it, this is true of some of the other makes and models as well.) Omissions aside, this book would make an excellent addition to anyone's automotive library

128 pages, full glossy color pictorial with many of the photos shot from San Fransisco to Bakersfield, Barstow, Vegas, and Wiliams.

David Jacobs has produced three excellent books on trucking in the USA and this example is full of Kenworths, Peterbilts and Freightliners, with a few different marques thrown in, including a notable International Transtar Eagle and a 1948 GMC.

Famous trucks of the Seventies such as Fletchoe Diesel's W900A Kenworth, "Tootsie Roll" and the Bob Wilson "Ironsides" KW are both given considerable coverage.

First class all the way!

I was already aware that this book was a collection of reviews on Javelins & AMX, but was very pleasantly surprised that many are reproduced in colour. There are also a few nice extras like original full colour advertisements etc. For the price, I don't think anyone would be disappointed with this very nice book.

I enjoyed reading this book as it goes into quite a lot of depth. I was a little disappointed in the technical accuracy; I found some of the information on camshafts and transmission gearing to be a little inaccurate. Although, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the sport of Top Fuel drag racing, or anyone interested in reading about the most awesome display of power and torque in the world.