Automobiles Books

My significant other received this book as a gift. He isn't a "book" kind of guy, so at first he was a little taken aback. But it didn't take long for this little gem to suck him in. He is an auto lover and he really enjoyed the entertaining anecdotes and facts about his favorite cars. He was also delighted to find a plethora of fun facts, tales and car models that he wasn't familiar with. There were even a few "Honey! Come check this out!" moments. Overall, this book will get my highest rating for the sheer excitability it created in a non-reader. And I have to admit, the book is sitting on our coffee table and even I have picked it up a time or two and gotten sucked into an interesting little snippet about a subject I usually don't get all that excited about.

Automotive compendiums are a dime a dozen these days. (Actually, they are a bit pricier and even more plentiful, but you get the picture.) Most are textbook dry, rehashing automotive milestones that any self-respecting gearhead can recite quicker than their own phone number. The obligatory first Corvette, Mustang, GTO, blah, blah, blah are often complimented by the usual array of vehicles just odd enough to inspire disdain and disinterest. Then there is "Extreme Cars," a fresh, entertaining book that reads less like an encyclopedia than an automotive insider's list of fun tales to share at a party. It hits myriad key, historically significant production models, race cars, green machines, and military vehicles, contrasted with interesting, often off-beat vehicles and personalities. Presented with prose laced with a dry, knowing wit, it makes for an entertaining read. Where else can you bone up on the history of alternative fuel vehicles, the greatest automotive flops, and the sultan of Brunei's obscene car collection in one volume?

Extreme cars, extreme personalities, extreme "otherwordly" vehicles, and extremely fun. Worth $12? Hell, yeah. I'm ordering a couple as gifts next holiday season.

I love this book so much.I ended up paying $90 for my copy in a rush to find it few copy surface anymore so if you want it buy it because they don't come up veay often.This book is one of the best reference books for the long forgotten Show Rods or Kitch Cars.This book covers all the best of the crazy show cars of the 70's from some of them include The Magic Carpet,The Rickshaw,Martian Spider,DDT,Farm Yard Roadster,Tri-Pod,Woodburner,Bathtub Buggy,V8 roadster,Beer Wagon and The Nirto Express and although its not in color it well worth the money I paid $90 for my copy and in my opinion its worth double that

This book is very funny! A sorry that this book is in b&w, this book deserve a atualized edition in color.

What holds the Fast & Furious franchise together? The actors have changed, so it can't be that. The stories have a similar theme- racing, so that's a part of it, but not all of it. Why, it's the CARS! Finally, a book has been put out on the cars of Fast & Furious. I love these movies. If you want plain old good guys v bad guys entertainment without a heavy message these movies fit the bill. The producers wisely highlight not only today's rice-rockets used by kids, but spotlight American Muscle, too. What's not to like? This book goes over all the cars of the three movies- and is fairly accurate (I read that the Mustang in the last movie had to have the import motor taken out because it wasn't up to speed, so to speak. This is not mentioned here, and implies the import motor was used). Nice photos, nice descriptions, and a nice addition to my Star Cars Library.

a nice book to have if you love the cars from the 3 movies. theres a lot of pictures of the detailing of each one of the vehicles from the movie. its a good book to look over once in a while, eventually youll get tired of it once youve looked thru it a hundred times, but once in a while youll get that fast and furious bug bite you. especially if you play juiced 2 hot import nights for the xbox 360. youll look over this book and copy out the body kits which is actually in the game.

its a good reference book without too much technical details. although most of the stuff in it actually was stolen from the first two editions. if they release ff4 they'll most likely have all the same pages from this book transfered over. but hey its only $10 bucks on amazon so just buy it anyway. dont take my word for it, check it out on your local borders store first before you buy it here on amazon if youre not convinced. reatil for this is about $30....so dont act a foool!

For anyone interested in cars, photography, and interesting stories this book is a treasure. Of the several Ferrari books I own this one stands out as both artfully done and a good read.
Well worth the price.

A great book. Maybe I'm just partial because of the vivid five page stretch devoted to the Comp Daytona.

There are lots of Ferrari books out there, good books, filled with well researched bore-n-stroke, nuts-n-bolts facts, but I've always hungered for something a little more subjective, a little more visceral.

With this one you get visceral.

The cover doesn't look very promising, does it? With its distinctly unhistorical 599 and convoluted invocation of "The Ferrari Legend" I was expecting a bland model-by-model, race-by-race statistical history. But John Lamm's discriminating compilation does Ferrari history justice; it is told in first hand accounts by those who, (as honestly stated in the title), "lived the legend."

The number of anecdotes, photos and especially voices contained in here is staggering: you get the ubiquitous Phil Hill, but also Enzo Ferrari's personal secretary Brenda Vernor; you hear Mauro Forghieri's thoughts on Villeneuve; Andretti's on Forghieri; you get Sam Posey describing in detail his 1971 Le Mans drive in a 512M; Surtees talking about Dragoni and team politics; Gurney on going to Italy in `58 to try out for the Ferrari team in front of Mr. Ferrari; Dario Franchitti on why he loves his F40 and F355, not so much the more recent cars.

This is not another competent but impersonal coffee-table book, (Ferrari 1947-1997, Ferrari 60 Years, etc.).

Here's Steve Earle describing his experience as a teenager watching Phil Hill in the glorious 412 MI at Riverside in `58: "...you were standing in the pits, you could hear that car around the whole track...You thought, `Oh my God,! This is the most amazing car in the world.'" Then Earle describes what it was like to OWN this one-off car, and use it at the very first Monterey Historic Races, (which he organized). The book has similar interviews with a number of enthusiasts that really help flesh-out the non-competition aspect of the legend. Everyone from the life-long collector who bought his first Ferrari off the New York Motor Show stand in 1956 to the dude that crashed his Enzo on a public road in Colorado while doing 206 mph gets a chance to tell his tale.

Many of the iconic photos are from the Road & Track archives, which is great for American readers whose first introduction to the marque came via these images; they are reproduced in gorgeous detail far surpassing their news-stand quality. My favorite shot is used as the splash-page that introduces us to the decade of the 70's: Bob Bondurant four-wheel-drifting a 308 at Sears Point --you can even see Bobby's hipster sideburns flaring under the G-load.

Also, the book tastefully avoids over-emphasizing the recent decade of F1 domination. Attention is paid to the latest road cars, like the 599 Fiorano that makes the cover (wouldn't you have preferred to see a Comp Daytona?). But these post-Commendatore chapters are not the main meat of the book. The Schumacher years are dutifully recorded, di Montezemolo speaks, but you can sense the author's disinterest in Schumacher the man, whose words are nowhere to be found. And that's fine by me.

I found this book a great resource for '57 to '59 Ford Skyliner information. I have owned a '59 Ford Retractable for about 20 years and was curious to the past and making of the great machine. I heard many of the photos of early production among other things in the book were lost in files throughout the years and retreived by Mr. Magayne. In my words, this book is a must have to any Ford Retractable owner or admirer. An excellent car with an excellent past and Mr. Magayne does a great job retracing the cars legendary past.

I found this book a great resource for '57 to '59 Ford Skyliner information. I have owned a '59 Ford Retractable for about 20 years and was curious to the past and making of the great machine. I heard many of the photos of early production among other things in the book were lost in files throughout the years and retreived by Mr. Magayne. In my words, this book is a must have to any Ford Retractable owner or admirer. An excellent car with an excellent past and Mr. Magayne does a great job retracing the cars legendary past.

What a brilliant book! A history of Ford in the 1960's.This can almost be described as an 180 page,high quality catalogue of 1960's Fords.This book is a must have book.Beautiful colour and black & white photos throughout make this book a classic.Covers the models of Ford Galaxie,Fairlane,Sunliner,Falcon,Thunderbird,Mustang,Econoline,
Cobra,Shelby Mustangs,Torino,LTD,F-100,Custom,Talladega, concept cars and a chapter on Ford racing.This is the best book I've seen on 1960's Ford's.This book will impress most people.Its a gem! Great value too.

The Ford slogan during its heyday as a COOOOOL car was "drive a Ford! It's a BETTER Idea!" and "Ford gives you better ideas." It did with some serious classics like the Falcon, the Galaxie 500 and the very cool Fairlane. Cool cars like that gave Ford a good name.

Parris treats readers to the behind the curtain look at the Ford Motor Company during the glory days of the flying Falcon, the shooting Comets (a Mercury) and other cool classics. I love the stories about the Fords of the era. The 1960s brought the coolest cars Ford ever put on the road. Henry Ford II had plenty of better ideas and the 1960-65 Falcons, Fairlanes, Galaxies and Thunderbirds were proof postitive of this.

Classic Ford lovers will delight in the pictures of the beautiful Fords of the 1960s. Falcon lovers will especially love this book, chock full of better ideas. People who have classic cars as a special interest will certainly want this book. I love it!

Of course, the thrill of having my restored C.H.P. Mustang on the front cover of the Ford Police Car book will bias me a bit...but not much. This is an excellent reference book on Ford Police Cars. Sanow has done a lot of research and can support his information with facts. This book has been a great resource for members of our Association, the Emergency Vehicle Owners & Operators Association, www.evooa.org. Great reading and filled with good photos!

" Remember the " 5 bulb single blue light " on the FORD police cars;..... a very interesting book for copcar enthusiasts...

This book will allow you to take your mustang apart and put it back together. It's only limitations are: the electronics section should be more extensive, there should be part numbers with every item, factory paint colors, emissions could use some more detail, etc. But overall, this is a great book for the 1979-88 mustang, because we all spend at least a few hours a month doing maintenence to keep them from falling apart.

I found the answers to each and every problem. This is a very good manua

If you are in any kind of vehicle investigations (public or private sector), this book must be in your library. This is not just a book, it is a reference in the field. How to carry out the crime scene investigation of a recovered vehicle, identify a vehicle, perform fire investigation, evaluate automotive fluids... If you do not have this book, the opposing side will.

Truth in journalism: Eric kindly used a few of my photographs in the book.

I have been anxiously awaiting this book as I investigate many vehicle fires every year. This book was worth the wait. Eric and company have written an excellent book that will be helpful to the beginning investigator and the journeyman.

Eric did not just rely on his own training and experience but involved others, such as Glen Wheeler of IAATI, with their own expertise thus expanding the effect of the book's twenty-four chapters even further. With detailed written descriptions enhanced by black and white and color photographs, it is easily read and understood and yet comprehensive and instructive. Each chapter builds on the previous and is laid out in an easily read format and furnishes a bibliography and references for further information if needed.

While each reader will have specific areas that are more beneficial, the overall book will help any investigator further understand the international problems of vehicle theft, the prevention of vehicle theft, the investigation of vehicle theft and the many crimes committed utilizing vehicles, stolen or not. While the chapters on identifications of vehicles/vehicle identification numbers, vehicle fires, ignitions and steering columns and their examination and fluid analysis were most interesting to me, I was fascinated with the examination of vehicles underwater and the use of vehicles in terrorist activities.

This book was not only professionally enlightening for me, but was entertaining to read. I wholeheartedly recommend anyone involved in the field, public or private sector, have this book in their library.

Michael E. Carlson, Jr., CFI, CFEI, CVFI, CPP, CATI
President
Probe, Inc. Fire and Explosion Investigations
Skokie, Il 60077

This is a very informative book with insightful sections on the teams as well as detailed accounts of each race. Additionally there are backgound and update sections which also make for interesting reading. The photo's are great and include behind the scenes shots as well as the on track sessions. Also helpful are statistics which include race results, retirements, pit stops fastest laps etc. All in all a great book at a very reasonable price.

As a Formula one freak, I haveto say that this is a very good book. It's filled with high quality color photos, description and statistics of each race in the 98 season (which includes the track map with the names of the curves), handful of information about all eleven teams (with home address and web site for each team) and even some interesting extra stuff that has nothing to do with the 1998 season. It's definitely worth the money.