Wheels-Alive is happy to cover all sorts of transport, and in a change from motor cars Kim Henson has been studying a book covering 150 years of Britain’s once revered railway system… Published by: Shire Publications Ltd: www.shirebooks.co.uk 112 pages (paperback) UK Price: £9.99 ISBN-13: 978 1 78442 123 6 PDF e-book ISBN: 978 1 78442 190 8 ePub ISBN: 978 1 78442 189 2 I read … [Read more...]
Bookshelf
Our pick of motoring related books covering a wide variety of fascinating subjects
Book Review: “Triumph Sports Cars”
Kim Henson enjoys reading a potted history of Triumph’s wide range of sporting models, the first of which was produced almost a century ago, and the line continued until the 1980s… Published by: Shire Publications Ltd: www.shirebooks.co.uk 64 pages (paperback) UK Price: £7.99 ISBN-13: 978 1 78442 041 3 PDF e-book ISBN: 978 178442 106 9 ePub ISBN: 978 1 78442 105 2 Graham Robson … [Read more...]
Book Review: “BMC Competitions Department Secrets”
Kieron Fennelly reads the amazing story of what actually happened in BMC's Competitions Department in the 1950s and 60s, written by those who were there at the time... Authors: Marcus Chambers, Stuart Turner and Peter Browning Published by: Veloce: www.veloce.co.uk 640 pages (hardback) UK Price: £25.00 ($39.95 US) ISBN: 978-1-845849-94-8 This book is essentially a pictorial history of … [Read more...]
Book Review: “Stirling Moss: the Definitive Biography, Volume I 1929–1955”
Kieron Fennelly reviews Volume One of a huge, in-depth two part biography of Stirling Moss, written by Philip Porter... Author: Philip Porter (with forward by Murray Walker) Published by: Porter Press Ltd: www.porterpress.co.uk 640 pages (hardback) UK Price: £35.00 ISBN: 978-1-907085-33-8 Philip Porter has undertaken the daunting task of writing the ‘definitive’ biography of Stirling … [Read more...]
New Porsche book arrives – telling the 924/928/944/968 story
Porsche 924/928/944/968 – The Complete Story – a new book by Glen Smale Kim Henson reports... For Porsche enthusiasts it’s party time – the 924 is 40 years old this year, and Porsche celebrated this milestone with a press conference in Stuttgart, at the company's Museum. The 924’s designer, Harm Lagaaij, was on hand to address journalists. Lagaaij also explained the design background of the … [Read more...]
Book Review: Jaguar Design – A Story of Style
Kieron Fennelly reviews this comprehensive volume, written by Nick Hull. Author: Nick Hull Published by: Porter Press (www.porterpress.co.uk) 512 pages (hardback) UK Price: £90 ($170 US) ISBN: 978-1-907085-29-1 Books by stylists are rare, but in recent years Roy Axe’s engaging autobiography and Graham Hull’s intriguing Inside the Styling Department at … [Read more...]
Book Review: No Speed Limit – Sixty Years of Road Testing Classic Cars
A ‘Must read’ title for all motoring enthusiasts, reviewed by Kim Henson Author: Stuart Bladon Published by: The History Press (www.thehistorypress.co.uk) 272 pages (paperback) UK Price: £14.99 ISBN: 978-0-7509-6491-3 I was very much looking forward to reading this book, not least because Stuart Bladon is one of the most accomplished, knowledgeable and … [Read more...]
First ‘enhanced’ audio video eBook on Porsche 911
Glen Smale delivers an innovative eBook treat for Porsche 911 enthusiasts... Performance Car Publishing, an all-Welsh team in South West Wales, has published the first in a series of new enhanced eBooks. Believed to be a first in the field of automotive publishing, this eBook will cover the design and development of the iconic Porsche Carrera RS 2.7, originally unveiled in 1972. The … [Read more...]
Porsche 924/928/944/968 the Complete Story
Author: Glen Smale Published by: Crowood Press [www.crowood.com] 264 pages UK Price: £25.00 ISBN: 978-1-78500-39-3 Twenty years after the last one rolled off the production line, the transaxle cars are almost the forgotten Porsches. Indeed some of the more ‘lifestyle’ of the Porsche magazines never refer to them. Yet for over a decade, the 924 and the 944 in particular were … [Read more...]
AC/Shelby Cobra, 1962-68: Owner’s Workshop Manual
Author: Glen Smale Published by: Haynes Publishing 156 pages Price: £22.99 ISBN: 987-0-85733-786-3 One of the greatest sports cars of all time, the AC Cobra was a sensation in a way that is simply unimaginable today. Such was the demand for this Anglo-American hybrid that it was not until November 1965 that the Autocar was able to get its hands on one. “Few readers,” it wrote in … [Read more...]
The Porsche 924 Carrera
Author: Roy Smith Published by: Veloce [www.veloce.co.uk] 320 pages Price: £75.00 ISBN: 978-1-845846-45-9 Roy Smith has a happy knack of uncovering relatively obscure chapters of motor racing history and bringing them into the light with compelling new detail. His recent series of books on Alpine was typical, researching a subject little known outside France and even there not especially … [Read more...]
Porsche 928
Author: Brian Long Published by: Veloce Publishing [veloce.co.uk] 204 pages UK rrp: £50 ISBN: 978-1-903706-30-5 The Porsche 928 is one of the puzzles of the first century of the automotive industry: How did a company steeped in the Germano-Czech tradition of race-bred rear engined air-cooled cars come, almost out of the blue, to build a front engined, water cooled GT which never had the … [Read more...]
Jaguar lightweight E-type: the autobiography of 4WPD
Author: Philip Porter Published by: Porter Press Ltd [www.porterpress.com] 320 pages Price £40.00 ISBN: 978-1-907085-17-8 Philip Porter is a well known Jaguar enthusiast and historian. He owns amongst others HP 9600, the original E-type fixed head prototype and as well as founding the Jaguar XK and E-type clubs, he has written extensively about the marque. His latest book, the Autobiography … [Read more...]
Paul Frère
Serge Dubois / Editions Sergio Leone Price: €49 256 pages Distributed by: la Fondation Roi Baudoin, 21 rue Brederode, Brussels 1000 Paul Frère died in 2008 aged 91 and this is the first posthumous work on one of the world’s foremost autojournalists to appear. Still professionally active until his last months, the Belgian was a top flight racing driver in the 1950s and after winning Le Mans … [Read more...]
The VW Golf Story
Russell Hayes Price: £40 288 pages Behemoth Publishing, www.behemothpublishing.co.uk ISBN: 978-0-9928769-0-6 Russell Hayes’s encyclopedic yet extraordinarily entertaining History of the Cortina appeared in 2012 on the 50th anniversary of Ford’s famous saloon. Now Hayes has done it again, this time with the VW Golf, arguably a much more significant car. He shows how the Golf grew out of … [Read more...]
Ferrari 250 GTO Workshop Manual
Glen Smale, Haynes, July 2014 ISBN: 978 0 85733 384 1 MRP: £25 156 pages Some years ago Haynes reinvented its famous workshop manual series as feature books on notable aeroplanes, boats, submarines and…..motor cars. The latest issue on the last-mentioned covers perhaps the most famous Ferrari of all time, the 250 GTO. Last of the dual purpose road and racing Ferraris, a mere 36 were built … [Read more...]
The Efficient Driver’s Handbook
By: Dave Moss (a highly respected motoring writer, and a valued contributor to Wheels-Alive) Published by: RAC/Veloce, paperback Price: £9.99 ISBN: 978 1 845843 51 9 Available online: Veloce, Amazon and other online bookstores, or can be ordered via bookshops everywhere; also available as an e-book. www.veloce.co.uk/shop These days, car users are under pressure from all sides. Fuel costs … [Read more...]
Number Plates
By: Dave Moss (a highly respected motoring writer, and a valued contributor to Wheels-Alive) Published by: Shire Books, paperback Price: £4.99 ISBN: 978 0 747805 66 3 Available via: Shire books, Amazon and other online bookstores, or can be ordered via bookshops everywhere. www.shirebooks.co.uk Registration marks are one of the very few unbroken links between the earliest times of the … [Read more...]
Accessible Classics No. 1 – Austin A30/A35
(sub-titled ‘Enjoying Your Austin’) by Kim Henson This is a comprehensive, high quality 224 page all-colour hardback book, covering all aspects of model history, buying, looking after and having fun with your baby Austin. It also includes a section to inspire you if you have a rough example in need of work… It is available direct from the publishers, Classic Car Publishing Ltd, Evergreen … [Read more...]
