Book Review – Austin Cars 1948 to 1990 – A Pictorial History.
Reviewed by Kim Henson.
Title: Austin Cars 1948 to 1990 – A Pictorial History
Author: David Rowe
Published by: Veloce Publishing www.veloce.co.uk
112 pages; softback
Price: £12.99
ISBN: 978-1-787112-19-3
There is a huge amount of detail in this compact but informative volume. From writing motoring books myself I appreciate that the author has gone to great lengths to incorporate as many useful facts and figures as possible about each Austin model covered, including, for example, luggage capacities and colours available. I also like the way that the models have been included in chronological order.
Although I have been an Austin enthusiast for many years, in this volume, which I read with interest from cover to cover, I have found many snippets of information of which I was previously unaware. I also found interesting the way in which each model section includes a diagram showing the instrument layout – an unusual but welcome addition to each model’s story.
For each Austin covered there is a brief section on the history of the model and the context in which it was produced, and in some cases (but not all) details are provided of the total numbers produced.
VERDICT
In my opinion this is a ‘must-have’ book for anyone interested in post-War Austins, and I enjoyed reading it; there is so much information packed into it, plus many colour photographs of the various models.
Personally, and this is not a criticism, just a comment, I was a little disappointed that the book does not cover brief notes (at least) about how the cars drive and perform. However of course the title is ‘A Pictorial History’ and this is the aim, rather than a complete analysis, and I appreciate that there is only so much that can be packed into a book 152 pages long.
I am very pleased that this book has been produced, especially as there is relatively little written about the Austin Motor Company and its models.
