Best automotive book

[P4g4nite]

I just got back from Japan and found my auntie had sent me a present she'd found in an op shop.

Covers all sorts mostly grand prix and F1 from 1914 up to the early 70s...which is the best periods all done excepting group B rally..
Photos are of good quality considering the printing era (1972) and while it lacks the detailed car specs many people enjoy memorising there is enough detail to keep it from being vague and plenty of interesting stories and histories.

I'd highly recommend you part with $5 if you see it in a used book shop, a modern printing with this much to offer would ask $70.


Edit to add, The great racing cars and drivers - Charles Fox.

[HANNAARAN]

Fascinating individual histories and striking color studio photography of the 1962 through 1967 cars in the Shelby American Collection. Includes original
street 289 Cobra, significant early racers, Dragon Snake, Gurney’s Sebring Cobra, USRRC/FIA Cobras, Ken Miles’ personal race Cobra, Daytona Coupe (4th at Le Mans), Willment Coupe, street 427, 427S/C, oldest surviving GT40, GT40 Mk.

[morego]

i still think that the good old mags still are the best documents about cars, simply because cars are all about driving, and magazines usually focus exactly on driving.

[csl177]

I've got that Charles Fox book, too... got it at a jumble for $2, good stuff. I also collect old Motorsport and R&T's for the reasons morego suggests. A serious library listing would run into many pages, this list is abbreviated! Books are wonderful things, offering something the www simply can't: knowledge and low-tech entertainment at leisure. It may reveal my age and sensibilities but these are all great books worth adding to your library. Guaranteed, you'll never tire of them.

Technical History: LJK Setright's The Grand Prix Car and Some Unusual Engines, or any of the other 9 books he wrote.
Veddy British but fun to read. Long Lane with Turnings was his last title.
Also, Excellence Was Expected and Four for the Road by Karl Ludvegsen. No disappointments in any of those.

Race History: Targa Florio by Pino Fondi, Mille Miglia: The World's Greatest Road Race by Anthony Pritchard, The Bahamas Speed Weeks by Terry O'Neil, Sebring by Ken Breslauer, and Le Mans 24 Hours by Brian Laban.

Non fiction: Piero Taruffi's The Technique of Motor Racing. Classic. Things are a little different with modern suspensions and rubber but the principles haven't changed. Still have the original copy I got as a kid racing karts. Also, everything by Denis Jenkinson.

Photography: George Monkhouse's Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Racing 1934-1955. Also Pete Lyons, Can Am Photo History and Formula 1 in Camera 1970-79 and Sportscar Racing in Camera by Paul Parker. Speed Addicts by Mark Hughes, and 1950s Motorsport in Colour by Martyn Wainwright. These are all far more than coffee-table books.

Auto-biography: The Unfair Advantage... Mark Donahue explains his and Penske's dominance during a tumultous period in motorsport. Still in print, originals sell for $200+. RIP, Mr. Donahue; unfortunately he didn't live to reveal a longer life in motorsport.

Biography: Graham Gauld, Jim Clark Remembered. Story of a true racing champion, when driving risks truly meant someone's life.

Fiction: The Last Open Road by B.S. Levy... very entertaining, and the first of a trilogy about sportscar culture in the US during the 50-60s. Montezuma's Ferrari,The Fabulous Trashwagon and Potside Companion should be on any gearhead's bookshelf.

Comedy: Road & Track on Henry Manney at Large and Aboard. The original and still the best motorsport correspondent, period. Without him as a model of automotive-journalist-at-large, the likes of the pikers of Top Gear wouldn't have a job. Too bad he's no longer around to show them how it's done properly.