Recommended Car Books

I forgot. I just recently sold off my copy, but an excellent book is "Go Like Hell." Written by a dude who wrote/writes for Playboy. (I do so enjoy their articles...)

Stealthtercel wrote: And is anybody on here old enough to remember "The Red Car" by Don Stanford?

This one made a BIG impression on me in about the 7th grade. After that, I knew just what kind of car I wanted, and why.

In order to make a point to a friend, I found a new copy at Amazon...I guess it's still in print! Weird reading that thing again. It may not be timeless literature but it IS literate and and a very fine book for youngsters. I asked a high school buddy who became a good SCCA racer if he remembered it and he revealed that he has his own copy and re-reads it from time to time. I was stunned. A cult classic.

I'll be glad to pass it around here. Stealthtercel, you're first in line.

"She works very hard, the brave, little car..."

Smokey Yunick's book that he wrote before his death. If you can find a copy. It's now out of print and used prices are exorbitant to say the least.

He gives away all the secrets and predicts the car of tomorrow concept now used in NASCAR about 10 years before NASCAR implements it.

New guy on the block, and I have a question. First off, I am old enough to be everyone's grandfather, so go easy on me. I enjoy reading your discussion board, and you may have the answer I am looking for. Being an old auto dealer owner, ex-racer etc, I have accumulated a lot of misc racing stuff, some of which I have been selling to a guy I know in England over the last few years. He now wants my signed copy of "Unfair Advantage" (Mark Donohue's signature, not someone else). I cannot for the life of my figure out WHAT price I should put on it. I did remember seeing references in this thread to the sale of a signed copy, so can any of you offer a guess of what I should be suggesting to him ? Again, authenticity is not any issue here, he knows me and all my stuff for years. He has purchased nearly all my Jim Clark stuff. I'm just trying to get a handle on this one . Any help would be greatly appreciated... and he was one great driver !! Russ

4cylndrfury wrote: Who was it on here who wrote the performance EFI book? I got the free sample in iBooks for the iPad, and it was pretty good. Im gonna get the full version in print (hopefully for my b-day)

Missed it the first time around, but that was Jerry (FoundSoul) and me.

Another good tech book - Fred Puhn's How to Make Your Car Handle.

Xceler8x wrote: Smokey Yunick's book that he wrote before his death. If you can find a copy. It's now out of print and used prices are exorbitant to say the least. He gives away all the secrets and predicts the car of tomorrow concept now used in NASCAR about 10 years before NASCAR implements it.

Best Damn Garage in Town is berkleying awesome!

Anything by Don Montgomery.

Not to sound like a suck up because he is on this board, but I really like Keith Tanner's How to Build a Cheap Sportscar, when I first got the book I read it cover to cover, and it helped me convice myself I wanted a project.

rwe1 wrote: New guy on the block, and I have a question. First off, I am old enough to be everyone's grandfather, so go easy on me. I enjoy reading your discussion board, and you may have the answer I am looking for. Being an old auto dealer owner, ex-racer etc, I have accumulated a lot of misc racing stuff, some of which I have been selling to a guy I know in England over the last few years. He now wants my signed copy of "Unfair Advantage" (Mark Donohue's signature, not someone else). I cannot for the life of my figure out WHAT price I should put on it. I did remember seeing references in this thread to the sale of a signed copy, so can any of you offer a guess of what I should be suggesting to him ? Again, authenticity is not any issue here, he knows me and all my stuff for years. He has purchased nearly all my Jim Clark stuff. I'm just trying to get a handle on this one . Any help would be greatly appreciated... and he was one great driver !! Russ

Russ, this autographed photo had an advertised sale price of $295. No telling what a book signed by the author might be worth.

You might try contacting this place: http://www.motorsportcollector.com/index.html for some feedback.

Looks like I'd better make a list for winter reading.

In reply to oldsaw:

Hey, thanks for the pix and the info. Good idea to try to figure what the price is that I should ask. I still have no idea... thanks again

rwe1 wrote: In reply to oldsaw: Hey, thanks for the pix and the info. Good idea to try to figure what the price is that I should ask. I still have no idea... thanks again

I would give 400 for it. Maybe that will help you price it. (I am a notorious cheapass....) The offer always stands if you want to sell it though...

I'll add a couple: Janet Guthrie's autobiography Lyn St. James' autobiography Enzo's bio by Brock Yates High Performance (if you can find it cheap, the history of drag racing up to the mid 80's early 90's) If you're a Ford person, The Dust and the Glory. Get both volumes. Details Ford's racing history up to 2000. Right now I'm reading Williams-the story of the Frank Williams and his Formula One team. The author's name escapes me, but he not only writes about the history of the team, but brings in anecdotes from Frank's wife and other principals. Most are long term employees or former drivers. I second the reading of just about everything mentioned. Haven't gotten around to Levy's works yet.

In reply to Maroon92:

OK I will keep your offer on my short list... didn't you already have one ?? If my buddy in England decides to pass, I will let you know. He's kind of waiting to see if I will part with my Enzo pictures, which is what he would rather have than anything. Weird to sort thru all my old stuff after the thread about most underrated drivers...now I keep running into all sorts of my old mags that have Mark Donohue on the front. Old AUTOWEEK from 1984 "Will Mark's Death Mark The End Of Racing?" (lawsuit against tire manufacturer) and 1971 Car & Driver "Mark Donohue Builds a Saftey Car" Wierd that he seems to be everywhere in my old subscription collections. I'll let you know if the book becomes available, as I appreciate your honesty (cheapass!!) and reply! And my wife loves your avatar..

I have a first edition hardcover, but its not signed. That man's signature is practically priceless...

Also tell your wife I'm even funnier in person...

Back from the dead, I have obtained all of these and read them, with the exception of the drag racing books.

I am hungering for more

Hy guys. Nice to meet you. First, i want to say that i have been looking for a special forum dedicated to car book collectors, but all i could find is this forum tread.

I am a huge fan o car books and looking for a long time for such a forum.

I have bought some new books this week, but the one that impressed me the most was the first volume of a new series of books, called "The most complete car encyclopedia" book series.

I bought few books of this type, but none of them come even close, including the one made by Nick Gerogano.

This book series has more than 10.000 car brands, and all the models for each brand. Until now, in all the books i have bought, the important brands were covered in few pages, here for example i found all the Alfa-Romeo models, presented separately in more than 120 pages.

Inside each brand it is just as i wished for it to be: a brand history and all the models, with complete gallery, description and specs for each one.

The models are listed in 4 categories: -series production -concepts and prototypes -race cars -coachbuilt

I have just read today they are also publishing soon, the tuner series of the car encyclopedia.. I just hope i will have the money for the whole series !!

I'll try and list some photos:

PS: Sorry for the blank spaces and size, embeding photos from websites is not my strong point.

Any book released by Automobile Quarterly is worth having. I especially like Great Cars and Grand Marques, and World of Cars

Design and Destiny: The Making of the Tucker by Philip S. Egan

Never Leave Well Enough Alone, Raymond Loewy's autobiography, is great but isn't all about cars.

The Modern Sports Car, by Tom McCahill, is a great look at Sports Cars of the 50s from the period. Also, any issue of Mechanix Illustrated from 1948 to 1973 or so will have at least one car review by Tom McCahill as well as his letters column, so is worth having.

If you'd like "Unfair Advantage," PM me. It's not signed. I was prepared to love it but I thought it was the coldest (for lack of a better word) autobiography I've ever read. I understand the man was an engineer, but I know several warm and interesting engineers. The detailed account of the development of every, single car is great and it's an incredible reference for the historians, but there's no LIFE in it. "I got a Corvette because I thought sports cars were neat and there was a local race and I won. And I won another one." Never a word about why he LIKED driving or what he had to learn about driving along the way. Was the man ever worried, or excited, or happy beyond "It was great to win that one?"

Anybody else disappointed in this one? I'm a fan of the author and I've never seen this book called anything but great. "I got married, children came along, my wife divorced me." It's completly impersonal. I couldn't read it again with a gun to my head. Free to the first responder who hasn't pissed me off in the past.

The driving passages are the best part of "Racing in the Rain" which is faint praise. The plot is manipulative garbage. JMHO.