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Great Books to Read
Reviewed by Peter Pleitner
A
good college survey course about sports cars and racing should have some of
these books on the reading list. Two books for planning that spring break
and one to plan that driving summer vacation of your dreams are also
included. Don’t let another winter pass without enjoying some of these
books.
The Red Car
by Don Stanford
This
book ― first published in 1954 ― is 250 short pages long (less pages in
paper back). It was written for the enthusiast not yet old enough to own a
driver’s license. I discovered it about the time Ian Fleming’s James Bond
arrived in paper back. This book was the Catcher in the Rye for me.
The setting is the little town of Bullet (no this book is not related to
that movie but probably had something to do with Steve’s name) on the other
side of the mountains from Colorado Springs, where Hap Adams falls in love
with a wrecked MGTC parked behind Frenchy’s gas station. Frenchy is an
ex-pat racing driver and mechanic in hiding from guess where. Hap pleads for
work to buy it, pay for repairs and advice. In the process Frenchy teaches
everything we hold as dear gospel about the soul of a sports car. Also a
mysterious article in the Denver papers designates Bullet as the next venue
for a road race for high rollers, and real drama ensues. Not the Italian
Job, this is the Rockies with a simple cash prize, but just as much fun,
an inspirational read, even for adults today. Remember the TC is the car
that started both Phil Hill and Carol Shelby on their automotive careers. If
Hap Adams were to morph into Harry Potter for a new edition, vintage car clubs would not be
dominated by the AARP crowd.
SBN 10: 1-56849-731-8
ISBN 13: 9781568497310
Kings of the Road
by Ken Purdy
Ken
Purdy is the Dean of American Automotive Journalism. He invented the road
test for Popular Mechanics before we had car magazines. In this book,
Mr. Purdy sets out to re-educate and enlighten his American audience about
the purpose, nature, heritage and charms of sports cars and their road
racing origins. Some of its chapters are reprinted from Atlantic Monthly
and True magazines. The first brief chapter’s title is “What We Have
Lost.” Here he reminds us of some magnificent automobiles no longer produced
in the U.S., describes how cars are mass produced today (1950s) but have
lost their connection to adventure and our need for thrill and pleasure of
their performance. In other chapters he describes his personal encounters
with Bugatti, Rolls Royce, Mercer, Mercedes, Alfa Romeo, Cord and Citroen,
the Green cars at Le Mans, Duesenberg, MG, Isotta-Fraschini and
Hispano-Suiza.
A whole chapter is about Tazio Nuvolari, another about the Indy 500, plus a half dozen more about other automotive topics. Although context and topics are dated, there is a great deal to enjoy, learn, and appreciate ― most of all the pleasure of reading about the grandest automotive topics as pitched by our Hemingway of rolling sculpture.
Library of Congress C.C. # 52-5867
Driving Forces
by Peter Stevenson
Peter
Stevenson and this book deserve a lot more credit. It is one of the most fun
to read books on my shelves. Grand Prix racing, hill climbs and land speed
record breaking between the wars are fascinating automotive topics for sure,
but this book delivered ten times more enjoyment than anticipated. Mr.
Stevenson tells the many very personal stories about heroic drivers of race
cars developed like combat equipment, managed like a paramilitary mission,
when the words safety and speed never coexisted on the same page; of how
their wives and lovers feared not only about the dangers at speed but their
dangerous flirtations with political incorrectness and mockery of political
figures. Hitler’s choice to subsidize both Mercedes and Auto Union created a
brilliant surge in power and design. It is fun to speculate what might have
transpired had he been smarter and also funded the development of better
tires. This book’s facts, details, and atmosphere are distilled from 30
books and articles. It brings into marvelous focus the points of view of the
legends dedicated to victory and records through speed and survival, racing
to entertain and boast national superiority. The foreword is by Hans-Joachim
Stuck. His father was there.
ISBN 0-8367-0217-3
The Unfair Advantage
by Mark Donohue with Paul Van Valkenburgh
Our
two decades in the space race were also exciting break-through years for
automotive technology. Although horsepower was found in the 1930s, only a
government’s budget could afford to field teams with enough of it back then.
This changed after the war. With corporate sponsorship, rapid advances in
brakes and tires could not be properly deployed without getting serious
about chassis dynamics and aerodynamics. No racer was better prepared than
Mark Donohue to take us there and explain this fascinating history because he was
first an engineer with a Corvette for weekend racing, then a serious
amateur, and finally the consummate professional working and driving for
Roger Penske, with Ford, then Chevy, then Porsche and finally McLaren. Each
chapter is about a car, every handling challenge leads to insight and each
breakthrough is an unfair advantage until others figured it out and copied or protested
it. This book is simply fascinating and totally educational.
ISBN 0-8376-0073-1; soft cover 0-8376-0069-3
Brand new edition with 60 more photos and more:
ISBN 0-8376-0069-3
Motorcycling Across Michigan
by William Murphy
Why
not benefit from the enthusiasm and enterprise of fellow enthusiasts who
happen to make do with two wheels? This book by William Murphy, a retired
Michigan Department of Natural Resource employee, is full of chapters each
describing a nice one or two day tour on wonderful roads around Michigan.
Ever wonder why the roads less traveled are in much better condition?
Maintenance funds are allocated to counties based upon how many miles they
have, not on how much traffic they support. And our fixed 17 cents per
gallons tax on gas is part of the maintenance funding formula ― it's been
that way for three decades as if inflation doesn’t exist. Anyway, this book
is a terrific way to explore our touring possibilities before consulting a
map or resorting to the boredom of the expressway. Keep in mind, there are a
hundred more miles to explore between Ann Arbor to Houghton in the Upper
Peninsula as Ann Arbor to Washington D.C., plus there are a lot more lakes
and shoreline and light houses along the way.
ISBN 0-9766104-6-9
Motorcycle Journeys Through The Alps and Corsica
by John Hermann
I
know this is far out, but hey you’ve got a bucket list too don’t you? And I
have good automotive reasons for suggesting this book ― because by far most
sports and GT cars in the world were conceived of and created within a day
drive of these mountains; fabulous cars for their time designed to enjoy and
excel on these roads and passes. Sure, we have some nice comparable
stretches of tarmac here in the U.S. such as Montana’s Highway to the Sun
(closed for repair), California’s Highway 1, Colorado’s Million Dollar
Highway, and the Appalachian Trail. But in the time and effort spent to
drive those, if and when you are near the Alps you can enjoyed ten times
more, kind of like going out to eat occasionally vs. two weeks at the Ritz.
The benefits are so many choices (some in the Dolomites even start on farms
and lead through tunnels to nowhere in particular now but long gone cannons
from WW I), roads uniformly well maintained, and you rarely bump into a
tourist car/camper jambs, only occasionally some serious motorcycle riders
or a squadron of bicyclists. All are paved but many are very narrow.
ISBN 1-884313-12-4
A convenient and economical way to shop for used and out of print books is offered at Abe Books.
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