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CORVETTE
Tom Benford
192 pages, 287 color photos
MBI Publishing/Motorbooks
800-458-0454
http://www.motorbooks.com
$14.95
James Mann, an automotive photographer of international renown, has again turned his lens towards the Corvette with stunning results. With the keen eye of a professional photographer, he captures interiors, engine, and styling detail features with such clarity you can feel the heat from the engine.
When coupled with the concise, informative text of prolific automotive writer Tom Benford and sidebars that list options, trivia, price, and other pertinent information the result is a fast paced, colorful, encapsulated history of the legendary American icon that is the Corvette.
If you are an aficionado of the Corvette, you will like this book. If you enjoy colorful photographs that transform the automobile into fine art, this book will enhance any collection and if you merely want something to add class to the coffee table, CORVETTE may just be the ticket.
FACTORY LIGHTWEIGHTS
Detroit’s Drag Racing Specials of the ‘60s
Charles R. Morris
180 pages, over 300 color and black & white photos
CarTech
1-800-551-4754
http://www.cartechbooks.com
$24.95 + $4.95 for shipping and handling.
Though my automotive tastes lean more towards trucks, and have since before the legal age for driving, there has been a fair share of “muscle” cars in my past. In spite of this, I was prepared to dislike this book. You might say I was judging it by its cover, a title that hinted of a niche target almost too small to fit the criteria for niche and a montage of vintage racing specials from the 1960s.
As the old saying goes, never judge a book by its cover. The writing skills of Charles Morris became evident when I found myself reading with fascination about cars that until now had zero interest to me. The photographs, an excellent blend of new and historic, drew me further into this unique chapter in American automotive history.
If you want a good winter read, and want to broaden your knowledge about the American automotive industry, try FACTORY LIGHTWEIGHTS.
DODGE DYNAMITE
50 Years of Dodge Muscle Cars
Peter Grist
176 pages, 298 photographs
Veloce Publishing
http://www.veloce.co.uk
ISBN 978-1-84584-112-6
$29.99
This is another wonderful example of why it is important not to judge a book by its cover. Yes, this book profiles the muscle car legends built by Dodge. Moreover, it does so with rare period photos, vintage advertisements, informative text, and equally informative captions.
However, this book is more than a mere literary monument to the likes of the Challenger, the Charger, and the Barracuda. There is a wonderful chapter on the origins and infancy of Dodge and another on the immediate post war era that was to serve as the foundation for the golden age of the muscle car but the essence of the book is cars built by Dodge that go-fast.
Overall, this book is fascinating, informative, and fun. Even those who do not adhere to the philosophy that if it is not Mopar, it is not muscle will be fascinated with cars such as the 1953 Diplomat and the 2003 Tomahawk concept.
