Autoshite Book Club (again)

[Guest]

Thought it might be a good time for me to reintroduce the Autoshite Book Club as a thinly-veiled excuse to ask a query for my own deeds. Oh dear, you fell for it!

 

Been wanting to get this bad boy for quite some time, Encyclopedia of American Police Cars:

 

A mate has it and to date I have been unable to steal his, so I want to get one of my own. It is near-definitely the best book ever for American police car nerds, about 80% of the book are just pages with loads of pictures of every police vehicle you could ever think of up to the late 90s or so, with a brief paragraph of info for each one. There's REALLY GOOD ones, but also some pretty rubbish ones, like Chevrolet Celebrity patrol units. I give it my 100% recommendation, it's utterly splendid.

 

But I've been unable to find it for sale anywhere except used copies on Amazon around the £100 mark. However, I scoured the Internet and eventually found that the WH Smith online shop has it up at £21.44 with "Availability: 1-2 weeks". Anyone much experience of them? I just get the impression that I will excitedly give them my card details, wait two weeks and then find a refund in my bank account. It just seems too good to be true that I can finally have this sodding book.

 

To go back to my original excuse for a thread - anyone reading anything at the moment? Bar pizza menus/court summons letters/road tax fines/ASBOs.

[brammy777]

I remember buying something off play once which said 'due in 2 weeks' and it never ever came.Hirst howabout a police car book with plymouths,dodges and chevrolets? From 1979-1994....Its £14 on amazon.Someone needs to make an autoshite book, as im currently resorting to 80s issues of Car as its pretty much the only things which detail the cars id like to be reading about......

[r.welfare]

I've just received "Driving Like Crazy" by PJ O'Rourke. A collection of 30 years' worth of car stories, mostly from Car & Driver and Automobile. It's very good - well, I would say that as I like the man's style of prose - and has added bits where he looks back and puts what he wrote at the time (and why) into context. About halfway through at the moment, just finished his chapter on the 1983 Baja 1000 where he rode shotgun with Mike Nesmith (of woollen-hatted Monkee - and later MTV invention - fame) in a Chevy truck called "Timerider", which was loosely associated with a film of the same name. The next chapter covers a 1983 C&D trip to Mexico in eight "sport sedans" - yes, Hirst, it includes the Pontiac 6000STE - but if you want to save money you can read the original on the C&D website.Available for about £9 delivered from Amazon, I'd recommend it.

[CIH]

I've been trying to find books about chassis design and suspension geometry. Spent 30mins in waterstones and only find shite by Clarkson, May etc. :(Police book looks cool.

[mattblack]

Picked these up for £1.50 the pair the other week... John Mills had a column in 'Car Mechanics' in the 60's and early 70's. His book dates from 1967 and has advice on fitting a radio, repairing a door with glassfibre, carrying out a decoke, ect...

 

 

And a few more from my collection...

 

 

 

[Spottedlaurel]

MB, nice selection there.RW, I have the original of that C&D article (plus lots of other issues from the early '80s). Think there's also a Maxima? Sounds a good book anyway.I'm currently reading "Power behind the Wheel: The Evolution of Car Design and Technology" by Walter J. Boyne, American book from 1988. Some nice pic's, text OK. It was £1.50 from the RSPCA charity shop in town, I only bought it after they'd reduced the price from £3.50.Also beside my bed are a 1967 Auto Universum and a 1974 World Car Catalogue. Both have a slightly musty smell when I open them, but are useful if I need to confirm what a Taunus 12M might look like in a hurry (which did happen the other night).

[Station]

I'd love a load of these, but I have no space to put them, and it goes against my "2009 - year of getting rid of all my stuff" agenda.

[binhoker668]

I just picked up some really good 'ladybird' books off ebay for a pittance. Seriously cool items! Funny looks off Mrs Hoker and family tho!Some of the kids stuff from 70s and 80s is gold!

[michiel]

No help for Hirst, sorry, but I've just purchased Anatomy of the Motor Car, Drive On! and Long Lane with Turnings (or something like that), lots of Setright for me. I can recommend The Bugatti Queen about Hellé Nice.

[Simon M]

What's that 'Catalogue of British Cars' one like? That Allegro picture has tempted me to look for a copy!

[garethj]

I've been trying to find books about chassis design and suspension geometry. Spent 30mins in waterstones and only find shite by Clarkson, May etc.

The "Race and rally car source book" by Allan Staniforth is quite good as an opener. Better than the American "How to make your car handle" by Fred Puhn.

 

If you're having trouble sleeping there were some great books written in the '60s on these subjects by people who really knew their stuff. "Scientific design if exhaust and intake systems" by John C. Morrison is a gem, you could pretty much build your own top end of an engine from it. "Air cooled automotive engines" by Julius Mackerle is a brilliant book too, he was Tatra's chief engineer in the '60s and '70s so he knew a bit

 

"Chassis engineering" by Herb Adams looks alright from reviews but I haven't read it.

[Alpineandy]

Spent 30mins in waterstones

Try ; http://www.chaters.co.uk/

[mattblack]

What's that 'Catalogue of British Cars' one like? That Allegro picture has tempted me to look for a copy!

published in 1974, it's pretty much does what it says on the tin... 506 pages, if you want to know the bore and stroke of 1906 Hallamshire 12/14, you'll find it in here. I paid £5 for it from a general collector's fair, I've seen one marked up at £40 at an autojumble...

[IanF]

I've been trying to find books about chassis design and suspension geometry. Spent 30mins in waterstones and only find shite by Clarkson, May etc. :(Police book looks cool.

Best book I've got on the subject is this.http://www.amazon.co.uk/Car-Suspension- ... 295&sr=8-8

[Spottedlaurel]

No help for Hirst, sorry, but I've just purchased Anatomy of the Motor Car, Drive On! and Long Lane with Turnings (or something like that), lots of Setright for me. I can recommend The Bugatti Queen about Hellé Nice.

I happened to see Drive On in the library today so picked that up for bedtime reading.

[fotorabia]

In the unpaid storage haul we uncovered recently are 100s of classic car books..guy was a bit of a filing freak and he removed all the dust jackets which we didnt find..heres a wee % of what i am now caretaker of..

1976 book of Vans..lounge-a-matic!

1963 Eagle book of trains

USA Motoring Quarterly..1963 and two 1975

The Motor Reference Yearbook 1960

1963

Theres aso about 40 books on Ferrari..the same on Jaguar..plus many many more!

[Jon]

I was filming in someone's bungalow a couple of weeks ago and between takes managed to sneek a peak at a Channel 4 book about the Africar project, which seemed very interesting and contained some nice photography. Anyone have a copy to borrow?

[garethj]

I was filming in someone's bungalow a couple of weeks ago and between takes managed to sneek a peak at a Channel 4 book about the Africar project, which seemed very interesting and contained some nice photography. Anyone have a copy to borrow?

I remember watching the series on Channel 4 and it looked really interesting, as you say. Didn't they go bankrupt with a sniff of fraud or something?

[carlo]

Spent 30mins in waterstones

Try ; http://www.chaters.co.uk/

I used to love my Saturday trips to Chaters 10 or 15 years ago, when I lived near Isleworth. They used to have virtually every copy of Motor & Autocar downstairs as well - you could spend hours in there.But what I remember most were the prices - £20/£30 for old Observer books, and I paid £40 for an AutoUniversum car catalogue. You can get these things on ebay now for a quarter of the price. Wonder if their prices have been adjusted in the meantime.

[brammy777]

Bought this yesterday

Guranteed i was born 9 years after the cortinas demise but i have found myself very interested in them lately.

Cheap as well!

 

Another book you lot might like is 100 years of motoring, all photos too, and hordes of shite. Quality.

[s2driver]

My Dad had a Cortina Mark II - HEN 533F - bought from a main Ford dealer in Manchester in 1968. But back on topic - ish, I was in Preston last year and found a copy of "The Certain Sound: Thirty Years of Motor Racing," by John Wyer on a stall selling bits of tat on Preston market. Snapped it up for £4. No dust jacket and not in perfect condition but not bad, and the dealers want sillymoney for a mint copy. Made my (motor book -type) year.