Customer Reviews

American Car Spotter's Bible 1940-1980

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Overall this is a great book; there are thousands of color illustrations and pictures of American vehicles. There are several things to note that keep me from giving it five stars:

There are some strange omissions like the Chevy II/Chevy Nova from 1961-1972--where is it? The 1962 Chevy II convertible was my parents first car, but it is MIA. There are no Plymouth models from 1979 and there are only two cars shown for the years 1977-1978. Many times one end of the car is shown, but nothing of the other end, like in the case of the 1969 Cadillac.

As one man said, some things are hard to find because there doesn't seem to be any consistency on a car's location. Ford Torinos, Comets, Mavericks, Granadas, and Fairmonts all have their place in the Ford section of the book. Mustangs, however, are with the "m's" and Thunderbirds are witht the "t's". Pontiac Firebirds aren't with Pontiac, but between Ford Falcons and Ford full size cars.

The author is also not consistent in presenting the changes for some years. The '77-'79 Lincolns are listed together as if they are all identical, but the 1977 Lincolns had fender skirts and the '78-'79 did not. There are entire pages for each of the '63-'65 Chryslers, and then '66-'69 are all crammed on one page. This kind of thing happens many times and is fairly disappointing.

Finally, there are strange markings on many of the illustrations: door lines are drawn in, wheels are colored in, etc. A lot of the illustrations are cut up, which is sometimes confusing and disappointing, but they can help to draw attention to differences between models.

Still, it is worth the price and has plenty of pictures to look at.

If you're a baby boomer like me, you remember when most of the cars in this book were daily drivers instead of automotive Faberge eggs, which is the way owners treat them now.

This is, in a way, a compilation of two of Tad Burness's previous black-and-white guides, encompassing American cars from 1940-1965 and 1966-1980.

I had wanted both these books in college when they came out, in 1977 and 1982 respectively; never could afford them, and by the time I could, they were out of print. I never expected to see a guide from Burness of this size and quality, and in COLOR, no less! And I never would have known it was available, except that I typed in a search for used copies of the 1940-65 guide in Amazon, and this wonderful book came up in the results.

It's worth every penny of its purchase price, and I am happy, happy, happy! Mr. Burness, we're waiting for the 1981-2008 Bible;-)

not a bad book, but its missing a few cars. don't buy it if you like chevy nova's. some cars are out of order. not mr.burness's best book, i have some of his old ones.

Bought this book as a gift for my dad. This is in my opinion a great book, many pictures taken from sales literature. A great way to learn the differences in each model year. Also contains prices and production stats.
A great book just to sit and turn one page after another!

I'm very happy buy this book;I suggest it to those like me love de American cars and want to know all models from 1940 to 1980 watching the page plenty of fotos and drawing take from the original brochures.
The book show the difference model to model and change year by year.
Don't lost it !!!

This copy is a replacement for the first edition I've had for years and wore out thumbing through every time I watched an old movie or TV show. This edition is even better with more model years included and is in color which gives it much more detail. I highly recommend this book if you love old cars.

I had this shipped to my stepdad, who loves old cars. He is thrilled with it and says it will likely keep him up nights reading all the info about the prices and new features for a given year/model of a car. Great pictures, too! Would recommend for an older-car enthusiast!

I bought this book as a gift to my brother-in-law who loves taking pictures of American cars. Later he told me that he is afraid to open this book because it is so detailed that he has nothing more to learn from his pictures and the internet! Soon he realized usefulness of this book, and now he is using it as a reference to sort his photo collection. This book is definitely one of the greatest sources of information for American car spotters.

I enjoy using this book as a very good reference guide. Mr. Burness's work is excellent.

If all types of cars are your passion this is the book for you. My husband has one and I bought one for a friend too.