Customer Reviews

The Art of the Automobile: The 100 Greatest Cars

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The long awaited book, by one of the best automobile photographers is here, and it is wonderful! Glorious photography, with compositions and setting are exceptional, and can't be beat.

The 100 greatest are listed in alphabetical order, so you can put them in numerical order. There is even a list of the second 100 greatest, again in alphabetical order.

This is a great tribute to the persons who envisioned,designed, built, maintained, restored and have preserved these marvelous automobiles.

If you have Mr. Adler's other books, you will recognize some of the photos, but there are plenty of breathtaking new ones. If you love automobiles, this is a valuable addition to your library. This top quality book is a bargain.

Thank You Dennis, for your beautiful, insightful work. I look forward to your next book.

I'm not going to post demerits on this book for the models it didn't include, because no book could ever be perfect on that score. I'm not going to knock it too hard on its pathetic lack of technical detail, either, since that's not what this book is about. However, I am bothered by the small number of photos. Each car gets at least one exterior photo, so if you think the 'art' of the automobile is limited to its exterior appearance, you might be satisfied with this book. I don't think so and I'm not satisfied. There is an incredible dearth of interior photos, for example, and since there's a great deal of art involved with interior design, I feel that I'm missing half the story on most of the cars included. Also, you're lucky to get more than one exterior angle on any of these cars.

In summary, what's there is okay for the most part, though only a few of the photos are especially inspiring; it's what's not there that bothers me. In the end, this is just another overpriced tabletop book.

I'm not particularly a car aficionado (cars for me are something to get me where I'm going and as a last resort, at that), but this book could almost change my mind. Adler picks out what he considers to be the 100 greatest cars of all time, lovingly photographs them, and provides some background on how they came to be.

There's an intriguing assortment here. Some cars are veritable icons (we all know what they look like): the 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz with its enormous fins, the 1963 Corvette, the Porsche 911, the original Volkswagen Beetle. Others, like the Alfa Romeo BAT 5 are exotic and tend to remind one of the Batmobile. Still others exemplify a type: the Ferrari 250 GTO as the quintessential sportscar, the classic Bentleys with their running boards, the bathtub styling of the 50's Hudsons, and so on.

It makes one realize how beautiful a car can be and regret that so many modern cars are little more than aerodynamic boxes with wheels.

I purchased this book for our lobby at work and we gave it to a client who absolutely raved about it. I've replaced the copy and I keep hearing "ooh"'s and "ah"'s of appreciation from our clients as they pour over the picures. The photos are large and very clear. The cars are positioned in romantic gorgeous locations which fuels the imagination. I don't expect this copy to stay long either!

Dennis Adler and Charlie Gibson were on GMA with three great cars on June 8th - Deusenberg, Derrin Packard and the 67 ferrari from the book. On TV his images were just as great as the book. Loved the show and the book, inciteful and knowledgable, Adler really knows his cars and shares that information and side bits of info... it's all great reading as well as great pictures.

I was happy to see the VW included! But my favorite car is the Auburn, such a wonderful, FAST, car for the 30's!

The author's list of what constitutes the 100 greatest cars is pretty sound but there are many others that would equally deserve a place; however you can't put everything in and still have a book that will sell for an economic price. Most of the photos are superb but there are a few that are disappointing such as the Thunderbird pics or the VW Beetle at the end. The photo of the Cisitalia has the rear cropped off, ouch.
The portrait photos are mostly full page and fortunately the publisher has avoided the trap of spreading them across the gutter and eliminating details in the middle, with a few exceptions. Overall it's a lovely book and if you like classic cars you are certain to treasure it.

Gorgeous! Photos, text and format. Gave it to my brother and it shut him up for several hours, while he pretended his truck outside was an Italian piece of automotive art.

Great information. There are models mentioned that I am seeing for the first time.

greetings...THIS IS A TOP QUALITY BOOK AT THE VERY BEST PRICE AND IT IS Q U A L I T Y...THE 3/4 TAKE ON THE PACKARD TWIN SIX IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS VISUALLY.WHEN WAS THE VERY LAST TIME A CONVERTIBLE HUDSON SAW A PLACE IN SUCH A BOOK.THE BACKGROUNDS ARE CHOICE PLACES,THEY LOOK OH!SO NORMAL AS IF YOU WERE STANDING NEAR.WE AUTOMOBILE BOOK COLLECTORS ARE POSITIVELY SPOILT WITH THE EFFORTS TAKEN TO PRODUCE SUCH GREAT WORK.IT WILL BE RE-READ OFTEN.BUY IT NOW WHILE IT IS SO REASONABLE AN OFFER...RONALD.C.LEE-HARRIS.

This book may be the best book of photos of classic cars ever published. Simply stunning. The photos of the Duesenberg "Twenty Grand" alone were worth the price of the book.