Customer Reviews

Chrysler Muscle: Marketing Detroit's Mightiest Machines

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I recieved this book as a gift for my birthday with very high hopes. Sadly it appears the autors knowledge of Chrysler Muscle cars was obtained by driving past a few dealerships during the late 60's and early 70's!

It is possible to find an illustration that is incorrectly identified on at least 50% of the pages: numerous cars are given the wrong names, some that are correct are the right years, chrome parts are said to be painted grey, round emblems are called gas caps and it goes on and on!

The text is horrible also. A few lines seem to have come straight from someone that has never been near the cars: "For example, the Dodge Super Bee and Plymouth Road Runner had identicle bodies. The differences were in the way they were detailed, chromed and advertised." "You can belive that if you placed a 425-HP Hemi in a 1960's Road Runner that originaly came with a 318-cid, the altered car would be worth more-Much, Much more!" These are just 2 ignorant errors within 2 pages of the book!

Overll the book is not anywhere near the standards of Krause Publications books and should be avoided at all costs! Some of the pictures are nice but there are quite a few pictures of fogged lace paint jobs from the mid 70's that will make anyone who loves these cars recoil in disgust.

I was really excited when I purchased this book because the pictures are nicely laid out and show great detail. But there are so many errors it is tough to justify spending $24 on this book. It includes pictures of 1969 cars stating they are 1971??? Any mopar nut would know that from 50 feet away. Plus there are more errors where there is not enough space here to include. It is too bad because the book looks real nice but never judge a book by it's cover. The author could have any Mopar fan to proof read it and point out all the mistakes. Mopar fans are serious about Chrysler cars and know them inside and out.. Expensive picture book!!

The really only redeeming thing this book has is its cover artwork....which happens to be courtesy of actual vintage Chrysler advertisements, not the book's authors or producers. I bought this book largely based on the well done cover and the subtitle: "Marketing Detroit's Mightiest Machines", expecting a thoughtful analysis on the advertising and marketing that sold these great cars in their day. I was highly disappointed.

While there are some nice photos, and a small section that reproduces some the great period ads, the book is absolutely ruined by the worst writing I think I've ever come across in ANY book on ANY subject. It is unbelievable that this book was allowed to be printed and sold with such inane and useless writing and photo captions such as, "From this tough stance, you know this '69 GTS is one tough performance machine". There is hardly a photo in the entire book that does not have an equally absurd caption or one that simply states the patently obvious like: "A '69 Charger R/T aptly demonstrates the use of black on the rear valance".

I am not even going to go into the factual errors which also abound in this book, because others have. I know that the book's author is supposedly a known automotive writer with years of experience. I am not knowledgeable about any of his other work, but something clearly went wrong on this one.

It's hard to believe that a book with so many glaring errors could make it to print. Hey, nobody knows it all, but a Ford enthusiast could have probably done a better job. You would think that if someone was writing a book about a certain topic, they would research the information. Isn't that the reason we read books in the first place... to expand one's knowledge? It is filled with some nice pictures though, just way too many mistakes.