Customer Reviews

Classic American Cars

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book clearly deserves more than five stars. Any car buff will enjoy it, but it will be most appealing to those who do not get a chance to enjoy classic cars very often. If you can only afford one book on post-World War II American cars, this is the one for you!

I grew up in California, where people worshipped these cars when they came out. In many cases, I had not seen the cars or even photographs of them for more than 30 years. This was a wonderful trip down nostalgia lane for me.

But the nice surprise for me is that the book is filled with interesting information that I did not know before. Most of the 60 featured models are covered on a four page lay-out, especially the older ones. You get a side, front, and rear views of each car. You also get many slant views, as well. In little photographs, the book also captures key details, famous publicity shots, historic moments, and related personalities who owned the car. The engine and technical improvements are outlined, also. You also get each model's specifications, including how many were produced. I did not realize how many of the cars I love had only a very small production run.

One of the best parts of the book was showing how the car evolved into later models, or even newer ones. For example, did you know how the original 1943 Jeep became the Grand Cherokee?

Another feature that makes the book interesting are profiles of the most important car designers, as well as the other items they designed. Especially in the 1950s and early 1960s, the cars were more show than go. Then came the muscle cars!

Each decade has a brief historical overview of noncar events to put the cars into context.

Although there are many interesting and rewarding cars in the book, here were my favorites:

1948 Tucker Torpedo

1950 DeSoto Custom

1954 Chevrolet Corvette

1954 Kaiser Darrin

1955 Ford Thunderbird

1957 Chevrolet Bel Air

1958 Packard Hawk

1959 Plymouth Fury

1963 Ford Thunderbird

1963 Studebaker Avanti

1966 Pontiac GTO

1967 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500

But they are not all fun, sexy, and beautiful in the book. You get Edsels, Ford Falcons, and Chevrolet Corvairs as well. This provides a good background for appreciating the more wonderful cars.

After you have finished enjoying this exciting book, I suggest that you seek out a classic car show and go see the real thing. That will help you overcome your misconceptions that a picture gives you a full flavor of what is depicted. You still need to slide into those seats, look over the steering wheel and the hood to the open road, and feel the car corner. Perhaps someone will take you out for a spin. Now, that's a car dream worth living!

Take your life on the road again in classic style . . . and enjoy the drive!

This book was a Christmas gift and a great one at that. I find I can't put it down and when I do, I bring it to work and then I can't get it back. The book is beautifully illustrated and well researched. It even has info about the average wages of the period and stats on all the cars. I remember having some of these vehicles myself. And my father had some of these too.

This book is a Classic Car Show in book form. Taking cars from the 1940s through to the 1970s, it covers no less than 60 autos "that changed the world." It has many great color pictures, and a great deal of information on each car. This book is a must-have for every automobile enthusiast!

This large "coffee table" book, is excellently done, a real treat for the eyes, and also quite interesting to read. Among the cars included are no-brainers, like the 1963 Ford Thunderbird, the 1966 Corvette Stingray, and 1971 Chevy Nova (we had one!). However, there are also some other cars that are interesting additions, like the 1943 Willys Jeep, the 1954 Hudson Hornet, and 1958 Packard Hawk. This is a great book, one you must see!

Great cars, great photos, wide information and best quality possible. Worth buying it!!!

This excellent coffee table book focuses on 60 of Americas classic automobiles from the 40's through to the 70's. Full colour, large photos of all angles of the cars chosen to represent their ilk are supplemented by other examples in the models history. Thoroughly recommended.

This is an awesome book but it needs a follow up, there are many more classic yank and aussie cars out there

The writer is fascinated with the evolution of the tail fin, and it seems to be the main theme. His writing is painful to read. Does "rude" means "good"? One car has a trunk the size of Indiana, another can hold a football team, and another a golf tournament. But which of these is the biggest? And those fins...by 1965 they were getting smaller by the day!
The writer clearly has his favorites and also some cars he doesn't like. Why did he feature a car that he greatly dislikes, and was not popular with the public? Because he found a gorgeous specimen for photographs. And a 1959 Edsel after he ripped apart the 1958 Edsel, and already told us when the brand died? Again, he had nice looking examples. But at least twice he mentions the fins of the 1959 Chevy, but never shows us a picture. Instead he recycles a picture of 1960 Chevy. He also repeats odd phrases and entire explanations, such as the naming pattern of the Chrysler 300 letter series.
Seeing the same license plates on more than one car, and the same exact license plates on the front and rear of every car, was obviously fake and distracting. It made me wonder what other tricks he used.
On the plus side, the consistent photographic angles makes it fun to compare car styles to each other. He often mentions which head stylist was responsible for a design, and points out that stylist's design traits. I also appreciated seeing specifications and figures such as 0 to 60 times and fuel mileage for each featured car.

This book is a must have for any automotive enthusiast. It is very informative and a lot of fun to read.I loved the performance specifications it showed on each car.

This book was what started me on Car Books when I was about 15 or 16. Good pictures and information,maybe a mistake or so, but overall ok. Book seems more like a hardcover with those spec sheets put together that are like collector cards.

This is another one of those British books that leaves a lot to be desired. I love the format, but often the cars are incorrect or there's wrong information. If you want a great general book, then check this one out. If you consider yourself knowledgable on cars and want to complement your collection, look elsewhere.