Customer Reviews

Classic American Limousines 1955-2000 Photo Archive

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An outstanding photographic archive on this niche enthusiast topic--perhaps the only one available in print--poorly-edited captions significantly weaken Conjalka's effort. The uniformly-high quality black and white photos (virtually all exteriors) are a mix of snapshots from the author's collection and period publicity pictures. While Conjalka does justice to the more common variants from both Cadillac and Lincoln, he also includes the less-well known, such as the Chrysler Imperial Ghia line. He also has ferreted out several good pictures of numerous Presidential limousines from the past four decades. Unfortunately, the author fails to take good advantage of the book's "white space" to illuminate the reader. The captions rarely provide more than the barest essential details (e.g., year, make, and estimated cost), shedding little light on the manufacturer, coachbuilder, or the market/styling trends at the time. Strangely, the author opted to list all prices to two decimal places--despite the fact none of those decimal places were used. Moreover, the captions tend to be poorly-edited, and in some cases appear not to have been proofread: "Very few of these were ever produced in mass quantities."

While Classic American Limousines... probably has set the standard for limousine photo books, a thoughtful revision could raise "the bar" significantly.

Built around a wealth of rare and high quality photographs, the editorial content is intentionally limited to what amount to biographies of the individual cars showcased, with some brief background on production dates and costs. Those interested in more detail about the particular coach manufacturers will be well served by referring to works by authors like Walt McCall, or the numerous websites devoted to particular coach builders.

For those interested in beautifully reproduced images of these glamorous vehicles the book will be a welcome addition to their collection.

This book is a total waste of money and paper.