Customer Reviews

Driving Force The Past, Present and Future Development of the Car Engine

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The history of cars is mostly the history of engines, at least to those in the know. This entertaining chronology of non-racing engine development, organized by era, country (often European) and company, discusses hundreds of engines--most of which are long forgotten, so some skimming is allowed--in terms of bore and stroke, valve and camshaft placement, etc., in a very easy to read style. There are also tales of good engineering which did not prevail, due to, for example, British tax laws based on piston area instead of displacement, or the Twenties' inexplicable clamoring for straight eights over the superior vee configuration.

A lot of history is passed along. Cadillac always built V8s, Buick always OHVs. Hemispherical combustion chambers go back to the Thirties. Most of the engines I was curious about were included: VW Beetle and Golf, Citroen DS 21, 12-valve Accord. It ends by discussing the trends towards multivalve engines and variable valve timing, and is overall a very skillfully written reference book.