Customer Reviews

Fifties Flashback : A Nostalgic Trip!

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

 

 

NOTE; the cover has a hotrod and the first subtitle is "Cars We Drove". If you know the author, Al Drake, he writes for hotrod magazines. So if you are expecting anything but cars and in particular classic American highboy(fenderless body sits on the framerail) or lowboy(body lowered over the framerail) hotrods of the fifties, this book is not for you. BUT, if you are a gearhead and in particular a gearhead over 50 you will love this book. It's not technical. There aren't any data sheets about casting numbers, just a compilation of many of the short stories Al Drake wrote for various hotrod magazines. Much to Al's disapointment I'm sure, I spend most of my time looking at the pictures and the captions. For example there are pages of old newpaper ads listing used cars and the prices in the 50's. I couldn't afford them then at $500 and can't afford them now at $50,000. I particularly like the old photos of key rod and race pioneers. These aren't new color glossy pictures of new hotrods, these are the origional old grainy black and whites. Anyone can go to a car show and take modern pictures of hotrods, only Al and this book have the origional pictures of the origional rods that started the craze.

this book is great. I see so much of myself in the author, despite being 50 years younger. It's a real hoot to read about what the fifties were like, not what the fifites are idealized as. Tons of cool pictures, funny stories, hilarious drawings, etc. make this one of my favorite hot rod books. A must have!

Beware this is not a book about the 50's, but a book about cars of the 50's, well actually more of the late 40's then the 50's. This book is marketed as a general book about the 50's but it is completely about cars. The section on fashion is one page, showing a man in a leather jacket. The section on magazines, is one page showing a car magazine. The section on TV is a page showing cars. If you want to know everything there is to know about cars in the late 40's to mid 50's then this is for you. But if you want to learn about anything else, look elsewhere. I ordered this book for my Mom and she was so disapponted that we are going to return it.