Customer Reviews

Greatest American Cars

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

 

 

It's hard for me to recommend this book for a couple of reasons.

First off, the coverage is not the best. It focuses too heavily on some cars and not enough (or at all) on others. Some examples: there are two 1959 Edsels featured in the book and there are two variations of the 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass featured (442 W-30 and SX, plus the similar F-85 Rallye 350). And of course there's a plethora of Mustangs, Camaros, Corvettes and the like. And yet, there are some glaring omissions. For example, the 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado, 1967 Cadillac Eldorado, 1971 Buick Riviera, 1977 Chevrolet Impala/Caprice, 1988 Pontiac Fiero GT, 1949 Mercury, 1993 Dodge Intrepid and 1987 Buick Grand National were all great-or at least important-in their own way and all deserve a place in the book, yet they're nowhere to be found. Even the beloved and extremely popular 1980's era Olds Cutlass and the Ford Crown Victoria/Mercury Grand Marquis of the 1980's-2000's aren't here. I can think of many other examples as well. Coverage of different decades is spotty, too. The 1900's-1960's are represented well enough (for the most part), but coverage of the 1970's-2005 seems sparse and haphazard by comparison.

Second, there are a few typos in the book and some completely wrong information. For example, in the 1998 Ford Taurus entry, it notes that the 1996 model got a 300 horsepower engine, when the engine being referred to was actually rated at 200 horsepower. In addition, the '98 Taurus pictured is a plug ordinary sedan, but the specifications given for it are for the high performance SHO model. Another example is found in the 1988 Ford Thunderbird entry, which notes that a convertible reappeared in 1983. It most certainly didn't; it was the Mustang that got a convertible again for 1983. It gets worse: in the 1994 Mustang GT entry, a brief history of the Mustang is given, noting that the first generation was offered from 1964-1973 (not exactly), and that it was offered first as a 2 door and later as a 4 door. Never happened! The Mustang has never had 4 doors! In this instance, it was the Thunderbird that was offered in a 4 door body style from 1967-1971. So apparently the author got Thunderbird and Mustang history mixed up. Occasionally, some outright bizarre comments come up: for the 1993 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight LSS, it notes that some owners complained that the car had difficulty going up hills. I don't know where the author got that, but I'm familiar with these (and similar GM cars) and I have never heard anything remotely like that, nor have I experienced it.

There are plenty more examples. In spite of this, there is some accurate information given; in the Ford Taurus example I cited, the author does have the basic history of the car correct, it's just that some of the details are wrong. So veteran car enthusiasts such as myself will find the book a little frustrating, sorting facts from inaccuracies, all the while questioning other information presented on less familiar cars wondering if it's correct or not. People with little knowledge of cars who want to learn more would be well advised to look elsewhere, or at least not take what they read in this book as 100% correct and do some further research. The book does have some pretty nice photos in it, so at the very least it's just okay to thumb through and look at from time to time.

Wonderful gift for the auto enthusiest such as myself, but some of the vehicles pictured were far from the greatest IE, 97' Ford Taurus and the Edsel.

Also upon reading this I spotted a couple spelling errors.
and in my opinion the author missed some Great cars of the 80's such as the last of the olds 442's and the buick Grand National.
And apparently makes such International Harvester and Jeep are apparently not "Great" enough for this book. But the author goes on to say how great the uglier 1988 Ford Thunder Bird and again over looks such 70's & 80's classics such as the olds Calais,78' Pontiac Trans AM, the Chevy Monza Spyder, Chevy Vega, and the chevy LUV, author also forgot americas best selling small pickup the chevrolet S-10 and rare classics such as the GMC Typhoon and Syclone