Customer Reviews

The Red Car

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book made me want to go out and buy a MG TC. A classic story about a young man and his dream of owning the red car. Anything can happen in a fiction story and it does in this book. It has a happy ending, leaves a good feeling about people and early sports cars.

I read this book when I was about six years old. Forty odd years ago. I loved it and the Red Car. I think the fact that I drive a miata now says a lot about the results of this book.

I read and re-read the Scholastic paperback of this book until it literally fell to pieces. I identified totally with the main character. I bought an MG while I was in college and still have an MG in my garage 40 years after first reading this great story. Highly recommended for all sports car lovers.

It has been 35 years since I read the book but I can vivdly remember many parts of it. For example the mechanic Frenchy left his tools dirty to keep others from walking off with them; the race through the mountains with the big Ford that could not stay with the MG in the curves and then his Dad getting caught up in the moment, telling him to speed up. Then later the Dad telling the boy not to mention the race to his mother and cautioning all of the other boys on how dangerous they had been. What a grand book to read.

I first read the Red Car 50 years ago when I was 14. It inspired me to a lifelong passion for collecting and enjoying British sports cars. In my retirement, I spend all my time with my collection of cars. However, I have yet to find my own MG-TC but do have two later model MGs. Long ago I had lost my copy of The Red Car and was delighted when Amazon located a used (in new condition) copy. I have enjoyed it again. My wife questions why I spent $20.00 for a small paperback that is priced on the cover at 35 cents! She has also questioned the many tens of thousands of dollars that I have spent over the years on British cars!

I was 12 when I first read this book and it kindled an interest in sports cars that never has gone away.

I've always wanted to read it again, but had never seen it again, or remembered it's title. Then Peter Egan wrote about it's re-issue in his Road and Track column and I headed for Amazon to order a copy.

Glad I did. It's a fun read. Just remember it was written in 1954, and some of the attitudes are a "little different" than we would accept today. As a friend put it, "the boys get to drive the sports cars, the girls have their horses." Nothing wrong with that, unless you believe it's supposed to be that way, and of course, that's not true.

Read the book and enjoy!

I bought this book as a paper back in 1957. Ordered it from the book club at school. I was 12 and the book captivated me. I am unable to locate that original- but it might be around somewhere. I am 61, and I purchased a 1st edition hardback on line. They are getting pricey. I have reread this book several times and it is a great book for a kid or an old guy. We even moved to Glenwood, where my son was born. I worked as a Pharmacy intern in a drug store there.(Wonder if it is the one in the book.) And I have a Z3 BMW roadster now. I tried to buy a
MG TF at sixteen, but my parents wouldn't let me. It was $650 at the time. I don't know if Bullet is Aspen (which I think it is- Or Basalt) There is no Bullet I know of. Great early teen or pre-teen book.

I can't believe that after all of these years, I have re-discovered this book. I had read The Red Car thirty-some-odd years ago, and thought it wonderful. After loaning it to a teacher, and him loosing it, I had fogotten all about it. Consequently, after being indoctrinated into the wonderful world of sports cars (1965 AH Sprite) and the joys of the late apex, the thoughts of that lucky kid in the MG TC are still with me.

I've only just ordered the book, but couldn't help but to write a short note on it, so, if you are as interested in classic sports cars as I am, driving same, or are just tired of the same old cookie cutter jap front wheel drive cracker boxes (mini's not included) get the book and read it. If anything, it will give you an idea of how to square off a corner, and recover brilliently! If anything else, a good read for the "gear head" car nut. Enjoy.

Like other reviewers, I read this book as a child. My 10 year old son has just begun to read it now. I already know, before he has finished the first chapter, that it will be his favorite book for many years to come. How do I know? I've seen the grin that spreads onto his face when he rides with me in my Alfa Spider in the summer. The one that says life can't get any better than this. But it will. With each passing page.

But still, even now, it's a wonderful book...and not just for kids. I wonder if Bullet is a real town, though?...