The Art of the Automobile: The 100 Greatest Cars (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Award-winning automotive historian, author, and photographer Dennis Adler takes you on a whirlwind tour through more than a century of automotive history, from the first production motorcar, the 1886 Benz Patent Motorwage, to fabled makes including Hispano-Suiza, Duesenberg, packard, and Hudson

More than 200 stunning color photographs define and detail the remarkable styling and revolutionary mechanical engineering for 100 greatest cars ever built. Adler, in accordance with the world's leading automotive dseigners, collectors, and authorities, picks the top ten cars of all time--breathtaking cars that have become the motoring icons of the twentieth century.

The Art of the Automobile reveals not only the makes and models that have left an indelible mark on the motoring world, but why and how these specific cars have become so important to the history of the automobile itself. For anyone whose pulse quickens at the sound of a Ferrari V-12, or whose heart races at the sight of a glorious 1930s Duesenberg, here, truly, is the essential car book of the century.

About the Author

Author and photographer Dennis Adler is recognized as one of the leading automotive photojournalists in the world, with more than 5,000 articles and photographs published. The Art of the Automobile

Adler is a member if the prestigious Meguiar's committee, which annually selects and pays tribute to those individuals who have excelled in the automotive hobby; he serves on the Meadow Brook Concours d'Elegance Selection Committee, and was a founding member of the American Automotive Heritage Foundation. He is presently senior editor of European Car, and for the past fifteen years has been the senior contributing editor of The Star--the official publication of the Mercedes-Benz club of America. A native Californian, he now lives in central Pennsylvania.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1 edition (May 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061051284
• ISBN-13: 978-0061051289
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 9.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #206,188 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dennis Adler at his best!, May 5, 2000

By A Customer

The long awaited book, by one of the best automobile photographers is here, and it is wonderful! Glorious photography, with compositions and setting are exceptional, and can't be beat.

The 100 greatest are listed in alphabetical order, so you can put them in numerical order. There is even a list of the second 100 greatest, again in alphabetical order.

This is a great tribute to the persons who envisioned,designed, built, maintained, restored and have preserved these marvelous automobiles.

If you have Mr. Adler's other books, you will recognize some of the photos, but there are plenty of breathtaking new ones. If you love automobiles, this is a valuable addition to your library. This top quality book is a bargain.

Thank You Dennis, for your beautiful, insightful work. I look forward to your next book.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly [bad], March 18, 2002

By	BrainDrain (Oshkosh, WI USA) - See all my reviews

I'm not going to post demerits on this book for the models it didn't include, because no book could ever be perfect on that score. I'm not going to knock it too hard on its pathetic lack of technical detail, either, since that's not what this book is about. However, I am bothered by the small number of photos. Each car gets at least one exterior photo, so if you think the 'art' of the automobile is limited to its exterior appearance, you might be satisfied with this book. I don't think so and I'm not satisfied. There is an incredible dearth of interior photos, for example, and since there's a great deal of art involved with interior design, I feel that I'm missing half the story on most of the cars included. Also, you're lucky to get more than one exterior angle on any of these cars.

In summary, what's there is okay for the most part, though only a few of the photos are especially inspiring; it's what's not there that bothers me. In the end, this is just another overpriced tabletop book.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cars can be beautiful, February 22, 2001

By	Kevin W. Parker (Greenbelt, MD) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm not particularly a car aficionado (cars for me are something to get me where I'm going and as a last resort, at that), but this book could almost change my mind. Adler picks out what he considers to be the 100 greatest cars of all time, lovingly photographs them, and provides some background on how they came to be.

There's an intriguing assortment here. Some cars are veritable icons (we all know what they look like): the 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz with its enormous fins, the 1963 Corvette, the Porsche 911, the original Volkswagen Beetle. Others, like the Alfa Romeo BAT 5 are exotic and tend to remind one of the Batmobile. Still others exemplify a type: the Ferrari 250 GTO as the quintessential sportscar, the classic Bentleys with their running boards, the bathtub styling of the 50's Hudsons, and so on.

It makes one realize how beautiful a car can be and regret that so many modern cars are little more than aerodynamic boxes with wheels.