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Ken W. Purdy

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The kings of the road Paperback – January 1, 1961

by Ken W Purdy (Author)

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you are bidding on a classic book about classic cars. Light wear on corners, new bantam edition, 1961 see pictures. PLEASE photo of light colored cover is NOT a photo of the copy I am selling. Mine is the 1961 cover, black with photos. All the other pictures are of actual copy.

Print length

216 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Bantam Books
Publication date

January 1, 1961
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0007GTYHC
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bantam Books; First Edition (January 1, 1961)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 216 pages
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4.8 ounces

Best Sellers Rank: #5,183,271 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews:
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4.4 out of 5

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Thomas C., Martin

A classic book about the early years of classical car design -

Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2013

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This book is a classic in its field, and has been reprinted numerous times in various forms, including hardback and paperback. It is an introduction to the world of classic cars and the people who designed and manufactured them, not only as means of personal transportation, but with an eye to artistic design, dependability and most of all, elegance. In the early years of automobiles, auto manufacturers, like Duesenberg and Rolls Royce manufactured the essential car. Designers took over from there and made custom bodies for these luxury cars. Designers would vie with each other to come out with the most original and attractive design for each new model year, and began to imitate each other's best designs. This book tells the story of how the modern passenger car evolved. It is filled with interesting stories told by people who love classic cars and the legends about their development. It is a classic gift for any car enthusiast who goes to classic car shows. It is essential to anyone studying the evolution of the modern automobile, its engineering and design. In a time when we are used to cars looking more or less alike, and difficult to tell apart when searching for one's car in a parking lot, this book talks about the masterpieces of auto engineering and design, in the initial years. They were and are treasured as "The Kings of the Road." I read this book when it first came out, and found this one through Amazon for a gift to my son, who owns and restores modern classic cars, and haunts the classic car shows. It is the best book of its kind, and nicely illustrated with photographs.

3 people found this helpful

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James Garfield

If you're an Automotive History Buff, here's one for you.

Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2015

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I am a child of the 60's, and as such I grew up reading Ken Purdy's books. I can confess only to reading his books, since he was the most prolific author of automotive articles in Playboy magazine (and of course we only read that mag for the articles... ). Ken Purdy was a war correspondent in WWII. He grew up with a fascination of the 'perfection' of European automobiles as compared to what Americans were used to. Ken was a huge fan of auto racing, primarily the European racing... along with all the superstar cars and drivers of the era. Tragically, Ken Purdy left us in the early 70's by suicide... for reasons known only to himself and God. However, for the reader fascinated with the history of the world's great classic automobiles, this is a must-have book for your personal library. Please also see: Ken Purdy's Motorcars of the Golden Past, and Ken Purdy's Book Of Automobiles, for the 2 other of Purdy's excellent works.

4 people found this helpful

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Sky King

I marvel at the days of the Kings of Road

Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2013

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Many years ago, I read this book, The Kings of the Road, by Ken Purdy. Ken was an authority on cars and driving way back when. I was so impressed with how well he protrayed those days of cars and drivers. I was so glad to get this book for my library.

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Barthbill

Only a few B&W photos.

Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2012

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5 stars for the excellent writing by Ken Purdy.

2 stars for the pulp paper used in printing this.

3 stars for the scant, mediocre quality black and white photos.

The edition pictured here is not the Little, Brown as stated. It is the Bonanza pulp hardback. What few pictures there are, are black and white. Even the paperback edition of the '50s was on better paper, and had really great color photos.

The edition pictured here is also not a First Edition, as stated. Nor is it a second, third, or whatever edition. The mere fact that the publisher has a Zip code, makes it a much later edition.

However, if you don't require an edition with color pictures, the internet is full of great photos of every model described, so it is not a giant loss. And the great writing is still the great writing. Great writing by one of the greatest classic automobile writers of the period. I read a chapter of mine now and then while seated at the computer, and depend on Google and Yahoo Images for my visuals.

One person found this helpful

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Jim

Brings bac a lot of memories.

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2014

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I remember reading this back in the early sixties and was fun to get a copy again. Particularly love chapter VI, about Mercedes type W125. The first paragraph is intriguing and the line "That, gentlemen, is acceleration" is great. Ken was a very talented driver and a writer.

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Amazon Customer

A classic motorsports book

Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2016

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A classic motorsports book, published decades ago and describing the motorsports spectrum at the time. Write-ups on many classic car marques of earlier days, as well.

Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2015

very poor condition

Good auto history book

Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2015

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Good book regarding automobile history of 1920-1940 cars. Copywrite is 1952, so very interesting that the history stops at that year and we know what occurred after in auto history that author talks about. One criticism is that the shipping was very slow.

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The kings of the road Paperback – January 1, 1961

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