Classic Car Reviews

Very realistic designs. The book has 18 projects including a 64 Mustang (my favorite), a 59 Cadillac (my second favorite), a 57 Chevrolet Bel Air, two VW Beetles, and a 57 Corvette (to name just a few). There are color photographs and detailed instructions on each project.

I would classify the projects in this book as intermediate to advanced. The designs have lots of pieces (60+ in the 39' Packard Wagon), copper foil overlays, and wirework.

I'm considering building a car for SCCA Improved Touring (IT) competition. This book offers some good general advice and a plan to do the general preparation.

However, it is written in a fairly general manner (applicable to World Challenge and several other competitions) so it is not a absolute bible of preparation.

this book was very informative, and interesting.

Although a few years old this is a very comprehensive book covering many aspects of the history of NASCAR. While it tends to lean heavily on the cars, the models and the horsepower, it also covers the tracks, the drivers and offers many little tidbits. Although not statistics driven it also offers track lengths, banking degrees, lap records and average race speed records of each track. As well as a list of NASCAR championship points winners from 1949 to 1998. It lists the all time winston cup race winners and the all time winston cup pole winners from the same periods.

This book is easy to read and would also be enjoyed by the younger fans, say 10 and up. It has a lot of pictures of the cars throughout the years. Good for newer fans to see what they looked like and older fans to remember back when they could tell the cars apart. There is also a small biography section in the back of the book detailing some of the best drivers in history.

If you are a hardcore fan of NASCAR this would be a great overview. If you are new to the sport this book is a great starting place, chock full of information. Buy it and enjoy it.

This is a realy cool book

Any book that tries to cover such a wide topic is obviously going to have to use very broad strokes. This book is no exception but overall it does and admirable job. A nice way to pass the time when you can't be either out restoring or buying new toys to restore. Don't expect detail guide though - for that you will need a manual specific to your individual car. This covers the basics of the areas you will need to look up in that specific manual.

The one thing that this book is lacking is a chapter that explains how to read the fender tag, as most of the cars built from 1960 to 1970 no longer have the build sheet or it can no longer be read.

By and large, "Dodge & Plymouth Muscle Car Red Book" is a very useful tool for those involved with restoring classic cars, classic car shows, scale-model car enthusiasts, etc. Even classic game show fans can find this book helpful when playing along with those merchandise giveaway shows from the 1960s and 1970s (e.g., "Let's Make a Deal"). Yes, there are some omissions that some might find irritating, or might even detract from its usefulness. I would have considered this book even more helpful had it listed the contents of option packages; it does give some listings for the performance packages (what most people are interested in, I'm sure), but many people I'm sure are also interested in the contents of the trim, convenience and Quick Order (i.e., Basic Group and Basic Radio Group) packages as well. And, unlike Sessler's "Red Book" for Chevrolet Super Sport models, this book does not list installation rates or options for a particular model or its sister lines; e.g., in the section for the 1970 Plymouth Fury GT, there's no listings for the Plymouth I, II, III and Sport Fury or Suburban station wagon models (the Chevrolet book lists options, prices and installation rates for all Super Sport models and their more conservative family car bretheren). Some people who are restoring the family car members of a line might find this book helpful, too. Also, I also think the omission of year-by-year listings, VINs, prices, weights, etc., for the 1956-1971 Plymouth Sport Fury serves as a turn-off to fans of this model. Also, some people might be interested in special order, Mopar custom accessory and dealer-installed option lists, too (for that finishing touch to that 100-point show car). Hopefully, some or all of these issues will be addressed in a revised edition of "Dodge & Plymouth Muscle Car Red Book." Still, a very useful book for many Mopar muscle car fans that will be used and appreciated by all.

Collection of articles in turning a "rust bucket" E-Type FHC into a respectable concours car. A lot of gritty details on what had to be done to this particular car and some tips on what to look for in your own restoration. Interesting reading but not everything will apply to your project. Worth having on your bookshelf just to encourage you if your own restoration falters

This is a collection of articles documenting the restoration of an E-Type coupe. Many obscure operations are reported and illustrated. It is a good book for the beginning restorer. However, it does not go into any operation with enough detail to substitute for a shop manual.

Indy Cars of the 1950's is disappointing. Nice pictures, but the captions do not really capture the flavor of the period. Technical data is nil, consisting of two pages at the very front of the book. The book unabashedly is tilted towards the products of Frank Kurtis, but contains no anecdotal information, technical discussions, or the like to flesh out the author's admiration. You can read the entire book in a 15 minute sitting. Quite disappointing - Joe Scalzo's book Indianapolis Roadsters 1952-64 is much better resource for this period of Indianapolis 500 history.

ALTHOUGH KARL'S NEW BOOK DOESN'T POSSESS A WEALTH OF INFORMATION IN PROSE, IMAGERY IS ALWAYS HELPFUL TO A SERIOUS HISTORIAN OR RESTORER WHO HAS NEVER EXPERIENCED THESE VEHICLES 'FIRST HAND'. HE HAS TAKEN THE OLD ADAGE, "A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS!" TO NEW HEIGHTS. ANY NEW UNPUBLISHED PHOTOGRAPHS - THESE ARE PUBLISHED FOR THE FIRST TIME AS I UNDERSTAND IT - OF ANY SUBJECT OF INTEREST TO AN AUDIENCE BEARS SCRUTINY FOR DETAILS, POSSIBLY NEVER BEFORE UNCOVERED BY IMAGERY. THESE CARS ARE EXCEEDINGLY RARE AND QUITE UNIQUE IN THE WAY THEY ADDRESSED THE TASK OF GOING FAST AT THE SPEEDWAY AND OTHER OVAL TRACKS THEY PERFORMED ON. THE CRAFTSMANSHIP ON THESE MACHINES EXHIBITED FLAWLESS QUALITY IN THE ATTENTION TO DETAIL WITH WHICH THEY WERE EXECUTED. THEY WERE 'WORKS OF THE ART' IN MACHINED BILLET AND HAND-FORMED SHEET METAL. I HOPE FOR KARL'S SAKE, THERE IS ENOUGH INTEREST IN THE SUBJECT MATTER TO JUSTIFY THIS BOOKS UTILITY IN THIS NEW MELLENIUM. I ENCOURAGE ALL WITH AN INTEREST IN INDY ROADSTERS OF THIS ERA TO ENJOY KARL'S BOOK FOR WHAT IT IS AND NOT WHAT SOME THINK IT SHOULD BE!

Hansen is a fine writer, and this is a good collection, but the reader should be warned that it has only 6 stories, 3 of which appeared in his earlier collections --"Surf" in Brandstetter & Others (1984), and "An Excuse for Shooting Earl" and "Molly's Aim" in Bohannon's Country, 1993. Moreover, another story, "Home Is the Place," later appeared in Bohannon's Women, 2002. The publisher should object (to someone or other) that "Home is the Place" was reprinted so quickly.

I found Joesph Hansen's Blood,Snow and Classic Cars to be a good read over all. It's not the kind of stories where you try to figure out who "the killer" is, which i'm not very good at. They're just regular stories and the fact that there is gay characters is never used as a shock value. Though i did'nt think all the story were great my favorite ones were Molly's Aim (great), An Excuse for Shooting Earl and Son of the Morning. So over all i would say give then a try. It would make a good book for along the beach or pool side.