General Automotive Reviews

If you are rebuilding your chevy motor in stock form, this book is for you. If you plan on modifying your motor to any extent, it is too outdated and its suggestions for machining and assembly do not apply.

Written from this guys personal experiences. Could use more details/options for the rebuilder and less of his personal gabbing. Otherwise, it's a great book to start with.

I have used this book in my business for about 10 years. It is used both as a reference and a training aid for my customers. It is indispensible and there is no other book in my extensive library to compare with it. I highly recommend it to both the novice and professional.

Remember, this was published in 1990, and today is out of date. If you have come looking for specific examples, or secrets of how the Japanese have been making such huge gains, THIS IS NOT FOR YOU. The book is great from a historical standpoint, but it misses totally on any detailed examples of what Toyota has done. Anyone in manufacturing who has not heard of work-circles or suggestion boxes, would probably find this a great read with lots of info, but for the rest of us, this is just a history book. Go for Lean Thinking instead.

The Machine that Changed the World has been published more than once. Amazon, you're offering a special "buy these 2 titles, and save", but they are the exact same book.

This book is about a major study that has been executed in the beginning of the eighties about the competiveness of car manufacturing plants. Now we know that the Japense manufacturing is not that supriour after all this book is still a great book to read. For two reasons. First because its give a clear idea about how you can run a succesfull manufacturing plant and secondly because its give you a beautifull insight about a time when both Europe and the USA were affraid to loss it all to the Japanse. A classic on both business and industrial engineering

I liked this book simply because it's gonna answer many questions and give much help to anyone with a 70's or '80's z-car or truck. I have a 720 pickup with the Z24 motor. It is in the list, however it is not touched upon as much as the L-series inline 6 and 4 cylinders.

This book is great for the serious do-it-yourselfer. If you know how rebuild your engine, you'll have no problems. It gives recommendations from the experts and simplifies it for you, and eliminates the hassle and expense of experimenting. Get it, it's an excellent reference if you're already in the business.

My friend has this book, and I've looked it over a few times. It is an excellent guide, a must for the performance engine builder! It shows everything from heads, how to weld them, straighten them, even port and polish them, to bottom end work such as balancing, which rods to use, what pistons you should use for a particular application, even shows how to use a welder and a milling machine to match the top of the piston to the combustion chamber for high compression! If you want to performance-build your Datsun/Nissan engine, this is the book for you!

It is a fascinating story, no doubt about that. I expected a more detailed, in-depth treatment of the story though.

This book is more like a collection bits and pieces of the story.

I would rank it around the sixth grade level.

The authors narrate this own companion to the PBS documentary about the first 1903 automobile trip across the US. There were only 150 miles of paved roads in those days - but Horatio Jackson bet fifty dollars that he could drive his 20-horsepower auto from San Francisco to New York City - and his endeavor comes to life in this vivid audio memoir.

As the great grandson of Horatio Nelson Jackson and knowing the story intimately, (Used for many a book report in school) I must say what a wonderful job done by Dayton Duncan. To see all the letters and photographs so beautifully displayed initially took my breath away. He has shared the history of the time so well and I also enjoyed his travelling experience with his own father and son. Thank you Dayton. Be sure to watch the Ken Burns, Dayton Duncan PBS movie that is scheduled to air in early October.

Finally a Design Yearbook for the highest Design objects on the market !
This book is beautifully laid out, showing a broad selection of concept cars from the leading auto manufacturers worldwide.

The quality of the photography is high, showing both detail and general views well. Some models that did not reach prototyping appear as computer models (not always of the highest quality), which is a shame but also an obvious constraint of their being "concepts".

The texts are interesting, covering strategy, marketing and aesthetic issues -but short- they definately leave the reader with questions unanswered.

As a product designer, the book has served me as a reference for form and detail, and has come off the shelf many times since I bought it.

If one can pay over a million dollars for some paint on old canvas, the cost of this book is negligible. Since autos are as much sculpture as any bronze statue, this is a book to present a standard in automotive art. Definitely a winner for anyone's book collection. From examples of the printer's art to fine examples of photography, this is worth not buying that bottle of wine you were thinking of. Buy it! The only drawback is the number of mouthwatering concept cars that will never be on the market. Sob!!

I have not seen a collection of autos quite as remarkable as this, and I've seen many autos. The auto is a beautiful thing, and these autos are second to none. Bravo, autos!

Got this for my h. equipment operator boyfriend. He can't get enough of the pictures but has been frustrated by numerous words spelled incorrectly, captions that don't match photos, and statistics that he is positive have been exaggerated or are just plain wrong. All in all, he loves the book, and his friends are jealous, but the editing was a disappointment. Still glad I bought it though.

number of review:4 heavy equipment

Great book...I purchased it for my son's fourth birthday. It was his favorite gift...and the hit of the party...all the little boys were poring over it...as were their dads. However, I have seen it for half the price at Sam's Club.

I love Kenworths and I am intensely interested enough in them to own one. However, as great as this book is... big and glossy with history and background info on several countries, I feel it could have been oh so much better.

For mine, there were not enough photos of the various models on offer, and only a scant history afforded to the different assembly plants...their opening and closing dates, and a list of all the current plant locations would be helpful.

There are photos of kenworths which are missing their model description. For example; the Australian Kenworth road train picture. Most readers would not know the model number, nor the years in which it was produced.

I would have thought that the W900 A extended hood model deserved a chapter of its own, with all the various big engine options listed and the fact that they are so keenly sought after today. See if you can spot one picture or mention of one in the book. While you are at it, look for a W900B as well.

As much as the T600 series may have revolutionised truck design, Canada and Australia produced their own models and these countries are largely glossed over.

If I was the President of Kenworth, I would have sent the author back to do the job properly. Much attention was focussed on the recent and current model line ups at the cost of the older ( and dare I say) more popular models. While it is easy to get new truck brochures showing interiors etc, it is the older models which are more difficult to obtain details on and it is these which hold moch appeal for fans.

This book took the easy route, and as one reviewer has pointed out, some of the writing reads like a truck brochure...thinly disguised advertising, and that is becasue some of the material is from the truck brochures.

So, if you are into Kenworth by all means buy this book. Just do not expect everything to be there. Some day someone will be passionate and thorough enough to produce a book on Kenworth that rivals those written about Peterbilt and Mack.

If you want to learn more about Kenworth, and in particular Paccar, hunt down a copy of "Paccar The Pursuit Of Quality" by Alex Groner.

This book is a quick read, with lots of photos and large text. It's mildly enlightening for charting a history of trucking, the development of the West, and the chronology of Kenworth models. The book is seriously lacking in depth, and comes across as advertisement frequently. A perfect "driver's lounge" book for dealers, and, of course, for display in the Kenworth lobby.

I can't put it down! I read it during my lunch, and when I come home from work. I am not a trucker, but have always thought about it. The text, and photos are just WONDERFUL! As a kid, my family drove from CA. to N.Y. many times, and over the years, I guess, I became partial to the Kenworth Truck. Anyways, THANKS very much to Documentary Books for producing such a wonderful, well researched, beautifully (!) photographed book.

For a book that is entirely based on giving you the specifications, there are too many errors. Expensive. Too many near identical pictures of cars of the same series. The text on each model could be more informative and skip repitition of the specifications listed next to the text. Otherwise OK, and there ARE a lot of facts.

Is an excelent reference booc

This is an excellent book for anyone who collects Mercedes Benz cars. Ever wonder how many units of your car were made? This book will tell you. If you need specific information on any MB model, it's all here.

This book provides detailed descriptions of most V8 models (it leaves out the 355 and 360) and the year by year changes. It is useful for somebody who is trying to select a specific model to purchase or possibly as a reference for concours preparation. As a book to read cover to cover, it isn't terribly compelling because only objective facts are given and there is no hint about what it is like to drive the cars. There also aren't any performance figures. I'm certain the author never actually drove any of the models, just looked up the detailed facts. There also are frequent repetition of facts in the book -- the same point might be explained 3 times for a particular model. It's a good book for contrasting the models, but don't expect to get any insight about how the different models drive.

If you're thinking in buying a Ferrari V8 this book will help you and ask your questions every time. It gives you the opportunity to overview all the original equipment and specifications of your dream car. It also will tell you which spares are the most likely to break down and what's the one needed exactly for your car. Plenty of information (in fact many useless information, true), nice pictures and some restauration technique will help your Ferrari come again to an "as new look and feeling". Only complain is the lack of information on some "rare" models.

This book provides a thorough overview of original equipment and specifications, but it is disappointing in its lack of perspective. It would be more useful if it compared and contrasted models and gave would-be purchasers and restorers an idea of what to look for in a potential purchase.

For years car ads must have been the ultimate goal for any slick photorealist style artist though I bet there was actually only a small number who could achieve the high standards required by Detroit. The five hundred ad paintings in this book are the pick of the crop. They run from 1923 thru 1965, from the mid-sixties photos were the dominant graphic in car ads.

As these ads were doing their best to put a positive spin on owning a particular make, paintings were the ideal medium to create desire and so much easier to exaggerate reality. A whole society of wee folk was created to spend their lives zooming about town or country, permanently smiling and always waving to somebody along the highway. According to these paintings, most cars would easily accommodate four people in the front. The 1948 Hudson ad (page eighty-five) shows a wee person enjoying '...a heaping portion of roominess and comfort...' sitting on a back seat that looks like it could easily hold six. By the mid-sixties photography had replaced illustrations but the exaggeration continued, have a look at 'Boulevard Photographic' by Jim Williams, the story of Detroit's leading car photo studio.

I found it very interesting that these cars, very precisely painted, were usually placed in a setting that did not require the same amount of accuracy. The more popular makes were shown in everyday situations, pages ninety-four and ninety-five show three super street scenes with everybody looking at the latest model, naturally. Nearly all these ad paintings are anonymous but there are some by well-known artists, Austin Briggs painted the 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air and 1958 Chevrolet Impala, Stan Galli did the 1955 Bel Air and Bernie Fuchs the 1960 Cadillac Coupe De Ville. The ultimate in car art was the work of Art Fitzpatrick (car) and Van Kaufman (background) who created dozens of masterpieces for Pontiac in the fifties and sixties, the book has twenty-two of their ads. Have a look at their web site Fitz-art.

Though this is a lovely book of car ads, I was disappointed by the presentation. Collectors Press editorial style is to make each page of their books as busy as possible. All of the spreads in this one have colored backgrounds and (really annoying) many of the ads are angled and overlap each other, several of them are cropped badly too, so that some of the text is unreadable. It is as if the publishers didn't think the material was very interesting and the pages needed some strong graphic presentation to compensate. It does take the edge of a fine book in my view.

Through the reproduction of more than five hundred historical print advertisements in their original form and color, Retro Ride traces the evolution of the automobile and the developing sophistication of the marketing messages that helped to popularize the automobile and forever alter American popular culture. Over a spectrum of five decades ranging from the "Roaring Twenties through the Go-Go Sixties, Retro Ride showcases original print advertizing that provided the consumer public with information and myth with that shaped their perspectives, attitudes and relationships to the automobile. A unique contribution to American popular culture histories, Retro Ride reflects an undeniable nostalgia for those of us who can vividly remember when such cars and such ads offered up automotive visions of affordable paradise and personal fulfillment.

Previous reviews have addressed the attractions this lovely volume has for car lovers. However, I found it a marvelous mirror of American society through the first 2/3rds of the 20th century. Family values, exploration and the desire for the good life characterized pre-depression advertising. Luxury and escapism dominated pre-WW II graphics. Technology and patriotism surfaced during the war. Family themes and safety emerged during the birth of the baby boomers as full station wagons and back seats filled with kids were portrayed. Increasing disposable income in the 50's prompted a return to the freedom of the road, travel and a new emphasis on performance. By the early sixties, couples in romantic situations had replaced families as cars were portrayed as an accessory to a "sexy" lifestyle. The question that remained was whether advertisers established these trends or took their cues from the mood of the country.