General Automotive Reviews

These are articles from various car mags. The articles are interesting in themselves, Burt is a good writer, but particularly interesting for fans of his "Last Open Road", "Montezuma's Ferrari" and "Fabulous Trashwagon" trilogy. The book is an autobiography of Burt's interests in cars and we see that many of the incidents in his trilogy were taken from his real life experiences. Car lovers will enjoy the book, I haven't tested this out on non-car lovers.

If you have read and liked or loved either or both of "The Last Open Road" or "Montezuma's Ferrari," well then you need to buy this book too. Expect much of the same fun reading, only it's all (to the best of B.S.'s ability, natch) non-fiction. Better yet, all or most of the writing is first-person accounts of Burt's racing and other car-related exploits. There's plenty of history and memories about club racing in the seventies and eighties, much of which is from a perspective that I imagine wouldn't be altogether different from mine. That is to say if something is scary and difficult in real life, that's how Burt describes it.

The book is mostly a collection of short stories and articles that have been previously published. They connect well here and, despite their nature, fit nicely together as a whole piece. Except for the poetry section that is. Sorry Burt. But it is only a few pages, which are easily skipped, and therefore won't result in the loss of a rating star.

If you are like me and have been waiting for the next published piece, get this and read it. Hopefully the next full Buddy Polumbo book isn't far behind.

There was a time when society was blessed with a special group of storytellers, the raconteurs who would spin yarns at great length from no more than a fleeting thought. The stories could be different as you and I, a mesmerizing tale of some near-forgotten misadventure, the humorous lesson of one of life's ironies, or a deeply insightful look at our human nature. We all loved those gifted people because their stories were our stories. They always laid bare a part of the raconteur's soul that we knew too well, but were never brave enough to show of our own.

I was reminded again of just how special those people were while reading Burt Levy's "A Potside Companion". Some of you will be embarrassed to realize that the title refers to a fixture in "the most important room in the house", not something you put on your stove. (Although the book does contain one recipe, for chicken, that I highly recommend you try. Fabulous!) Don't let that bit of whimsy on Burt's part dissuade you from reading the book, though.

"Potside" is an eclectic collection of stories with the automobile as the central theme. Burt tells his stories in a unique casual conversational style. You can imagine yourself standing across the bar from him as he regales you with stories of his life experiences, such as the time he had a Rolls-Royce stolen from him at gun-point, by the "customer", on a New Years Eve test drive. Or the ill-fated attempt to impress a young woman while on a winter Rally in his father's Triumph TR3. Or how he learned the nature of bravery. Each story captures your attention and envelops you until you feel like you are there, watching as the story unfolds. At times Burt meanders, but always in a way that is relevant and revealing. While some of the stories are purely anecdotal, others are poignant reminders of our human frailties. Occasionally Burt takes liberties with the English language, your twelve year-old might ask what some of the allusions to colorful language mean, but he never crosses the line into the depths of bad taste. If there is but one complaint it is that the book is not longer. At 284 pages it isn't short, but Burt's style is so engaging that it leaves you longing to hear more. A lighthearted, easily read book, "A Potside Companion" will be enjoyed by anyone who ever derived pleasure from his or her car.

Other books written by Burt Levy include "The Last Open Road" and "Montezuma's Ferrari".

© 2001 by John Summerfield

A simple easy to understand explination of a complex subject. Not required reading for engineers but if a machanic has you bamboozled this book could help.

Professional Education:-

*Two years I.T.I (Industrial Training Institute) Course Motor Mechanic (Automobile engg.) in Subzee Mandi in the Pusa Campus New Delhi .

·Seven years Working as a Motor Mechanic from Soni Automobiles
( Since- 1995 To 2001) Jeewan Park Pankha Road Uttam Nagar New Delhi-59.

*Three Year's Part time Job (5 PM To 10:30 PM) At Soni Automobiles.
Academic Education:-
*10th from Bihar Board in1993 (2nd Division).

*12th from Bihar board in 1995 (2nd Division).
Strength:-
*Hard Working.
*Strong will power.
Hobbies:-
* Interested towards new achievement & making a good friend .

Weakness:-
* Can't tolerate any kind of nonsense, hates hypocrites.

Anyone who needs to know the facts. This is for definitions, not fixing anything. It is a great reference to look up stuff as you are reading a manual, hell, even an issue of Road and Track. The answers are concise and easy reading. I always look for definitions of the Miller Cycle, because it is a simple process yet the first time I read it in Bosch's Automotive Handbook, it was confusing. It is well laid out in the Dictionary, with figures that could explain it on its own. I just found out what the difference is between an A pillar, B pillar, and a C pillar is, well lets say it clarified things :) That does bring up one interesting thing. In "A pillar" I would assume you would find the definition at the start of A. Actually you would find it at "Ap". For some reason the A in A pillar is not considered a word. Anyway kudos to John Dinkel it is an excellent book.

I have known Rod Powell for over 35 years, and he is one of the best custom painters around. Rod is never afraid to try "New Things", which shows in his excellent flame jobs. I was in the custom paint manufacturing business for many years, and would bring samples of New Products to Rods shop. The book shows the proper techniques in laying out the patterns and masking the design. His use of 1/4" masking tape for the design is the best way to go. I was a custom painter/pinstriper since 1955, and Rod's work has always stood out from the others. He worked a lot with Andy Southard jr, another well known pinstriper from the 1950s. I wish I had saved photos of my work as Rod has done, which shows creditability to his work. You can't miss on this book, even if you use spray cans. The technique is the same.

Excellent book for the beginner or professional custom spray painter. The book is filled with colour photographs of the various flame painting techniques and styles. The book also includes three step by step tutorials, with +/- 20 photos per tutorial on flaming cars and motorcycles. This book is definately good value for money and I'll recommend it any day to any spray painting enthusiast.----- Paint long and prosper.

this book has some of the finest examples of car flames published, with most of them is full color.

The author paints an accurate and humorous picture of the teenager's initiation into the fraternity of those that drive. This is a book that no new driver should be without. A perfect gift for that sixteen year old who is about to get her license (and who in light of this book, should have to wait until age 25 to drive). Schein seems like a promising new author, Kudos.

this book is a great sweetsixteen gift. It has stories in it that make a new driver not feel like they are the only one that did such stupid things. The Author tells how he was afraid of birds flying by. He tells about pulling up to his first toll booth. The Author also gives 100 answers and questions most offen asked on most tests. it tells stories of things I can remember happening. This is a must get book.

Funny book, Didn't you think of that too!!!!!!!!!!! Expecially the Birds...Birds,.!!!.

What a wonderful little book that illustrates what so many of us already know; Brooklyn is a magical place. The writing style is particularly apt and evocative.

What a find! I had to buy this book after browsing through it during a visit to a friend - another transplanted Brooklynite. And it was worth the price. This book transports you to a time and place when Brooklyn truly WAS the world. There are sights, sounds and smells that come alive through historical perspective and photographs. This book makes a great contribution to the collective memory of all of us who were lucky enough to have been a part of the Brooklyn that was the world.

It has been 40 years since I have stepped foot in Brooklyn. Being a Brooklynite, who had been away all this time, when I first saw this book I had to sit down and breathedeeply. A friend had suggested this book and indeed, it was a great recomendation. There were the photographs of many of the familiar neighborhoods and places of my youth coming alive. As I read Mr. Willensky's writings suddenly the sounds and smells were coming back and I was beingtransported back to my proud Brooklyn. Again, I felt proud of being a Brooklynite and can't wait to make my first trip back after all my years away from this great place. I have no expecations on what I will find after such a long time. As the book deals with Brooklyn as it was from 1920 to 1957, I will try not to compare what I find with the way Elliot Willensky knew it and I too lived it. Excellent narrative, great photos and a must see and read for ALL former Brooklynites and anyone wanting to learn about the greatest place on earth! LONG LIVE BROOKLYN!!Richard Bender

Mr. Wright has done a very nice job with this book. It is an excellent overview of the automotive industry and a good all-around automotive book (especially for anyone interested in the automobile). The title tells it like it is. It is obvious a lot of work went into the Snap-on Corporation history, and can be appreciated as well. I have thoroughly enjoyed this book and have made reference to it in the Snap-on Collectibles book as an excellent source for information on Snap-on's history. Mr. Wright's book makes a nice addition to any automotive or Snap-on collectors library.

I think its a great book and I thought it deserved more then one revei

First off, it's great to see a well-researched book about the 914. This one covers a lot of the high-level details of the model from year to year, and has good coverage of the corporate, economic, and regulatory changes during the years the 914 was produced and marketed. I thought it gave a real understanding of the many factors that led to the demise of the model. And there are many high-quality illustrations that were new to me. However along the way Mr. Long ileaves a sprinkling of disparaging remarks and slights, revealing at one point that he is really a zealous devotee of another overlooked Porsche, the 924. These occassional snipes give a sour aftertaste to an overwise excellent and enjoyable book, hence the loss of the fifth star. If you're a fan of the 914, or want to know what happened to it, this is a fine book.

A good introduction to the 914 and the unfortunate corporate history surrounding it. This would actually be a very good case study for business managers contemplating corporate joint ventures. The book goes into great depth into why the 914 "failed", although the author does state that, at over 100K unit sales, the 914 was far from a failure.

However, the book does lack a lot of the detail readers may want surrounding the 914 itself. The author could have gone into a more detailed history surrounding the car's design, which is the core appeal of the 914 (e.g., there is no in depth account of the third-party company contracted to design the car).

In addition, while the book goes on to describe the 914's replacements at Porsche, it does not go into depth about how the design concepts embodied in the 914 were adapted and used in other vehicles that followed (e.g., Toyota's MR2, GM's Fiero, Porsche's Boxster, even Subaru, which still use flat fours).

Overall, this is a good book on the 914, but, if Mr. Long is listening, a design book remains to be written.

This is an excellent book that any 914 enthusiast will find very interesting and informative. It contains many photos although most are in black and white.

I also recommend "Porsche 914 Ultimate Portfolio" by Brooklands Books.

A beautiful, well-bound book, with many rich, well-composed photos, yet its attempt to bring the reader into an intimate sense of the Boxster falls short. For one, many of the photos are merely self-congratulatory, and don't really convey anything more than placing the Boxster in its target market group. For instance, there are no photos showing people really driving the car passionately, nor does the visual narrative give any sense of the personality of the car in motion. The best section of the book is about the design process of the car, how people pooled their inspiration to bring forth a truly beautiful automobile. In my mind, the Boxster itself tells volumes about the vision and passion of the Porsche company. The book is less remarkeable, less passionate. Perhaps one reason is that the enthusiasm of the writers was sadly lost in the translation. And, since Porsche is so revered for design, I would've expected the design of the book to exhibit as much flair and daring as the Boxster itself. For all my criticism, I still enjoy the book--which I give credit to the strength of the Boxster design. --Kurt Story

This is a book for lovers of Porsches and beautiful cars in general. It describes the genesis of the Boxster project at Porsche and puts in into the context of the company's history. There is a lot of information about the design and engineering of the car, but most of it can also be found in the promotional material produced by Porsche (indeed the book feels like it was written by Porsche's PR department). There is not a lot of practical, hands-on experience about the car, its performance, day to day experience, etc. The book is richly illustrated and the photography is beautiful. It is highly recommended to prospective Boxster owners so they have something to dream about while they are waiting six months for delivery, as I did.

I started my journey into this book with an aching hunger for more knowledge of this spellbinding car. I was rewarded with a performance not unlike a practiced seduction - glimpses of a fully rounded curve here and more detailed shots there, calculated to fan the flame of desire. This book skillfully succeeds at taking that first flush of infatuation and turning it into an inferno of desire. The detailed technical data is available elsewhere - but nowhere is the personality of the 986 available so completely, except in the flesh. Having made a fleeting acquaintance on a Test Drive, this book confirmed my aspiration to acquire a Boxster. It is a book that I take pleasure in returning to again and again. The book celebrates the Car and I celebrate that I possess the book.

While most of the photos are archival Triumph Standard no doubt from Mr Robson's days a Secretary for the Standard Factory, this, like others of his books, I found lacking in content although his photo file may be of interest to some. Almost all of what I read here I've read before. But if you haven't collected TR books for years this may be a good summary of the Herald-Sport Six lineage.

Read the first half of the book in one sitting and have enjoyed it. Lots of fun information about the development of zobo(Herald). If you like the car you will find the book full of interesting data. A must have next to the repair manual.

Introduced in 1959, the Triumph Herald was one of the most successful light cars of the 1960's. Ex-Triumph employee graham Robson recently released the aptly-titled Complete Story of this model range.

One of the most interesting stages during the development of the range, a trip from Cape Town to tangier in Morocco, is discussed in detail, and it is amazing to see that Standard- Triumph made no attempt at all to conceal the cars' identity. As a matter of fact, the first chapter of the book, which tells the history of the Herald's ancestors, makes for very interesting reading, especially for the uninitiated.

The complete history of the Herald and the more powerful Vitesse is told in detail, and the book also contains brief histories of the closely-related Spitfire, GT 6 and Bond Equipe. Even a picture of a proposed four-door model is included, and it is actually a pity that this model was never put into production. Full specifications and production figures of all the Herald and Vitesse models are provided, even though the latter had to be based on estimates. The reason is that no actual production figures were recorded.

Graham Robson has proved once again that he is THE authority when it comes to Triumphs, and therefore, his account of the history of the Herald and Vitesse cannot be recommended strongly enough.

The book is good, but there're many cars wich aren't real sportscars, only tuned cars and kits. The book hasn't too much technical info, and sometimes 3rd level manufacters (Ginetta) have the same consideration as Porsche or Lancia. There's lack of color photos. But the book is fine and entertaining.

The book is great!It has a lot of nice pictures both in black and white and in color.This book tells you of all the sports cars I could think of and much, much, more! It's great!

Great Book! Has every sports car that I can think of from 1945-1990! Get it!