Throughout their existence from 1904 until 1981, the Birmingham & Midland Motor Omnibus Company were an idiosyncratic operator whose area of operations ranged from the Welsh Marches and Shropshire in the West to Northamptonshire and Rutland in the East and from Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire in the South to Staffordshire and Derbyshire in the North. Much of their area was distinctly rural but in Birmingham and the Black Country, Worcester and Hereford, Stafford and Leicester, intense urban services were operated mainly by double-decker buses and it is these buses that this volume examines. Looking at the coaches that formed a part of this iconic fleet, David Harvey utilises his collection of rare and unpublished images to explore the fascinating world of Midland Red coaches.

When bus and coach manufacturers or bodybuilders brought out a new design, they would usually provide a demonstration vehicle for would-be purchasers to try out before buying. These vehicles would later be sold off after a few years and were sometimes snapped up by small companies that might not have been able to afford the cost of a new vehicle. Some of the larger companies would buy a small selection of vehicles by different makers to compare in service before deciding on which type to standardise on for mass purchase. Other innovative companies might rebuild existing vehicles in their own workshops in an attempt to improve their performance or extend their life, or to try out new ideas. This book looks at a variety of demonstration vehicles, on display, in use, and after being sold off; as well as vehicles that were bought experimentally or modified extensively during their service life.

In 1881, the railroads came to the dusty West Texas town of El Paso bringing drummers, lawmen, gunmen, gamblers, ladies of the evening, miners, and untold others. They did not all have horses or buggies and the town fathers soon recognized the need for a mule-powered streetcar system. This is the story of how those mule cars carried the colorful characters of El Paso around town and across the Rio Grande to Mexico. It is also the story of the spoiled town pet, Mandy the Mule, and the remarkable survival of the car Mandy pulled, No.1. The author takes extraordinary care to separate popular legend from documentable evidence.

The story of early day mass transit would not be complete without the sad tale of Tobin Place and its railroad after the turn of the century as well as the intriguing tale of the much anticipated, but little used, plush electric interurban to Ysleta.

A revised and updated edition of Hilary A. Raab Jr.'s Ferrari Serial Numbers Part I that covers all of the odd-numbered Ferraris (normally reserved for the Ferrari street cars) to serial number 21399.

Steam wagons steam engines that carry goods on the roads developed considerably later than traction engines and steam rollers, which had started to appear in the mid 1860s. This book tells the story of steam wagons from the earliest designs through to the last models. It explains how they worked and what they did. An informative text is combined with a selection of photographs to illustrate steam wagons both at work in their heyday in the early twentieth century and in action more recently in the period in which they have become valued historical artefacts.

Edinburgh is reputed to have more buildings designated as of ‘special architectural or historic interest’ than any other city in the world. These range from rows of Georgian terraced houses and individual Victorian tenement blocks to such diverse structures as the diminutive Greyfriars Bobby sculpture and the Forth Rail Bridge. Many of the buildings were constructed from sandstone, from a proliferation of local quarries and which could be found in a variety of different colours. The city’s local transport system has a similarly rich history, and this book looks to celebrate these two popular elements in the city’s contemporary setting. Featuring unique and previously unpublished images of Lothian Transport buses sharing the scene with some of these historic buildings, this book will delight anybody who shares a fondness for Auld Reekie.

Petrol stations have been with us for 100 years. They have been built on countless rural and industrial landscapes, often becoming a linchpin of the communities they serve. Men and women in slightly oily overalls would fill up your car's tank, wipe the windscreen and even check the oil for you. Football coins, Green Shield Stamps, soup bowls or wine glasses might be handed over to keep your custom - all in the days when a single GBP1 note was enough to buy hundreds of miles of happy motoring. This vivid, illustrated history takes the reader on a journey from collecting a tin can at the local ironmonger's to filling up on the forecourt, and on to the possibility of not using petrol at all.

After his last book Escapes, Stefan Bogner returns to the Alps again with this beautifully illustrated book. This time he not only photographed particular routes, but he looked for the ideal tour through the Alps: 3 countries, 14 passes - the perfect little escape for 4 days. Different from Bogner's photographs in Escapes or Curves where Bogner presents dreamlike empty streets, Porsche Drive focuses on the journey in Porsche models like Porsche 906, Porsche 911, Porsche 918 and more. Stefan Bogner also drives his own Porsche 911 1970 ST. Jan Karl Baedeker's sweeping lyrics make the track even more tangible - almost as if you were at the wheel of your own Porsche. In addition to Bogner's amazing photographs, Porsche Drive offers information on each route and height profile, allowing the reader to follow itinerary. Text in English and German.

Best-seller gets you the car stereo sound system you want!

Why pay high prices for a shop to install or maintain your car stereo when you can have the satisfaction of doing it better yourself?

Auto Audio: Choosing, Installing, and Maintaining Car Stereo Systems, Second Edition, by Andrew Yoder, provides all the information you need to supercharge your ride with top-quality speakers, amplifiers, head units, equalizers, signal processors, changers and antennas — not to mention filters and crossovers, wire, cabling, connectors and transmitters. And once your system is in, you’ll see how to troubleshoot spot problems and service your components so they deliver pristine highs and heart-stopping lows for years to come. This new edition also shows you how to make seamless fiberglass speaker enclosures and panels for your car...protect your audio investment with a good security system...check out custom installations...and more.

In the 1970s you could travel from the Scottish border to the Yorkshire coast resort towns using only red and white United buses. In the 2000s you can still do the same but in turquoise Arriva buses. It would be easy to assume little has changed, but to do so would miss the existence of one of the most distinctive operators of the 1980s and 1990s – Northumbria Motor Services. Operating buses in the English county with the lowest population density at a time when unemployment was soaring as heavy industry closed was never going to be easy. Enter a forward-thinking management team keen to break free from conventionality and not afraid to take some risks. Covering the period 1986 to 1998, this book tells the story of the trendsetting operator and shows how it fundamentally changed the bus industry long after livery and company had disappeared.

A Drama of the American Workplace
With a New Afterword

An enlightening peek at the inner workings of a large corporation trying to reinvent itself. . . . It's rare to find an auto book that explains the process of creating a car with so much color and detail."—Business Week (a Best Business Book of 1997)

Faced with the task of redesigning the Taurus, America's best-selling car and the flagship of its fleet, Ford Motor Company assembled 700 designers, engineers, planners, and bean-counters under a tough manager who set out to retake engineering and manufacturing ground lost to the Japanese. On their shoulders rested the reputation and the profits of Ford, not to mention an investment of close to 3 billion dollars.

This biting, insightful account by a seasoned journalist follows the 1996 Taurus from its conception as a clay model in Detroit to its birth in an Atlanta assembly plant to its public debut in a New Jersey dealership. Mary Walton, who was given unprecedented access to the Taurus team, chronicles brilliantly the clashes between designers and engineers, marketers and accountants, product guys and manufacturing guys to create a revealing portrait of the tension, the passions, and the pride that fuel the race to #1.

"An engrossing drama . . . with fascinating insights into every aspect of the car's creation. . . . Walton does an admirable job of making the redesign of a car into a compelling human-interest story."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"An engrossing, satisfying read."—Doron Levin, Philadelphia Inquirer (a Best Book of 1997)

"Vivid and informative. . . . Consistently entertaining because it is engagingly written, this is the rare business book that is a page turner."—Keith Bradsher, New York Times Book Review

In a book that is "a must for anyone who has loved a motorcycle" (Oliver Sacks), Melissa Pierson captures in vivid, writerly prose the mysterious attractions of motorcycling. She sifts through myth and hyperbole: misrepresentations about danger, about the type of people who ride and why they do so. The Perfect Vehicle is not a mere recitation of facts, nor is it a polemic or apologia. Its vivid historical accounts-the beginnings of the machine, the often hidden tradition of women who ride, the tale of the defiant ones who taunt death on the racetrack-are intertwined with Pierson's own story, which, in itself, shows that although you may think you know what kind of person rides a motorcycle, you probably don't.

In the days before privatisation, many bus companies adapted old buses for a variety of specialist uses as service vehicles. Using the skills and ingenuity of their workshops, buses might become, among other things, stores vans, tree loppers or uniform stores. Trolleybuses may have been converted to tower wagons to maintain the overhead wires. Some bus operators converted old buses to towing lorries to rescue broken down vehicles. Others preferred ex-military trucks such as the AEC Matador. These came with somewhat austere cabs, but here again the body shop would often come up with a custom-built body using various bus parts. Buses would also be adapted to serve as information offices or publicity buses, promoting such things as holiday tours or special ticket offers. Since privatisation, such practices have died out for a variety of reasons. Expensive, in-house workshops have largely been closed. Construction and Use Regulations have been tightened up. Emissions zone restrictions may limit the use of older less clean engines in city centres. Furthermore the modern low-floor rear-engine buses are probably less suited to such conversions. Companies will use the services of specialist commercial bus and truck rescue services rather than retaining their own towing vehicles. This book looks at a variety of service vehicles from around the country over the last fifty years, including examples that have survived into preservation.

In 2018 almost half of all vehicles made in North America were produced at foreign-owned plants, and the sector was on track to monopolize the market. Despite this, the industry has been overlooked compared with its domestic counterpart, both in scholarship and popular memory. Redressing this neglect, America's Other Automakers provides a new history of the foreignowned auto sector, the first to extensively draw on archival sources and to articulate the human agency of participants, including workers, managers, and industry recruiters. Timothy J. Minchin challenges the view that the industry's growth primarily reflected incentives, stressing human agency and the complexity of individual stories instead. Deeply human in its approach, the book also explores the industry's impact on grassroots communities, showing that it had more costs than supporters acknowledged. Drawing on a wide range of primary and secondary sources, America's Other Automakers uncovers significant tensions over unionization, reports of discriminatory hiring, and unease about the industry's rapid growth, critically exploring seven large assembly facilities and their impact on the communities in which they were built.

More complex and imposing than any other vehicle in the British emergency services, the fire engine has a long and interesting history. The earliest water pumps had been developed by the eighteenth century - basic manual pumps that had to be hauled around by people or horses, and were often only used on fire-insured premises. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries horse-drawn, steam-powered fire engines, and eventually motorised fire engines, came to revolutionise firefighting, offering far greater versatility and the brigades came to be run by the municipalities. In this beautifully illustrated introduction, Eddie Baker charts the history of fire engines and their variants, and the increasingly complex equipment they have carried, such as high-rise ladders and high-pressure hoses. He also explains the wider history of the fire service and how the engines have been shaped by its needs and, most importantly, those of the firefighters themselves.

AT LAST! The authoritative, hands-on book for Ford EEC-IV Engine Control Systems. More than 16 million Ford cars and trucks are covered by this book.

Author Charles Probst worked with Ford engineers, trainers and technicians to bring you expert advice and inside information. His comprehensive troubleshooting, service procedures and tips will help you master Ford's fuel injection system.

For high-performance tuning advice Probst went straight to the experts-Ford's own Special Vehicle Operations (SVO). He also includes recommendations from some of the best-known Ford tuners and aftermarket parts suppliers. You'll learn the hot set-up for your car or truck: what really works, what doesn't, and how to stay emissions-legal. No other book gives you as much detailed, proven information, with 454 pages, including all EEC wiring diagrams, trouble codes and test specifications, and hundreds of photos and illustrations. This is the only choice for Ford enthusiasts, professional repair technicians and high-performance tuners who really want to get the most out of their Ford.
-Over 200 pages of test specifications and wiring diagrams
-Step-by-step procedures for troubleshooting and service
-Fundamentals and theory of how EEC-IV and MECS systems work
-How to read 2-and 3-digit trouble codes-what is your vehicle trying ttell you?
-Valuable high-performance tip, such as how to increase air and fuel flow using --easy add-on parts
-Questionable tuning tricks you should avoid
-In-depth coverage of today's alternate and reformulated fuels- how they affect driveability, performance and car design

This book covers 1988-1993 Models with EEC-IV Multi-Port Fuel Injection.

The highly varied territory of bus operator Stagecoach South West extends from the city centres of Exeter and Plymouth to busy seaside resorts and the rural country areas of Devon, and also strays into neighbouring counties. This book will illustrate the services and vehicles operated by the company in recent years, with extra focus on popular subjects such as open-top vehicles and the South West Falcon coach operation. All photographs are previously unpublished and were captured by the author.

Get all the details exactly right on engines, frames, suspension, exterior, interior, and more. Includes all the vital numbers to assure authenticity, including original parts numbers. Don't settle for less Your Super Sport deserves the best. "Important features in this book include 350 photos and diagrams." Collector Car News.

Well-surfaced roads are essential to a fast growing industrial nation and, as roadmaking in Britain improved from the late eighteenth century onwards, heavy rollers hauled by men or by horses were used to compact the surface. Steam power was first used to propel road rollers in the 1860s and thereafter there was rapid development, in parallel with that of the traction engine. This book outlines the early development of steam and motor rollers, with some technical details, and illustrates the different types. The firms which manufactured them and the men who owned and operated them are described and there is a chapter on some of the unusual and unique machines which were either powered by unconventional means or designed for specific tasks. Although Europe's last steam roller was built in 1954, these powerful and impressive machines have not lost their place in the public's imagination. About the author Derek Rayner has been interested in steam engines since his schooldays in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. Mr Rayner has been the sole owner since 1968 and he also acquired a small motor roller in 1975. He is Archivist to the Road Roller Association. A member of the National Traction Engine Trust, he has frequently contributed to its magazine, Steaming, and is the assistant editor. Other titles for Shire by this author: Steam Wagons Traction Engines and other steam road engines

The English Lake District and North Lancashire is one of the most beautiful regions of Great Britain. It is also one of less documented areas of the modern bus scene, being sparsely populated, relatively remote and lacking in bus services. Here, Peter Tucker presents a photographic survey of the area since the 1990s. Packed with a wealth of largely unpublished photographs, the book features a wide variety of places including Ambleside, Barrow-in-Furness, Kendal, Keswick, and Windermere – plus Carlisle and the Lancaster and Wyre districts of modern Lancashire. In addition to the well-known towns of Lakeland, the book features less photographed locations including Brough, Buttermere, Dalton-in-Furness, Greenodd, Kirkstone, Levens Bridge, Portinscale, Troutbeck Bridge, and Warton, plus many more.

The erstwhile National Bus Company was the largest bus company in the world and like any large organisation, it required auxiliary vehicles to support its core activities. Formed of around thirty-six local constituent companies and the 'NATIONAL' Central Activities Group, each company had its own Service Vehicle fleet to support its operations, varying from Heavy Vehicle Recovery to Driver Training and every other facet to keep the fleet operational. Well photographed and documented were the former PSV conversions, Driver trainers, Tree loppers or Towing buses, as these were based on a bus and attracted the attention of photographers and enthusiasts. In an era when film was precious, the commercial vehicles owned by the NBC were often ignored, making photographs very rare. In this second volume we look a more examples used by the NBC between 1972 and its demise in 1986.

Since deregulation in 1986, Merseyside has offered a wealth of variety to bus enthusiasts with numerous new independent operators entering the scene, and some soon departing again, while the major companies have gained strength through takeovers and area expansion. The area covered here includes Liverpool, the Wirral, St Helens and Southport, all of which have seen wide changes, particularly in the 1990s, and all are captured with a selection of previously unpublished colour photographs.