A stunning visual celebration of cars over a century of progress! Introducing The Story of the Car - a historical and visual exploration of awe-inspiring automobiles over a period of one hundred years, from the first horseless carriage to driverless vehicles, this all-encompassing car book takes you on a journey to explore the ways in which this once rare and luxurious status symbol has become a fundamental part of everyday life. So get in gear and drive straight in to discover: -Fact-filled narrative spreads, profiles, and features offer readers an unrivalled range and breadth of information -Packed with colour photographs and artworks, fascinating facts, and biographies that bring every aspect of motoring to life -Covers cutting-edge advances in car technology providing the very latest information -Features specially commissioned photography, alongside evocative and rarely seen archive images Taking you on a technical journey inside the engine of a luxury car, and into the lives of the most successful pioneers of automobile history, the book also explores the possibilities of the "green" motoring, the electric engine, and the uses of AI on the roads of the future. Combining rarely seen images, insightful biographies. and fascinating features, The Story of the Car illustrates how after over a century of progress and development, cars still convey that undeniable sense of freedom, passion, excitement and desire. From the romance of Route 66, to mainstream motor-racing, alternative car culture to taming the traffic, this all-encompassing book on cars has something for everybody to explore and love. A must-have volume for motoring enthusiasts, whether a gift or a self-purchase, The Story of the Car hosts a plethora of fascinating topics, divided into 8 key chapters, in chronological order. From inventing the car in 1885 and the birth of the automobile industry between 1906-1925, to driving into the future at the start of the new millennium, explore speed, power and style as you race across the world with your new-found knowledge on all things automobiles! On your mark, get set, go!

"The legacy and mythology of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL-aka the "Sports Car of the Century"-is beheld through the genius lens of top automotive photographer Rene Staud ..." - Maxim "What a stroke of fate: 70 years of the SL, 70 years of Staud and 10 years of The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Book. You might even say: The star is reborn." - Maxim Australia This iconic sports car, from the first Mercedes 300 SL to its latest successors, proves that technology can indeed evolve into art. And who better to showcase this procession of pioneering automobiles than Rene Staud, whose striking photographs will captivate any enthusiast. This book, based on Staud's successful calendars, is an ode to an extraordinary vehicle whose spell stars such as Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Alfred Hitchcock have all fallen under. The elaborately orchestrated pictures show sleek curves and precision in every detail, conveying the passion for this breathtaking automobile. A photographic tribute to the "sports car of the century", covering the 70-year history of the 300 SL racing car models from 1952 to the latest SL generation. Text in English, German and French.

That dream car of all dream cars, the Mercedes-Benz, is presented here in full glory through 285 images. What were the qualities that made them icons of all auto building? Beginning in the pioneer days with the 35 HP model of 1901 through the top-rank sports cars of the 1920s and 1930s, the gullwing-door 300 SL and the legendary "Uhlenhaut Coupe" of the 1950s, and the C 111, with its Wankel engine, of the late 1960s, the line goes on to the present-day SLS AMG. While history influenced changes in construction and design, they blend smoothly into a series yet retain distinctive variations. An exciting spectrum of 18 super sports cars is featured with text that is both entertaining and informative. For the sports car enthusiast and automotive history buff, this is a book you will refer to time and time again.

The Lotus Elan was Colin Chapman and Lotus' first affordable road car, produced from 1962 and, along with its larger Plus 2 (+2) variant, until 1974. As a replacement for the expensive Lotus Elite, the Elan and Plus 2 were both successful sports cars, which carried Lotus through the 1960s and into the 1970s. Starting with a brief history of Lotus and the Elan, this book provides a detailed originality guide to the Elan and Plus 2, identifying the design changes Lotus made to the models through their lifetimes. An 'owner's guide' provides detailed information on owning and maintaining the cars in tip-top condition, and gives details of common faults and upgrades. The restoration guide gives any potential restorer the information to carry out the tasks needed to bring one of the these cars back from the dead. With anecdotes and experiences from current and previous owners of Elans and Plus 2s, along with many colour photographs, the book provides a valuable insight into owning, running and racing these iconic cars.

This unique handbook assumes no starting knowledge of vehicle aerodynamics. It begins with simple ideas and finishes with sophisticated and effective aerodynamic modifications that work. Three major chapters cover on-road testing techniques that give you all the information you need to decide what modifications you should make - and, after you've made them, how well they work. Low-cost techniques allow you to visualise the patterns of airflow over your car so that you can actually see the problem areas that need improvement. Uniquely, you're also shown how to measure aerodynamic pressures, so you can determine which body surfaces are creating lift, drag and downforce. Want to work out where a wing should be placed? On-road testing to find that out is covered as well. The book also shows you how to measure downforce to see if that wing is actually working! If you wish to reduce drag, more than ten different areas are covered. Reducing frontal area, lowering cooling system drag, optimising vehicle ride height and rake, reducing the strength of the wake, achieving clean airflow separation and optimising wheel designs - they're all covered using the latest research findings. And if you're a performance driver, there's a major chapter devoted to reducing lift and improving stability. This chapter includes the design and development of undertrays and diffusers, wings and spoilers. The example car developed measurable downforce when fitted with an undertray and rear diffuser, something that transformed its on-road handling. The author has been writing about the aerodynamics of road cars for more than 25 years. He is also an experienced and proficient car modifier who has performed numerous aerodynamic modifications and upgrades to his own cars. The book's technical consultant, RH Barnard, is an acknowledged world leading automotive aerodynamicist. If you want a practical, hands-on guide that demystifies and explains car aerodynamics, and shows you how to make effective aerodynamic modifications to your car, this book is for you.

Few marques inspire such enthusiasm as Alfa Romeo, and among its most celebrated jewels are undoubtedly its coupes and spiders, the sportiest members of an already sporty Alfa family. This book tells the full story of Alfa's two-door cars in the post-war era. It starts with the achingly handsome 6C 2500 and coachbuilt 1900s, followed by the glorious Giulietta Sprint, Spider and SZ. Then comes the host of Giulia models, from Bertone's Sprint GT and Pininfarina's Duetto to the racing GTA and TZ. Add in some rare V8s - 33 Stradale and Montreal - plus the Alfetta GT and the monstrous SZ/RZ, and Alfa's rich heritage is indisputable. It's all clearly detailed by a true authority on Italian cars, Chris Rees, editor of Auto Italia.

The legendary 'classic' Land Rover - the mainstay of the four-wheel-drive market world-wide for over 60 years - was rebranded Defender in 1990, and has upheld Land Rover's reputation for producing rugged workhorses, with unbeatable off-road capability. This Haynes Manual provides a practical guide to modifications and upgrades for Defender owners who wish to update or improve their vehicles. Coverage includes modifications for recreational off-road use, as well as modifications intended to improve comfort and cosmetic appearance.

Whether already a Volvo 1800 owner, a prospective owner or simply an admirer, you'll find many useful nuggets of information here. Especially important if you are contemplating the purchase of one of the best looking classic sports cars ever produced, this handy pocket-sized book will guide you through how to select the right car, and provides essential advice on finding, buying and evaluating a Volvo 1800. Covering all versions of the 1800 from carburettor-equipped coupes to electronically fuel-injected shooting brakes (estates), you'll find the correct original specifications, and advice on how to spot potential body and mechanical problems.

Stop! Don't buy a Porsche 987 Boxster or Cayman series without buying this book first! Packed with good advice from running costs, paperwork, vital statistics, valuation and the Porsche community, right through to whether your Porsche will fit in your garage and indeed, with your lifestyle. This is the complete guide to choosing, assessing and buying the Porsche 987 Boxster or Cayman of your dreams.

This is the story of Captain Marendaz, a pilot in the RFC in the Great War and his life as a manufacturer of cars in the 1920s and 1930s when he competed extensively at Brooklands and elsewhere, before moving on to designing and building aircraft. He was closely associated with Stirling Moss's parents and Kaye Don, being involved in trialling and record-breaking with his own cars and the American Graham-Paige. His passage through life was not smooth, being frequently coloured by disputes, ending up with him being arrested under the notorious Category 18B regulations in 1940, causing him to move to South Africa after the war, where trouble followed him before his return to England in 1972. The book also contains a considerable number of first-hand accounts, by people who worked for Captain Marendaz, of life in a small car and aircraft factory before the war, giving a revealing insight into the social history of the period. His sports cars are attractive with good lines, a point brought out in the many illustrations taken in period and more recently of survivors. His correspondence with the author and others provides an insight into his controversial life.

Lime Rock Park, the oldest continuously operated road course in America came about more by accident than design. Construction of the course began in 1955 at a time when open road racing had been banned in many states, and the use of military and civil airport runways for racing was losing favor with the paying spectators. Dubbed ‘The Road Racing Center of the East’ the park has a turbulent history bedevilled by financial crises, discord with the SCCA New England Region and expensive court cases involving the Lime Rock Protective Association. Despite the struggle to keep the circuit afloat, it prevailed against all odds. This book narrates this history of mixed fortunes during the first twenty years of the park’s existence when it was under the ownership of four different people and contains material unseen before including over 900 images.

From the star of the YouTube sensation Jason Drives, the senior editor of the acclaimed website Jalopnik, and a producer of Jay Leno's Garage comes the wittiest and most insightful guide yet to self-driving cars and the road ahead. Self-driving cars sound fantastical and futuristic and yet they'll soon be on every street in America. Whether it's Tesla's Autopilot, Google's Waymo, Mercedes's Distronic, or Uber's modified Volvos, companies around the world are developing autonomous cars. But why? And what will they mean for the auto industry and humanity at large? In Robot, Take the Wheel, famed automotive expert Jason Torchinsky gives a colorful account of the development of autonomous vehicles and their likely implications. Torchinsky encourages us to think of self-driving cars as an entirely new machine, something beyond cars as we understand them today. He considers how humans will get along with these robots that will take over our cars' jobs, what they will look like, what sorts of jobs they may do, what we can expect of them, how they should act, ethically, how we can trick them and have fun with them, and how we can make sure there's still a place for those of us who love to drive, especially with a manual transmission. This vibrant volume brims with insider information. It explores what's ahead and considers what we can do now to shape the automated future.

You might think a Cobra is an unattainable dream, and you'd be right. However, a replica that looks just like one and works rather better is not only attainable - it costs about the same as a Toyota. Iain Ayre has been reviewing, building and designing Cobra replicas for decades: there's nobody better to have in your pocket when you stop dreaming and start checking out buying or building one for real. This book condenses all you need to know into 64 packed pages covering Cobra types; low, medium and high budgets; buying pitfalls; engine and donor recommendations; and, good and bad points - pretty much everything you need to know to start scaring BMWs with budget V8 thunder.

Automotive Detailing in Detail takes the combined experience and expertise of three leading detailing commentators to provide a thorough and expansive overview of automotive detailing techniques. From the pre-wash, wash and preparation stages, through machine polishing to paint protection and maintenance, every detailing stage is covered: surface types, contaminants and products are analysed, before the actual processes are laid bare. In the age of the internet and social media, a plethora of detailing knowledge is available online, yet it is strangely difficult to discover completely, or harness usefully. This book redresses the balance.

This is the story of a great British coachbuilder, told with the aid of meticulous research and with great affection for the grandeur and style that its products still represent. Freestone & Webb was a great name in British coachbuilding for some 35 years, but as demand for coachbuilt car bodies dried up in the 1950s, the company became the first of the Big Five remaining specialists to close down. They had started in the early 1920s, as the motoring scene was settling down after the upheaval of the First World War. Early devotees of lightweight Weymann construction, they soon earned the approval of the nearby Bentley company because their bodies did not unduly hinder the performance of these great sporting chassis. Before long, Rolls-Royce models were also being provided with stylish and well-made Freestone & Webb coachwork, and so were many leading foreign chassis, such as Mercedes-Benz and Packard. Like others, the company struggled to get back into the game after an enforced layoff during the Second World War. But with the aid of good designs and fine workmanship, they survived into the 1950s with their reputation intact. Sadly, their continued survival could only be a matter of time, and Arthur Webb was al-ready looking to sell the company when he died in 1954. Freestone & Webb continued gamely for four more years, experimenting with new designs and going out in a blaze of glory with their extravagant Honeymoon Express for a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud

An event as significant for Alfa Romeo enthusiasts as the reopening of the marque's historic museum at Arese - held on 24 June 2015, the day on which Alfa celebrates its 105th anniversary - could hardly not be celebrated with a book. The official catalogue of the new museum represents an opportunity to review the history of the marque and above all to accompany the reader/visitor around the new exhibition layout in which the cars have been thematically grouped and subdivided. The glorious racing cars (from the P2 to the 33 in all their variants, through to the less successful cars that competed in F1) are brought together under the section VELOCITA' introduced by Alfa Romeo driver Nino Vaccarella, while cars such as the 1759, 8C 2900, 6C 2500, 1900, Giulietta and Alfetta, along with the most recent production models, illustrate the most important episodes in the Biscione's industrial history in the TIMELINE section - introduced by American journalist Nick Czap.The section BELLEZZA - introduced by designer Lorenzo Ramaciotti, head of Style for the Fiat Group for years - focuses on the undisputed protagonists being cars such as the 33 Stradale, the Carabo and the Nuvola, milestones in the evolution of automotive styling. A specific chapter also features all those models that do not appear in the exhibition. The catalogue is therefore an indispensable instrument for all those visiting this authentic temple of history, technology and culture.

"American Station Wagons - The Golden Era 1950-1975" examines an important quarter century of this versatile vehicle, a time when it evolved into a practical, yet sometimes luxurious family transporter or business vehicle. This volume covers the histories of the major, minor and obscure station wagon manufacturers and models. While makes such as Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge and Plymouth dominated the US market, important roles were played by Oldsmobile, Buick, Mercury, and Chrysler in making the car more than mere basic transportation or a reliable workhorse. At the same time, makes such as Studebaker, Kaiser, Nash and AMC, etc. competed for a slice of this burgeoning postwar market, and were responsible for novel innovations in design. Contemporary brochures, period literature, factory photos and over fifty new, unpublished colour photos of restored examples help convey the importance of these historic vehicles. Also featured are images of rarer Canadian versions from American manufacturers.

Since its introduction in 1965, the big-block Chevy engine has been a force to be reckoned with on both the street and track. Over the past four decades, the big-block has undergone a constant evolution toward greater efficiency and durability. It's also picked up more displacement, as General Motors is now offering crate engines up to 572 ci, and aftermarket versions have gone much larger still.

In "How to Build Killer Big-Block Chevy Engines," author Tom Dufur reviews the commonly available factory parts along with many aftermarket offerings, and discusses the advantages of both. Additionally, he includes popular buildup recipes and showcases the dyno results, proving theories and sharing in-depth research. Dufur's decades of experience designing, assembling, tuning, and racing the big-block Chevy engine truly shines through. A wealth of full-color photos, charts, and graphs makes it easy to understand the critical points of these great engines.

In-depth chapters on design, engine preparation, and assembly show you how to develop your own big-block Chevy to its full potential. Whether your big-block is destined for life in a street car, a race car, or even a boat, the wealth of information in this book will ensure it has ample power and longevity once it's all together.

The Series Land Rover was conceived as a utility vehicle for farmers; one that could be repaired and maintained with the minimum of specialist tools. The early models rapidly built up a worldwide reputation for rugged cross country capability that led to them not only to great success in the agricultural industry, but also to being adopted by police forces in at least 37 countries as well as emergency services in the UK and abroad. The book describes the step by step development of the marque, so you are aware of each model's individual strengths and weaknesses. Choose your preferred model, then be professionally guided through important aspects of the retail market, with clear instructions on where and how to check for specific potential problems before you buy. Evaluate and score your potential purchase against an exhaustive checklist, learn how to test-drive it with confidence, and be forewarned about running and maintenance costs. The book also details the Land Rover community from clubs to specialists. With over 100 colour photographs carefully integrated into the concise and informative text, this really is like having a marque expert beside you when viewing a potential purchase.