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.

This is the first book to cover the little-known car production of the famous Birmingham Small Arms company (BSA). BSA had its roots in gun manufacture in Birmingham and then expanded to include bicycles, cars and motorcycles and the take-over of Daimler. In 1929 they built an innovative front wheel drive three wheeler light car which led on to more conventional models, all being front wheel drive. Reported in the press as being 'milestones in history', the models included the Three Wheeler, the FW32, T9 and Scout, BSA being pioneers worldwide of large-scale production front wheel drive. Today the concept is almost universal, but BSA were first. Due to impending and necessary wartime commitments, car production stopped in 1940. Drawing on his technical background in the aeronautical world and full access to unique photography and illustrations from the BSA archive as well as the BSA Front Wheel Drive Club, Graham Skillen has produced a unique book that will be of interest not only to BSA fans, but to classic car enthusiasts in general.