Launched in 1949 as the 92 before evolving into the 93, 96 2-stroke and 96V4, this car was in production for thirty-one years. Attracting global admiration and sales, it also excelled in motorsport and by the early 1960s was the most successful rally-car in Europe. A decline in sales in the 1960s was reversed with the launch of the 96V4 which resulted in its success continuing into the 1980s. With over 200 archive and colour photographs, this book provides a new description of the Saab company's original car and includes detailed biographies of important Saab figures and extensive discussion of the engineering and design decisions that made the car such a success. There is coverage of the original Saab story in North and South America and a comprehensive review of Saab 92, 93, 96, motor sport history. Full technical details and specifications and tuning details are given and finally, there is a chapter on owners' experiences and Saab veteran's recollections.

Saab 99 and 900 is a detailed account of the cars that came from Saab, the aeroplane maker, whose first car - the 92 model - set the standard for advanced design epitomized by the 99 and 900 cars. The author delves deep into the cars' design and history, and into the core Saab values that they carried into production. Topics include: detailed design history of the 99 and 900; year-by-year developments; technically detailed engineering overviews; detailed specifications; advice on owning and buying and, finally, coverage of rallying and special models.

A definitive new history from internationally known Saab aficionado Lance Cole, Saab Cars - The Complete Story offers a detailed insight into the company's story, from the prototype UrSaab in 1946 to the end of production in 2012. It is a fitting tribute to the spirit and ethos of Saab design and engineering. Explains in detail the design and engineering history of Saab's pioneering work in aerodynamics, form, function and safety.Investigates the history and founding of Saab.Provides in-depth analysis of Saab's early cars and their engineering and design features.Profiles key figures in Saab's manufacturing and rallying success. Charts the days of the 'Save Saab' campagin and the battle to survive, and details the events that led to the company's demise.Includes recollections from Saab workers and those on the factory floor.Stunning visual coverage of the Saab models, with rare archive images and design sketches.

The Second World War Jeep was one of the most famous and influential military vehicles of all time, and over 600,000 were produced. It served with all the Allied forces during the war on every front and it has been the inspiration behind the design of light, versatile, rugged military and civilian vehicles ever since. In this, the first volume in Pen & Sword's LandCraft series, Lance Cole traces the design, development and manufacturing history of the Jeep and describes its operational role within the Allied armies. A selection of archive photographs showing the Jeep in service in European and Pacific campaigns gives a graphic impression of how adaptable the Jeep was and records the variety of equipment it could carry. The book is an excellent source for the modeller, providing details of available kits, together with specially commissioned colour profiles recording how the Jeeps used by different units and armies appeared. Lance Cole's introduction to the Jeep is necessary reading and reference for enthusiasts and modellers.

Other books have charted the VC10 in airline life, but this book blends that story with a well-researched tale of corporate and political power play. It asks: just what lay behind the sales failure of the VC10? Politics played an important part of course, as did BOAC's tactics, and a who dunnit cast of politico-corporate events and machinations at the highest level of society during the dying days of Empire in 1960s Britain. Key players in the story, from Tony Benn to famous test pilot Brian Trubshaw (Concorde), are cited and quoted. The VC10 was Europe's biggest jet airliner of its age and regarded as the world's best looking airliner. It was safe, fast, and designed to take off from short runways in Africa and Asia, at the request of its main operator BOAC - the airline that would later go on to become today's British Airways. The VC10 and the larger Super VC10 were beloved by pilots and passengers alike and became icons of the 1960s. They were hugely popular all over the world; East African Airlines made its name with Super VC10s, and so too did Freddie Laker. The RAF also made the most of its VC10s. Yet the VC10 was eclipsed by Boeing's 707 which sold by the hundreds, despite the fact that the 707 could not initially operate from the runways of the Commonwealth and old British Empire routes, as the VC10 undoubtedly could. The men of the Vickers Company who created the VC10 would later go on to engineer Concorde and, of course, the rest is history. But the era of the VC10 was pivotal and, by exploring this historical period in depth and highlighting all the various impediments that stood in the way of success for the VC10, Lance Cole adds an important layer to our understanding of twentieth century history.

What really happened at British Leyland (BL)? Was it 'just' the cars, or were other factors vital to the story? Who really was to blame for BL and MG Rover's death? The 'truth' about BL is deeper than its cars - were ultra- Left-wing plots to topple BL and British society real? Did secret deals and political intrigue really exist? Was it Labour or Conservative powers who 'killed' BL, or was it BL itself? How was it that BL's design genius was hobbled? Author Lance Cole lifts the bonnet on BL and presents a forensic yet easy to read new analysis in a story of BL, its cars, and the era of their motoring as powers on the political Left and Right waged war, sometimes even with themselves. Here is a book about cars and more, a conversation on all things BL: this is a new account of a classic British story told across a trail of evidence in a British industrial and political drama. Many mistakes made BL, but some of the cars were superb, the designs of genius, the engineering excellent; it is just that we have either forgotten, or been brainwashed into believing the worst. In a BL book like no other, written by a classic car fanatic with a background in industrial design, automotive, and wider journalism, this story lifts the lid on BL's cars and more. The author also adds inside knowledge from time working in the motor industry. Lance Cole tells the deeper BL story across the era of its greatest successes and its biggest failures.

This new book, the first in the CarCraft series delivers an innovative presentation to the car enthusiast by covering the engineering, design, and modelling of one of motoring's greatest cars across all its epochs. Ettore Bugatti changed engineering history with his genius and innovations. With its clever engine design, new suspension thinking, and distinct body style, Bugatti's T35 and its variants defined a new era of design and driving and must surely rank as true 'supercars'. A motor sport legend was also cast down by these Bugattis. Experienced automotive writer, industrial designer and Bugatti Owners Club member Lance Cole pays tribute to the car in a detailed yet engaging commentary. New photography, the design story, and full coverage of the modelling options in synthetic materials and die cast metals, create a narrative of vital interest.

Boeing's 747 'heavy' has achieved a fifty-year reign of the airways, but now airlines are retiring their fleets as a different type of long-haul airliner emerges. Yet the ultimate development of the 747, the -800 model, will ply the airways for many years to come. Even as twin-engine airliners increasingly dominate long-haul operations and the story of the four-engine Airbus A380 slows, the world is still a different place thanks to the great gamble that Boeing took with its 747\. From early, difficult days designing and proving the world's biggest-ever airliner, the 747 has grown into a 400-ton leviathan capable of encircling the world. Boeing took a massive billion-dollar gamble and won. Taking its maiden flight in February 1969, designing and building the 747 was a huge challenge and involved new fields of aerospace technology. Multiple fail-safe systems were designed, and problems developing the engines put the whole programme at risk. Yet the issues were solved and the 747 flew like a dream said pilots - belying its size and sheer scale. With its distinctive hump and an extended upper-deck allied to airframe, avionics and engine developments, 747 became both a blue-riband airliner and, a mass-economy class travel device. Fitted with ultra-efficient Rolls-Royce engines, 747s became long-haul champions all over the world, notably on Pacific routes. across the Atlantic in January 1970, 747 became the must-have, four-engine, long haul airframe. Japan Airlines, for example, operated over sixty 747s in the world's biggest 747 fleet. By the renowned aviation author Lance Cole, this book provides a detailed yet engaging commentary on the design engineering and operating life and times of civil aviation's greatest sub-sonic achievement.

The remarkable story of everything Sydney Herbert Allard achieved in motor sport and motor car manufacture is framed in an up-to-date commentary co-authored by his own son. This is a tribute unswayed by legend, but based on the facts and achievements of his eponymous company. With contributions from the Allard Owners' Club and Allard Register, this book contains painstaking research of Allard history from 1929 to the present day, including previously unpublished material. Just under 2,000 Allards were built, and approximately 510 are believed to remain on the road or known to be under -restoration. More await discovery - even as this book was being written, one of Sydney's long-lost 1930s 'Allard Specials' has been found after years being forgotten. Other topics covered in this remarkable book include: car-by-car engineering and design details; unseen ideas and projects; the history of the Allard marque in motor sport and the Allard story in the USA. Finally, it features the Allard Owner's Club, Allard Register, members and their cars.

Taking a fresh approach, this book delivers an up-to-date review by investigating the essential characteristics, design and driving experience that defines the Porsche legend and its cars. From icons like the 356 and 911, through to the transaxle Porsches and recent models of Boxster, Cayman, Panamera, Macan, Tycan and more, Porsche Model by Model offers a detailed yet engaging commentary upon the marque. With over 275 archive and specially commissioned photographs, this book presents the full marque history from Ferdinand Porsche's defining Bohemian effect to the brand and design language today. It covers the 356 to the Taycan in concise yet detailed discussions; explores historical and technical details including specification tables and includes driving descriptions and owners' views.

Designed and manufactured by the men who would make Concorde, the Rolls-Royce powered Vickers VC10, and its larger variant, the Super VC10, represented the ultimate in 1960s subsonic airliners. The VC10 was Britain's answer to the Boeing 707 and the Douglas DC-8. The VC10 was a second-generation jetliner designed in the 1960s and manufactured into the 1970s. It incorporated advanced engineering, new aerodynamics, and design features, to produce a swept, sculpted machine easily identifiable by its high T-tail design and rear-engine configuration. The VC10 could take off in a very short distance, climb more steeply and land at slower speed than its rivals the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8\. These were vital safety benefits in the early years of the jet age. At one stage, the Super VC10 was the biggest airliner made in Europe and the fastest in the world. On entry into service, both the VC10 and the longer Super VC10 carved out a niche with passengers who enjoyed the speed, silence and elegance of the airliner. Pilots, meanwhile, loved its ease of flying and extra power. Yet the VC10 project was embroiled in political and corporate machinations across many years and more than one government. BOAC got what they asked for but went on to criticise the VC10 for not being a 707 - which was a different beast entirely. Questions were asked in parliament and the whole story was enmeshed in a political and corporate affair that signified the end of British big airliner production. Yet the men who made the VC10 also went on to design and build Concorde. Many VC10 pilots became Concorde pilots. In service until the 1980s with British Airways, and until 2013 with the RAF, the VC10 became a British icon and a national hero, one only eclipsed by Concorde. It remains an enthusiast's hero.

Launched in 1955 yet looking like a sci-fi design proposal for a future then undreamed of, Flaminio Bertoni's ellipsoid sculpture with wheels that was the Citroen DS stunned the world. There was a near riot at the 1955 Paris Motor Show launch of the car, orders flooded in for this, the new 'big Citroen' (a Voiture a Grande Diffusion or VGD) as the car that replaced the legendary Traction Avant range. The term 'DS' stems from two Citroen parts of nomenclature - the type of engine used as the 11D, (D) and the special hemispherical design of the cylinder head as 'Culasse Special' (S): DS out of 'Deesse' or Goddess, was a more popular myth of ' DS' origination, but an erroneous one. But it was not just the car's aerodynamically advanced body shape (Cd. 0.37) that framed the genius of the DS: hydro pneumatic self-levelling suspension, advanced plastics and synthetics for the construction of the roof and dashboard/fascia, and amazing road holding and cabin comfort were some of this car's highlights. Only the lack of an advanced new engine was deemed a missed opportunity. In fact Citroen had created a new engine for the car but lacked the resources to produce it in time for 1955. DS was a major moment in the history of car design, one so advanced that it would take other auto manufacturers years to embrace. Yet DS in its 'aero' design was the precursor to today's low drag cars of curved form. Manufactured worldwide, used by presidents, leaders, diplomats, farmers and many types of people, the DS redefined Citroen, its engineering and design language, and its brand, for decades to come. Prone to rust, not the safest car in the world, and always lacking a smoother powerplant, the DS still became an icon of car design. Reshaped with a new nose and faired-in headlamps in 1967, DS remained in production until 1975. Across its life DS spawned an estate car variant as the 'Safari', a range of limousines, two-door convertibles, and even coach-built coupes and rally specials. This car was a product design that became an article of social science - it was that famous and it defined a European design movement upon a global stage then packed with 'me too' copyist designs. The DS or 'Goddess' as it was tagged, was a tear-drop shaped act of French confidence in a world of the regurgitation of the known. Some argue that DS and its effect has never been surpassed. This new value-for-money book provides innovative access to the design, history, and modelling of the revolutionary DS - one of the true 'greats' of motoring history and, a contemporary classic car of huge popularity.

In a classic car photography book packed with an eclectic mix of automotive images, Lance Cole (author of the Classic Car Adventure) presents a stunning collection of photographs of old cars of all marques and types captured in many locations. Across Allards to Bugattis, Citroens DKWs, Porsches, Saabs, Triumphs, Voisins, VWs, and a pot-pourri of well-known classics, the author has journeyed far and wide to create a wonderful diary of classic car moments amid the great enthusiasm for nostalgia on wheels. A mix of cars, people, portraits, action and atmosphere all blend in to a colourful journey across the classic car world in a diverse blend of marques and eras. 250 colour and black and white images populate an odyssey across a landscape of cars in an interesting format that pitches multi-million pound cars alongside more humble names. Seen on the move and static, Lance Cole's photographs capture the essence of metal sculpture, light falling upon paint and form, and the design hallmarks of old cars prior to the age of digital design authoritarianism when so many cars look similar. If you love old metal, patina, paint, leather, and enthusiasm, all captured across vintage, veteran, classic and modern classic metal, then the Classic Car Gallery is a rare memento of the cars of yesteryear seen in the celebration of their today.

The story of the Supermarine Spitfire has been told across many years and the debate about it is enduring, yet the Spitfire remains a true icon. For aviation enthusiasts, for historians, for modellers, the word Spitfire conjures many stories and affections. This book presents the Spitfire enthusiast with an up-to-date history of the Spitfire-not just in its design and application in war, but also as a flying memorial and as an aero modellers' vital focus. The text examines recently revealed forgotten aspects of the Spitfire story; by combining the elements of design, the story of a weapon of war and a revered scale model, this book frames an essential chapter in aviation history. Packed with original and contemporary images and information, and displaying unique Spitfire model collections, the narrative bridges an important gap and is a worthy addition to the FlightCraft series.

The aim of this innovative series is to provide modelmakers and car enthusiasts with a new standard of primarily visual reference of both full-size cars and their scale models. Each book contains detailed technical information imparted through drawings and photographs while the meticulously researched full-colour profiles provides a complete reference for paint schemes and markings. In addition, every volume of the CarCraft series features summaries of design histories and operational careers, and reviews of available kits. The third book in the new CarCraft series, Jaguar E-Type, frames the legend of what many call the world's most beautiful car design. Sir William Lyons and Malcolm Sayer carved automotive history with this car across its 1960s-1970s incarnations from roadster to coup amid the fitting of Straight-Six, to V12 engines. With its new definition of sculptural styling, performance, handling and innovative style, the E-Type or XKE series in the USA, created a car of global impact that remains a great classic of all time. Here, experienced automotive writer, and industrial designer, Lance Cole pays tribute to the car in a detailed yet engaging commentary. New photography, the design story, and full coverage of the modelling options in synthetic materials and die cast metals, create a narrative of vital interest.

A new, comprehensive guide to motoring and transport museums offering a fresh conversation on their role and the portrayal of our motoring history. Written by a long-established motoring writer with wide experience of driving and the fettling of old cars all over the world. This new motor museum companion includes: British motoring and transport museums guide via descriptions and photographs. 90 British museums described. Comprehensive world motor museum listing: over 350 global museums cited. Out-takes from visits to selected overseas museums. Provides a glossary of old-car/motorcycle terms and types to assist the museum visitor and old car enthusiast. Discusses the museum culture and its new age. Visits to many museums by the author were self-funded: he paid his own way.