In this expanded collector’s edition of The Art of NASA, complete with a paper model Lunar Module and a poster, explore over 200 stunning artworks commissioned by NASA to sell its missions.
Formed in 1958, NASA has long maintained a department of visual artists to depict the concepts and technologies created in humankind’s quest to explore the final frontier. Culled from a carefully chosen reserve of approximately 3,000 files deep in the NASA archives, the 200+ awe-inspiring illustrations presented in this special boxed edition are complemented by:
- 32 pages of new material
- A paper model of the Lunar Module
- A rolled poster
- A sheet of four postcards
- A new foreword by astronaut Tom Jones
From space suits to capsules, from landing modules to the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, and more recent concepts for space planes, The Art of NASA presents 60 years of American space exploration in an unprecedented fashion. All the landmark early missions are represented in detail—Gemini, Mercury, Apollo—as are post-Space Race accomplishments, like the mission to Mars and other deep-space explorations.
The insightful text relates the wonderful stories associated with the art. For instance, the incredibly rare early Apollo illustrations show how Apollo might have looked if the landing module had never been developed. Black-and-white Gemini drawings illustrate how the massive NASA art department did its stuff with ink pen and rubdown Letraset textures. Cross-sections of the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project docking adapter reveal Russian sensitivity about US “male” probes “penetrating” their spacecraft, thus the androgynous “adapter” now used universally in space. International Space Station cutaways show how huge the original plan was, but also what was retained.
Every picture in The Art of NASA tells a special story. This collection of the rarest of the rare is not only a unique view of NASA history—it’s a fascinating look at the art of illustration and a glimpse of NASA history like no other.
The golden age of posters linked to car racing starts with the early days of motorsport and ends with the beginning of the 1980s, when the evocative power of the image was replaced by other requirements. A photograph of a real car began to occupy the space previously provided by a sketch, inserted in a graphic that most of the time was of great effect.
Often the sketches were commissioned to famous artists and the manifesto acquired the connotations of a masterpiece. The races of the 1920s and 1930s are noteworthy, characterized by the realistic style of the Twenties, but those of races in the 1950s and 1960s, such as the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix series, are equally impressive.
Divided according to the characteristics of the races mentioned (pre-F1 World Championship Grands Prix, titled Grand Prix races, post-1950 Grands Prix but not valid for the World Championship, Sport-Prototypes, Mille Miglia and other road competitions), the posters chosen are a true rarity and span over 70 years of motorsport history. They have been chosen from the precious collection of the enthusiast Lauro Malavolti, famous all over the world.
The car world is full of fascinating characters, but few have a story to tell quite as remarkable and inspirational as Tom Hartley.
Walking out of school at the age of 11, unable to read or write, Hartley set up his own business buying and selling cars. From that moment, he defied logic and ripped up the rule book on his way to the top. Today he runs one of the most successful independent family run performance and luxury car businesses in the world. He has built up an unrivaled reputation as “The Dealmaker.”
Tom has been at the top for over 40 years, survived and thrived through four recessions, and overcome three life threatening illnesses. In his own brutally honest words, Hartley tells his gripping story of a boy from a traditional Romany family who swapped the classroom for the cut-throat world of Glasgow’s car auctions, buying and selling his first car at the age of 12. Having decided to drive himself around illegally, he was only 15 when he had his first car crash, and they don’t come more spectacular than writing off a Ferrari Dino – nothing has ever been normal in the world of Tom Hartley!
Hartley had made his first million by the age of 17, but soon suffered major setbacks as his business went bust, and he found himself at risk of losing his sight without major surgery. Hartley started all over again, living in a mobile home with his wife and working from the back of a car. He had gone from hero to zero, but his burning desire to be the best saw him climb his way back to the top. His ability to clinch deals in some of the most bizarre places has become legendary, like buying a car in a sauna, while stuck in a traffic jam on a motorway, and even in a swimming pool!
Family has played a key part in the Tom Hartley story, his wife has been at his side all the way, and his two sons have followed closely in their father’s footsteps. Indeed Tom’s belief in family is one of the inspiring messages that comes through.
Hartley’s inspirational story is about the unshakeable belief in his own abilities, from a precocious schoolboy who had a dream, and then through sheer hard work and a burning desire to make the dream come true. This is not just a book for car enthusiasts but for anyone who has dared to dream. It’s a story that will inspire and motivate, and proves you can make the wildest dream come true if you want it badly enough.
Tom’s remarkable story is written with the collaboration of journalist Ken Gibson, for 24 years, award-winning Motoring Editor of The Sun newspaper.
The Karting Manual is new in paperback. In recent years, karting has grown significantly as an accessible, affordable introduction to motorsport with the emergence of indoor karting tracks across Europe, and many first-time karters are sufficiently stirred by the experience to want to progress further. Now in its second edition, this comprehensive practical book covers all the fundamentals of kart racing, catering for the complete novice, yet sufficiently detailed to benefit those racing at club level
CURRENTLY SOLD OUT – AWAITING PUBLISHER RE=PRINT
This book was published to accompany an exhibit of Art Deco-styled cars shown at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville, Tennessee, from June 14 through September 15, 2013. All 20+ cars and motorcycles that were selected for the exhibit are presented here through the studio photography of Peter Harholdt and printed to the highest standard on extra-heavy paper stock.
Exhibition curator Ken Gross, along with fellow automotive historians Richard Adatto and Jonathan A. Stein, provide historical information about these unique cars, and art and architecture expert Thomas Mellins adds a fascinating essay about the emergence of Art Deco as a recognized style of expression. Includes:
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Cord L-29 Cabriolet
Two Figoni and Falaschi-bodied Delahayes
Jordan Model Z Speedway Ace
Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow
Edsel Ford’s Model 40 Speedster
Voisin Type C27 Aerosport Coupe
Stout Scarab
Indian and Henderson motorcycles
Chrysler Airflow and Thunderbolt concept
Talbot-Lago T-150-C-SS Teardrop Coupe
The Bugatti Type 57C formerly owned by the shah of Iran, and many more
Hardcover | 12 x 9.5 | 112 pages
50 Years with Ferraris takes the reader behind the scenes at Maranello Concessionaires Ltd, Britain’s famous Surrey-based importer of Ferraris founded by Colonel Ronnie Hoare.
When Neill Bruce first photographed a Ferrari road car, a Dino 246 GT, in 1971, his work so impressed the powers-that-be at Maranello Concessionaires that they commissioned him to do all their promotional photography thereafter. Whether shooting production cars, factory scenes or motor show stands, he has been in Ferrari’s orbit ever since.
- Top-quality photography, originally shot on large-format film and reproduced to today’s highest standards on gloss art paper.
- Road cars of the 1970s, including Dino 246 GT, 365 GTC4, 365 GTB4 ‘Daytona’, 365 GT4 Berlinetta Boxer, 308 GT4 2+2 and 308 GTB.
- Evocative photography of a visit to the Maranello factory in 1973, including a meeting with Enzo Ferrari and tours of the main factory, Scaglietti’s body-manufacturing facility and the Fiorano test track.
- Road cars of the 1980s, including 400i, BB 512i, Mondial QV Cabriolet, Testarossa, 288 GTO and 328 GTB.
- Inside the Maranello Concessionaires workshops, showing all sorts of fascinating scenes such as servicing, body repair and the paint shop.
- Road cars of the 1990s, including F40, 412, 348 ts, Mondial t, 512 TR, 456 GT 2+2 and 348 Spider.
- Insights into the techniques and procedures involved in car photography.
The author presents some of his best pictures — the great majority in colour — and tells engaging stories about how they came about, including some of the mishaps along the way.
The story of the iconic dirt track that defined Southern California racing. It began in 1903 as a horse track, then as a one mile dirt track in L.A., then as New Ascot Raceway in East L.A. which became Legion Ascot and finally Southern Ascot in Southgate.
Then, Los Angeles Speedway was built in 1957 on the site of a former landfill just south of Gardena. The promoter got into financial difficulties and it became New Ascot Stadium and eventually just Ascot. Everyone raced there, sprint cars, stock cars, midgets, buggies and motorcycles. 90 Indy 500 drivers raced there. Names like A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears and Parnelli Jones were regulars. It was said that “if you haven’t raced Ascot, you haven’t raced”. Read the book to see why it closed in 1990. Written in scrapbook style, decade by decade, full of newspaper and magazine articles, photos and stories from those who were there.
399 Pages – 8 1/2 x 11 – B&W. Comes with a DVD of all the photos and newspaper / magazine articles in the book plus an assortment of videos.
The Soviet Union’s first successful atomic bomb detonation in August 1949 was a wakeup call for US Navy planners. The possibility of a single Soviet aircraft wiping out an entire convoy of merchant ships with a nuclear weapon had suddenly become very real. With military budgets having shrunk prior to the Korean War, it was simply not possible to provide a US Navy escort for every convoy. But what if those vessels could be provided with an effective means of self-defense – an aircraft able to function as both a helicopter and a fighter, launching from and landing on the small deck of a Liberty Ship? It was a risky concept but aviation technology was now advancing at an unprecedented pace and the American aircraft manufacturers were ready to meet the challenge head on.
The result was the US Navy’s Convoy Fighter competition of November 1950 – a contest to produce a turboprop-powered ‘tailsitter’ single-seat aircraft able to operate from a largely unmodified merchant vessel. A host of designs were submitted by the likes of Convair, Lockheed, Martin and Northrop, among them some of the strangest and most outlandish concept aircraft ever committed to paper. And two were actually built in prototype form: the Convair XFY-1 ‘Pogo’ and the Lockheed XFV-1.
In American Interceptor: US Navy Convoy Fighter Projects, author and illustrator Jared A. Zichek focuses on the ‘paper projects’, the unbuilt studies submitted to the Navy. Lavishly illustrated throughout, the book showcases these fascinating artifacts of what might have been, from a golden age of aerospace history unlikely to be equaled or exceeded.
SIGNED
“Riverside – Volume Two”, a follow – up to Volume One, covers the history of Southern California’s iconic racetrack in somewhat scrapbook form, crammed full of pictures, magazine and newspaper articles and comments from those who raced there, worked there or attended races there. Coverage includes stock car racing (More stock car races were held at Riverside than any other form of racing), the Trans Am series, IROC, Off Road Racing, Drag Racing, All the other series that ran there such as Firehawk, Atlantic, Race Trucks, Vintage, Air Shows, the Bob Harrington Crusade and more, Club Racing, Corner Workers, Motorcycle Racing, Movies, Commercials and Ads.
The book, with an introduction by long time Riverside fan Dan Mensinger, comes with a DVD containing photos, newspaper and magazine articles, films and videos and is autographed by the author.
The 60 year history of the Slo Pok club of Vancouver, WA. By Al Drake and Don Pennington, this is perhaps the only hot rod club that such a book could be written about. While other clubs have come and gone, the Slo Pok club has been in continuous existence from 1951 to date.
The club has been involved with street rodding, drag racing, car shows, etc. Most of the 50-plus members own two or three interesting cars, and are always building more.
In the 1950s and 1960s the club required members to compete at area drag strips. Several have competed at Bonneville salt flats. They have been meeting every Friday evening at an event called “The Alley,” which actually began in an alley.
This is a BIG, and notable, book — 426 pages!
Paperback, perfect-bound. 100s of photographs, sketches, designs, artwork. A well-researched book that captures a piece of automotive history
