Ton Up! A Century of Café Racer Speed and Style focuses on the story of the ton-up boys and their café racers. But it’s much more than just that. Illustrated with historic and modern photos and featuring a text by one of the world’s motorcycle historians, it’s really the story of motorcycle speed and style evolved from the early 1900s right through today.
Cafe racers are most associated with the young, rebellious rock-and-rollers of 1960s Britain. These riders created the quintessential café racers—fast motorcycles customized to resemble the racing bikes of the period. They were called “café racers” because their riders raced on public roads, from one café to the next. The goal was to do “the ton” (exceed 100 miles per hour) on these runs, which led to their designation as “ton-up boys.”
Today, ton-up culture is more popular than ever and recognized worldwide with a following of young and long-time riders alike.With Ton Up!, enjoy a scenic ride through the history of this vibrant scene.
here’s so much more to car design than simply looking good. Speed Read: Car Design beaks down every element a team accounts for when designing vehicles.
People have never been more broadly aware of design as a concept and how it fits into their everyday lives. Even the simplest of consumer products compete to offer something that will better catch the public’s eye and reflect the taste and perceived lifestyle of each individual.
Like all design, car design is complex subject. It’s one in which many people have an interest–and not just gearheads. Every part of a car represents myriad decisions by the design team ruled by engineering, aesthetics, human interface, and emotion. Speed Read: Car Design helps the reader understand the hows and whys of that design process, offering an engaging review of history, theory, key concepts, and key designers. It’s a book for car enthusiasts, design fans, and anyone with a desire to better understand why our wheeled world looks the way it does.
Showcasing exclusive interviews and more than 300 behind-the-scenes photos, Camaro 2016 tells the inside story of this iconic muscle car.
It’s the pony-car showdown: the Ford Mustang versus the Chevy Camaro. Both manufacturers share the same goal-create the ultimate American muscle car.
General Motors was caught off guard when Ford unveiled the first pony car in 1964. GM took the fight to Dearborn in 1967 with the introduction of its Chevrolet Camaro, and for the next 35 years, Mustang and Camaro waged an intense battle for gearheads’ hearts and wallets. Chevrolet re-introduced the Camaro for the 2010 model year, and its appealing retro-influenced body style allowed it to frequently outsell its Ford competitor.
For Camaro fans, there is no greater source of speculation and excitement than the pending introduction of a new-generation Camaro. In anticipation of the Camaro’s 50th anniversary, GM has prepared a significantly revised, sixth-generation car to take on Ford’s latest 2015 Mustang. Featuring revised bodywork, a new chassis platform, expanded and new driveline options, and a reworked interior, the new Camaro raises the bar and again puts Mustang on the defensive.
Camaro 2016 tells the complete story of the new sixth-generation Camaro, available just in time to celebrate the model’s 50th anniversary. Featuring exclusive interviews with engineers, designers, and other Camaro team members, as well as more than 300 behind-the-scenes photographs, this book offers readers an intimate Camaro experience–putting them behind the wheel of the latest edition of one of America’s greatest muscle cars.
The gears are always shifting, and Camaro 2016 tracks the entire journey.
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In 1890, the car does not exist. Of course, some people had built vehicles powered by steam or oil, but their unreliability and uncomfortable ride did not convince anyone that they would become anything more than a kind of entertainment. What fly has stung René Panhard and Émile Levassor, when they decided to build a car, and then embark on a small scale production, becoming de facto the first automakers in history? From 30 October 1891 to 19 September 1967 nearly 470,000 cars and commercial vehicles of all kinds will leave the assembly lines. Beyond these figures looms an extraordinary human and industrial adventure made of many technical innovations, racing victories, engines and vehicles of all kinds. But Panhard & Levassor is not only car manufacturer; until 1953, the company continued the business on which it was founded, the manufacture of machinery for working wood. It is also, one might almost say above all, an engine builder: the first V-twin under Daimler license, flat-twin Dyna and 24, through the heavy oil in 4-cylinder that will delight road and bus drivers. In 1946, the engines are truly the backbone of the entire production Panhard & Levassor. Automobiles, but also military vehicles, ships, railway equipment, generators, tractors and even airships, the Panhard & Levassor engines have known all uses, including the gasifier, a technology which the brand has made a specialty, and which rendered great services during World War II. With the theme of automobile production without forgetting the utility, and supported by specific figures, this book will explore this rich past and pay tribute to all those who made possible this adventure: the Panhard family, but also Levassor of Knyff, Krebs, Delagarde, Bionier or Fauchère, and many others, engineers and athletes, executives or commercial directors or ordinary workers.
Vintage Trailer Style is a visual voyage through the world of retro trailers, exploring both the exterior and interior design of these classic icons.
Celebrating the huge resurgence of interest in modern-vintage trailering, this quirky book is overflowing with inspirational images of the world’s most desirable trailers from iconic Airstreams to tiny teardrops, funky pop-tops, beautiful Beverleys and stylish Shastas.
Over 350 beautiful and inspirational photos sit alongside practical tips on restoring, upcycling, decorating and styling a little capsule of retro heaven – whether you own a trailer, beach hut or even a shed!
Bugatti and Bentley, Alfa and Aston, Mercedes and McLaren-these are not merely cars, they are some of the most exquisite automobiles ever assembled, selected by Ralph Lauren, one of the foremost designers of our time. This breathtaking volume features 29 of these wonders-from such unparalleled masterpieces as the 1930 Mercedes Benz “Count Trossi,” the 1938 Alfa Romeo Mille Miglia, and the 1938 Bugatti Atlantic Coupe to marvels from Jaguar, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Porsche and even a Ford “Woody”-each of these vehicles is lovingly photographed and presented with authoritative elegance. Complementing the images are sketches of these and other cars-rarely seen drawings that give insight into the conceptual and development stages of the automobiles. Now in its fourth printing, Speed, Style, and Beauty is the first book on cars to center its discussion squarely on the car’s role as an art object. The 29 chapters, by two of the best known and most respected authors writing about cars today, gives the indispensable background information, but also approaches the cars the way an art historian would approach fine sculpture-treating them as consummate works of decorative art for the modern age. With over 160 color images by world-renowned photographer Michael Furman, plus an introductory interview with Ralph Lauren who discusses the links between the cars and his overall design philosophy, this is an elegant yet informative book that will delight both the rampant car enthusiast and aficionados of great design in any form. The sleekly curved chrome and steel of these timeless dream machines conjures the glamour of the 1930s, the opulent ease of the 1950s and the charged excitement of the 1980s-the perfect marriage of speed, style and beauty.
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A photographic chronology of some of the fastest, most stylish, and most individualized bikes in motorcycling history. Originally used as a slur against riders who used hopped-up motorcycles to travel from one transport café to another, café racer describes a bike genre that first became popular in 1960s British rocker subculture – although the motorcycles were also common in Italy, France, and other European countries. The rebellious rock-and-roll counterculture is what first inspired these fast, personalized, and distinctive bikes, with their owners often racing down public roads in excess of 100 miles per hour (“ton up” in British slang), leading to their public branding as “ton-up boys.” Café Racers traces café racer motorcycles from their origins in the mid-twentieth century all the way into modern times, where the style has made a recent comeback in North America and Europe alike, through the museum-quality portraiture of top motorcycle photographer Michael Lichter and the text of motorcycle culture expert Paul d’Orléans. Chronologically illustrated with fascinating historical photography, the book travels through the numerous ever-morphing and unique eras of these nimble, lean, light, and head-turning machines. Café Racers visually celebrates a motorcycle riding culture as complex as the vast array of bikes within it.
This collection of over 250 contemporary retro-style cheesecake, glamour, and hot rod pinup photographs by Northern California artist Marilee Caruso takes women from all backgrounds and transforms them into the classy yet stimulating bombshells of our parents’ and grandparents’ day. Inspired by icons such as Marilyn Monroe, Bettie Page, or Sophia Loren, each portrait provides a nostalgic glance into the mood, style, and sex appeal of the 1930s, ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s era pin-up girl. From black and white Hollywood starlets to greasy hot rod honeys, this bevy of gorgeous gals has been revamped with vintage hair and makeup, wardrobe, and posing. Shot with high-quality digital technology of the 21st century, each image is reminiscent of the drawings of Gil Elvgrin and Alberto Vargas
The Irish International Grand Prix 1929-1931, is a truly remarkable exploration of the earliest efforts by the newly-founded Irish Free State to gain recognition as a progressive independent modern country by its international peers.
Bob Montgomery, is the Curator of the Royal Irish Automobile Club (RIAC) Archive, said: “If I think about it, I have been researching and preparing to write this book for a period of some 20 years. I began to note the stories from people who were there and to gather photographs from the event during that time. Some of the stories and many images that can be found in this book have not been seen or heard about since the races took place in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
The book will, I hope do justice to the history of the Phoenix Park and how it’s very existence was so important to the emergence of motorsport in the early part of the last century, which culminated in the three Grand Prix. It’s a book designed to appeal to anyone with an interest in Irish history and not just the motorsport enthusiasts.
Porsche is a world-renowned brand that is known best for producing highly sought-after sports cars and exotic cars and more recently for high-performance sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and high-tech luxury electric cars. Additionally, Porsche is a world-dominating sports car racing brand with factory-built-and-backed motorsport activities dating to the early 1950s, having won the 24 Hours of Le Mans outright more than any other carmaker, dominating sports car racing, endurance racing, and championship-level rallying around the world.
Enthusiasts at all levels generally recognize and can identify on sight Porsche’s most iconic and mainstay models, such as the original 356 models of the 1950s and early 1960s, the seminal 911 first shown in 1963 and still in production nearly seven decades later, and perhaps the mid-engine 914. Each of these model platforms contain many subsets of special-edition versions built to higher levels of style, performance, luxury, or rarity. These include a variety of anniversary editions, commemorating certain landmarks in the marque’s history.
Lumping all Porsches into the “if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all” category is to miss the design, details, and performance of many great cars. These cars range from relatively straightforward color and trim combinations to limited-edition, high-performance machines, including several generations of modern 911-based Speedsters, Turbos, slant-nose Flachbaus, select RS and ClubSport models, special 356s, factory and independent concepts, and design studies. The unique work of low-volume production houses, such as Germany’s RUF, and high-end restoration and custom build shops, such as Singer Vehicle Design, Guntherwerks, and others, are also found here. This book contains a veritable Smorgasbord of interesting, rare, and unique special Porsches from around the world.
Celebrate 75 years of Ferrari with this complete, fascinating, and stunningly illustrated history highlighting the company’s legendary sports cars and their worldwide influence.
A stellar combination of beauty, engineering, racing success, exclusivity, and Italian flair combine to make Ferrari the world’s most legendary carmaker. All these traits coalesce in the form of Ferrari’s road cars. No other sports car manufacturer has so consistently set the bar for style and performance. It’s a near unbroken 75-year run of automotive hits:
- The 125S in 1947
- The versatile 340 in the 1950s
- The stunning 250s and 275s of the 1960s
- The Daytona in the 1970s
- The shocking F40 in the 1990s
- The modern era’s outrageous hypercars like the Enzo, F8, and LaFerrari
Ferrari: 75 Years dives deep into Ferrari’s sports car history beginning in 1947, but also examines Enzo Ferrari’s early career with Alfa-Romeo before he launched his legendary company.
Automotive historian and photographer Dennis Adler offers Ferrari owners and fans a full and fascinating picture of Maranello’s 75 years of sports car manufacturing. Adler’s detailed text is accompanied by his breathtaking photography and supplemented by important historic images.
For 75 years, Ferrari has created high-performance automotive works of art to fire the imaginations of car lovers and performance enthusiasts the world over. Ferrari: 75 Years provides an inspiring and illuminating look back at this history.
- Why is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 2.5 miles around instead of five miles?
- Who was an Indy race winner before Ray Harroun?
- What driver had to take a streetcar home to inform his parents he had just won the Indy 500?
- How was the starting lineup determined in the years before the cars were qualified?
- Have there always been 33 starters?
Whether the distant past or modern times serves as a lure for “The Greatest Race in the World,” there are literally hundreds of fascinating, true Indy 500 tales, facts and figures.
One of the race’s most-respected journalists, Rick Shaffer, has gathered 500 of the most interesting anecdotes to come out of the intersection of 16th Street and Georgetown Road.
500 on (the Indy) 500 chronicles the famous from Chevrolet to Andretti, the obscure from William Borque (item #10, the track’s first driver fatality) to Simon Pagenaud (#496), winner 105 years after the last Frenchman to do so.
The ultimate race chronology, this book is for the curious, the scholar, the passing fan or the diehard. The depth of research is sure to entertain and illuminate aspects of the Indy 500 new to even many Indy devotees.
Hard cover, 200 color and B&W images, 280 pages.
Renowned automotive writer Pat Foster celebrates the simple joy of hitting the highway in a vintage camper, trailer, RV, or van in this illustrated examination of their hardware and cultural histories—featuring evocative modern photography of restored and original-condition campers, as well as period photos and advertising art.
The look, the feel, and the sheer style of vintage campers and trailers are impossible to duplicate in sterile modern units. It’s little wonder more and more of us, from all walks and ages, are ditching the increasingly hectic modern life and rediscovering the simple freedom of small, uncluttered spaces and the wide-open road.
Foster breaks down the subject by camper categories, illustrating his knowledgeable text with beautiful modern and period images. Sidebars examine topics like clever designs that make small living possible, the evolution of campers and gear over the ages, tips for trailer living, first-person anecdotes from enthusiasts, and much more. Along the way, Foster covers all of the most popular camper and van brands, such as Winnebago, Airstream, Shasta, Spartan, Scamp, Volkswagen, and more.
Whether lived on the road, your driveway, or your armchair—your minimalist adventure starts here.
The story of a man that brought his own personal style to the world of industrial design, from automobiles to powerboats. Some 50 years after his design masterpieces wrested styling leadership away from General Motors – Harley Earl. Thirty four years after his untimely death, Virgil Exner’s name still remains inexorably linked to the Chrysler Corporation in the minds of car enthusiasts worldwide.
For an all too brief period, Exner’s name epitomised all that was great and exciting in America. His thrilling automobile designs from the mid-fifties took the world by storm and put Chrysler at the top. His work was nothing less than a revolution. Until the mid-fifties, engineers, creating cars that were reliable but invariably staid and conservative, had dominated auto design. Exner introduced to Chrysler, firstly with his ‘idea cars’ then with production models, vehicles that were wanted for their looks but at the same time, were soundly engineered; automobiles that carried classic proportions and gave the illusion of movement even whilst stationary. His design of the 1947 Studebaker established the design pattern for all modern cars and was a huge success. Along with automobile styling, his talents stretched to many other areas of industrial design, from trains to trucks and boats to Buicks.
This book gets behind the character of the man, his strengths and weaknesses, his personal tragedies and his vision of modern transport. Uncover why he set up in competition with Raymond Loewy, get the real facts behind historic inaccuracies and why he was made scapegoat for the sales disaster of the early sixties, Then delight in his fine artwork and his love of motor racing. With many previously unseen works of art and family photos among the 150 colour images throughout this is a unique and fascinating insight into a pivotal player in the development of the modern automobile.
Just before midnight on May 14, 1914, a ferryboat departed from Weehawken, New Jersey and chugged along in the darkness across the Hudson River to Manhattan. On board was a tired-looking rider with an equally tired-looking motorcycle. The boat landed at ten minutes after midnight and there to greet him were representatives from the Federation of American Motorcyclists, the nation’s major motorcycle sanctioning organization. What they knew was that this rider, Erwin G. Baker, had just completed the fastest transcontinental trip in American history.
Baker’s journey of 3,497 miles had taken him 11 ½ days. And, oh, what an incredible 11 ½ days it was! After leaving San Diego on May 3rd he rode coast to coast, averaging only four hours sleep each night. Danger seemed to await him at every turn. In the Arizona desert he ran out of gas and had to push his motorcycle five miles in the sand in 119-degree heat. When he got to New Mexico he hit some rainy weather, which turned the historic Santa Fe Trail into a deep mud bog. He suffered six flat tires once on the same day, which he had to repair with the tools he carried with him, and in Pennsylvania he rode 232 miles of mud in a steady downpour. Despite all this, Baker continued east as fast as he could legally go. When he landed on Manhattan, he had smashed the current record holder’s long-standing record by more than nine days. His amazing journey concluded at the Hotel Astor in New York City where he was met by journalists wanting to get the story. One shouted out that he had “shot across the country like a cannon ball.” He was forever more Cannon Ball Baker!
In 2011, Don Emde, a former winner of the prestigious Daytona 200 motorcycle race and 1999 Inductee to the Motorcycle Hall of Fame, embarked on a multi-year project to understand the riding conditions and retrace the route that Cannon Ball Baker had taken in 1914. Using modern day computer search tools, GPS, and current adventure-style motorcycles, he and an assistant, Joe Colombero, logged numerous miles in the California and Arizona desert to work out what remains of the dirt roads that Baker had ridden. Their research ultimately took them on a ride all the way to New York City on the same route that Baker had taken. Their discoveries and difficulties is a great story in itself. Finally, in 2014, Emde led a group of 30 motorcyclists on a celebration ride from San Diego to New York City, just as Baker had done a century before. The group departed on May 3rd—100 years to the minute from when Cannon Ball had left San Diego—and arrived in New York just as he had on May 14th.
This is the story of three epic motorcycle rides across America.
