This charming book, packed with unique artwork and engaging photographs, celebrates scooter mania.
In a feast of nostalgia, it takes us through the evolution of the scooter, focusing naturally on all things Lambretta and Vespa, but also covering plenty of obscure and eccentric machinery along the way. Scooter enthusiasm in all its forms receives generous attention, whether as fashion accessory for fifties movie stars, style-conscious transport choice for the Mod generation, or object of worship for today’s retro-loving adherents.
- Scooters take off: rising from the rubble of post-war Italy, Piaggio emerged first with its Vespa (meaning ‘wasp’), soon followed by Innocenti and its Lambretta (named after a Milan suburb).
- Evolution: numerous Lambretta and Vespa models over the years are illustrated and explained, accompanied by a look at the myriad accessories available for them.
- Not just in Italy: a survey of classic-era scooters from Britain (such as Brockhouse Corgi, Sun Wasp and Triumph Tigress), Germany (such as Glas Goggo, Zündapp Bella and Heinkel Tourist), Japan (such as Fuji Rabbit, Mitsubishi Silver Pigeon and Honda Juno) and elsewhere.
- Mod culture: emerging in the sixties and entwined with music and fashion, it made a unique contribution to scooter fandom that has since embraced the globe.
- Scooters as classics: the resurgence of interest since the late seventies and all that has come with it, from restoration and racing to customising and clubs.
- Scooter tales worldwide: Cesare Bataglini’s round-the-world Lambretta odyssey; Mod revivalists in Tokyo; elderly scooters soldiering on in Africa; Indonesia’s Rebel Riders and their crazy Vespa-derived creations; scaling Ben Nevis on a Lambretta; and much more.
Quotes in the book such as “The scooters, clothes and music — an unforgettable time of my life” and “Exciting, fun and carefree days when anything seemed possible” sum up the enduring appeal of classic scooters. Anyone afflicted with the obsession will adore this book.
Car photography often evokes the same recycled tropes. Predictably slick, hi-spec images on the front pages of glossy magazines, or huge blow-ups on giant billboards which have one designed aim: to sell a lifestyle. But our relationship with cars is so much more meaningful than these images might suggest. Like the camera, the car has changed the way we explore the world. With cars came road trips, and with road trips came some of the most important photographic documentaries of our time. A car is a vehicle not just for transport but for our hopes, desires and dreams. In Smoke and Mirrors, a selection of world-renowned and up-and-coming photographers come together to pay tribute to the car. From Nick Turpin’s images of ‘donut’ skid marks, Todd Hido’s painterly landscapes taken through wet windscreens and William Green’s shots of sleeping Tokyo taxi drivers, these photographs display cars at their most playful, introspective and meaningful, reminding us that there is more to them than just metal and machinery – for cars are emotionally intertwined with the lives we live.
In May 1935, twenty-two-year-old Max Reisch and nineteen-year-old Helmuth Hahmann set out in a small motor car to find a land route from India to China. Their journey across Asia took them from Haifa to Tokyo.
In this lively account, the author regales us with one story after another, struck with wonder or struggling against disaster in countries which deeply concern us today: Iraq with its oilfields, ancient Iran in the throes of modernization, proud Afghanistan, and British India with its stunning variety of civilization.
Before the building of the Burma Road, driving from India to southern China meant sinking over the axles in mud on forest tracks and crossing torrents on rickety ferryboats. It also meant encounters with strange and fascinating peoples and places.
Originally written by Max Reisch in German, this brand new English translation of An Incredible Journey by Alison Falls captures all the excitement of the journey, and features fascinating historical photos of the journey from the Reisch archives.
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Just as Kawasaki was about to green-light the world’s first mass-produced across-the-frame four-cylinder motorcycle, Honda pulled the rug out from under them, unveiling the CB750-4 at the Tokyo Show in 1968. It lit the fuse for what was to become motorcycling’s most explosive decade. In never before published interviews, with the men responsible for the bike code-named ‘New York Steak,’ Dave Sheehan relates the story behind the Z1’s development; the secret US testing programme in which a team including Imola-race winner Paul Smart rode pre-production bikes disguised as Hondas coast-to-coast across America. The Kawasaki Z1 Story examines the myth, truth and legend surrounding the Z1’s first race win – of which even Kawasaki knew nothing. Here, too, is the full story of the epic three days at Florida’s legendary Daytona Speedway when a trio of Z1s broke more than 50 speed endurance records.
This is the story of one of the most beloved and decorated aircraft carriers in U.S. Naval history. The book tells about how she came to be named the USS Lexington in 1942, and of her many exploits during World War II and after. It relates the circumstances of her being reported sunk several times by “Tokyo Rose” and why the Lady Lex stood as a formidable symbol of strength and determination during the war. The Blue Ghost destroyed or severely damaged over 900,000 tons of enemy shipping and destroyed more than 1,000 enemy aircraft during World War II. She recorded more arrested landings than any carrier in naval history. Appropriately, she was the first U.S. carrier to enter Tokyo Bay after the surrender. This is a very readable and fascinating account of a remarkable aircraft carrier which was capably commanded and manned, and which won the hearts and admiration of countless men and women she affected throughout her active life. The USS Lexington was decommissioned in November 1991 at Pensacola, Florida, The Cradle of Naval Aviation. She serves today as a popular floating Naval Museum in Corpus Christi, Texas.
“The Pacific island of Iwo Jima was the most expensive piece of real estate America has ever purchased. Lying halfway between U.S. air bases in the Mariana Islands and downtown Tokyo, the Japanese island was a threat to American aviation operations during the last phases of the Pacific war. So the United States took Iwo Jima, and in the process lost over 6,800 fighting men in some of the most brutal and bloody fighting of the war.
Once the tables were turned, Iwo Jima offered valuable advantages to its conquerors. The island became a massive, unsinkable “aircraft carrier,” close enough to Japan to furnish fighter escorts for big bombers, a hub for air sea rescue efforts, and an emergency landing field for hundreds of crippled American bombers.
This book examines all aspects of the aviation activities surrounding Iwo Jima during the last year of World War II with exciting and informative first-hand accounts and hundreds of color and black and white images—many of which have never been published before.”
Riveting, first-person accounts that put the reader in the cockpit
Dozens of photographs of the planes and the pilots that flew and fought in the skies from Tokyo to Berlin
Find out what it was like to fly some of the all-time classic aircraft of World War II, including the P-51 Mustang, B-17 Flying Fortress, P-47 Thunderbolt, P-38 Lightning, P-40 Kittyhawk, and many more!
“Double Nickel 2” is a long-awaited release of a collection of artworks by Yoshio Nakazawa. He is an active contributor to in American cars and bike specialty magazines, fashion and lifestyle magazines. The book includes air brush, watercolor, and digital works which have been drawn over a the last 25 years, . His work provides a variety of lyrical expressions that let you feel realistic depiction of the subject from rusty junk yards to cool custom bikes, from the classic cars with gleaming chrome which evoke the dry air and smell of America. If you are a fan of cars or automotive art this is a book want to own.
About the author
Born in Tokyo in 1959. Graduated from Tama Art University graphic design department. In 1985, he debuted professionally in a series of motorbike specialty magazines, and released works based on American Hot Rod, Kustom, Biker culture. His work has a realistic descriptive power and lyrical expression and is popluar in a wide range of fields including publication and advertising. In 2008, he was invited to the art show “California Screamin 3” at Los Angeles art gallery “Gasoline” to display his works which received high praise from around the world.
Hard cover 168 pages
Whether hippie vehicle, work machine, camper van, family car or sought-after collector’s item: for fans of the Volkswagen Transporter or “Bulli” there really is nothing better.
On occasion of the world premiere of the brand new model, Volkswagen Transporter T6, and the 65th birthday of the Type 2, this book portrays the VW Bulli and its devotees. Apart from celebrities like Jacky Ickx or Johann Lafer Bulli Love presents Bulli fans from all over the world: an Indian Transporter enthusiast at the colourful Holi festival, a New York youngster, who earned his camper van by mowing lawns or the Tokyo trio with their T3 models.
Bulli Love combines wonderful reports from all over world with excellent photos of Bulli models and their owners. Pure passion, exceptionally staged, this is a magnum opus for one of the very few, unique automobiles of the world. A popular figure par excellence.
