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.
Haynes offers the best coverage for cars, trucks, vans, SUVs and motorcycles on the market today. Each manual contains easy to follow step-by-step instructions linked to hundreds of photographs and illustrations. Included in every manual: troubleshooting section to help identify specific problems; tips that give valuable short cuts to make the job easier and eliminate the need for special tools;notes, cautions and warnings for the home mechanic; color spark plug diagnosis and an easy to use index.
“Almost 30 years have passed since the publication of the first book about the famous Tipo 60 and 61 Birdcage Maserati race cars. A new, more comprehensive description of their competition history has been long overdue and Dalton Watson Fine Books are delighted to announce the publication of Maserati Tipo 60 and 61; The Magnificent Front-engined Birdcages. Much additional information has come to light in the last two decades which has enabled the authors, Willem Oosthoek and Michel Bollée, to include numerous updates, corrections, and further elaboration regarding the history of this innovative design.
In 1959, while Ferrari and Aston Martin battled for supremacy in the World Sports Car Championship, Maserati returned to the racing scene with an amazing sports racer, revolutionary in concept: the 2-liter Tipo 60. The car received the nickname ‘Birdcage’ because of the design of its chassis and was immediately successful. The 3-liter version, the Tipo 61, appeared soon after in response to demand from the many private owners and drivers determined to make the Ferraris eat dust. Twenty-two front-engined Birdcage Maseratis campaigned in a vast number of races during the nine-year period between 1959 and 1967. Light and fast, by 1967 they had accumulated almost 170 victories. The new book is a complete history of the car during those years and, for the first time, includes the many Birdcage appearances in European events.
Part 1 of the book covers each individual year, divided in segments on World Championship, North American and European events. Part 2 portrays the individual race history of each chassis number, as well as the owner sequence over the years. At the end of the book each driver is linked to the specific chassis number[s] of the Birdcages in which he competed.
The authors have had the benefit of inpupload ut by many personalities involved in the early history of the Birdcage Maseratis, both drivers and car owners. The book contains first-hand anecdotes, the result of interviews with Bill Krause [the 1960 Times Grand Prix victor, who also wrote the Introduction], Chuck Daigh, Jim Jeffords and many more. In addition, making the book come alive visually are the great images taken by professional photographers such as Flip Schulke and Bob Tronolone, and photographs from the personal collections of the owners and drivers, many of them previously unpublished. “
No other Hollywood star has been so closely linked with cars and bikes, from the 1968 Ford Mustang GT Fastback he drove in Bullitt (in the greatest car chase of all time) to the Triumph motorcycle of The Great Escape. McQueen’s Machines gives readers a close-up look at the cars and motorcycles McQueen drove in movies, those he owned, and others he raced. With a foreword by Steve’s son, Chad McQueen, and a wealth of details about of the star’s racing career, stunt work, and car and motorcycle collecting, McQueen’s Machines draws a fascinating picture of one outsized man’s driving passion. Now in paperback.
A Celebration of Beetle Culture
For everyone who ever drove one, crammed into one, or plays Punch Buggy when one drives by, here comes The Volkswagen Bug Book. Filled with 200 color and black-and-white photos of everybody’s favorite car, The Bug Book is a high-design trip back to when Beetles filled the highways, Flower Children roamed the streets, and Love and Bug were forever linked. Author Dan Ouellette combed the archives of the official Volkswagen museum in Wolfsburg, Germany, for the best historical photos. Back home, Ouellette collected photographs of the most remarkable vintage VWs in the country as well as some less than pristine but nevertheless lovable models. The Bug Book is filled with personal anecdotes, detailed history and little known facts about the German car that zoomed into America’s heart. For new Bug owners, there’s a chapter devoted to Bug 2.0 and how it grew. It’s the collector’s most comprehensive Beetle book yet, and for everyone else, it’s the book that coffee tables can’t resist.
In the summer of 2003, the last original Beetle rolled off the assembly line in Puebla, Mexico and an era ended. In fact, author Dan Ouellette was featured at the time on The Connection with host Michael Goldfarb on WBUR/Boston. But like the car it celebrates, The Volkswagen Bug Book isn’t going to fade away — it has gained a new life, in an updated paperbound edition.
Architecture and automobiles have been intrinsically linked since the dawn of the internal combustion engine, from the assembly plant to the showroom and on to that ubiquitous fixture of the artificial landscape, the service station. The streamlined forms of automobiles have often inspired architects and some have even ventured into designing their own cars.
This book features Foster and Partners, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, ONL, Renzo Piano, Populous, Zaha Hadid, UNStudio and Massimiliano Fuksas, and presents their best projects, including the BMW Museum in Munich, the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, the Audi museum in Ingolstadt by 24-H, Manuel Gautrand’s Citroen museum on the Champs Elyssee in Paris, and the Regio Emilia bridge by Santiago Calatrava in Italy.
The Hubble Space Telescope is an international venture primarily between the USA and Europe. More than any other space project, Hubble has encouraged an expanding interest in popular astronomy. With stunning views of the cosmos, it has inspired a new generation of enthusiasts to study the night sky through simple telescopes or in books. As such it has linked space technology with popular interest in astronomy and has thrilled specialists and the lay public alike.
