Art & Inspiration Must Read Car Guy Books

I just finished reading "Go Like Hell", the book on which the movie Ford v. Ferrari was based. Wow! What a great and extremely well written story! This is one every car guy should read, regardless of whether you are a Ford guy or not.

It got me to thinking, what are other "Must read" books for car guys?

Definitely Smokey Yunick's "Best Damn Garage in Town" is on that list.

Also, I loved reading Peter Egan's books, which were compilations of his columns for "Road and Track" and "Cycle World". He is just my kind of guy, we share many interests and he can make me laugh out loud.

What are some of your favorites?

 

I got “go like hell” for Christmas, very excited to read it.

“Winning is not Enough” by Jackie Stewart is a great book.
I picked up a copy from the discount book sale and if I had know what a great book it was I would have gladly paid full price.
It’s not just a car story, I recommend it often to business people as it has a lot of great stories about being successful in business as well as sports.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I'm pretty keen on finding a copy of this, posted by Mr. Stumpy in the Fenton thread:

 

My favourite is, "The Street was fun in '51", Albert Drake

 

books easily available online - but, today went into local Barnes & Noble Book Store - it was packed, more people than I have seen in a book store for years - good to see - guess people using their Christmas gift cards

 

"The Birth Of Hot Rodding" Robert Genat

- EM

 

Madigan's "The Loner" about Tony Nancy is one of my favorite reads. Also if you're into drag racing history Robert Post's "High Performance" covers a lot of ground. I've got a couple bookshelves full of "must read" car books that I revisit all the time...lot of good stuff out there.

 

The Last Open Road by BS Levy. Read this book along with a couple of its sequels this is a great book that if you ever worked in a gas station, worked on cars or knew any characters that worked or hung around gas stations you will identify with the book. Very true to life, funny at times, but very relatable as a teen growing up to a man.

This is from Wikipedia: The Last Open Road is a novel written by B.S. Levy, a long time amateur racer. It tells the story of a young mechanic from P***aic, New Jersey who becomes involved in automobile road racing during its peak in the 1950s. The book follows Buddy Palumbo, the main character, as he has to balance family life with working on cars. Buddy works mostly at a small gas station in his home town of P***aic, but also worked briefly at a foreign car shop in New York City.

 

anything by Henry Gregor Felson.

 

can get good books at Rodder's Journal with 25% off Sale too

 

I’ll have to get some of those books -they sound great.
I like these:
Hot Rod Gallery (Pat Ganahl)
Lost Hot Rods 1, and 2 (Pat G. again)
How to Build Period Correct Hot Rods (Gerry Burger)
Similarly, Vern Tardel’s How to build a traditional hot rod
Hot Rod Empire (story of Robert E. Petersen, by Matt Stone)
The Bones books
Etc.

 

Ford Drag Team
History of the Ford Thunderbolt
Hubert Platt book

I might like Ford’s....

 

Some on my list and some I have read:

 

I am currently reading Fast Company Six Decades of Racers Rascals and Rods Bill Smith's autobiography



My other must reads-

Isky: Ed Iskenderian and the History of Hot Rodding


Merchants of Speed The Men Who Built America's Performance Industry


Ed "Big Daddy" Roth His Life, Cars, and Art

I bought my copy in a used book store and as I read found that someone had written on one of the pages-

 

Rockable nailed it! Anything written by Peter Egan. His stuff might be slightly o/t here, but he is my favorite all time author. Cars and motorcycles, his stuff is always great!


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Merchants of Speed. Been trying to read it all for the past 4 years. Way to much info to absorb, so I have to read it in intervals.

 

Ford, The Dust and The Glory by Leo Levine Same story as the Baime book written 50 years earlier.
Chevrolet = Racing by Paul Van Valkenburgh GM back door racing program in 60's.
Fast Guys, Rich Guys And Idiots by Sam Moses A motorsports writers inside story in the 70's
City of Speed by Joe Scalzo Some of the craftsman car builders from early Los Angeles area.
Again, anything from Peter Egan and some of Brock Yates.

 

"Cool Cars Square Roll Bars" by Arnie and Bernie Shuman. A must read that stays handy for reference on my shelf.

Photos and recollections of fifties Hot Rodding in New England, info impossible to find anywhere else from one source. Written by, with contributions from, those who lived it.

Ed

 

I think I've read almost every book mentioned above, and would recommend them to anyone.

 

If you have Flathead, one day this will be a must read for you........

 

If your a Chrysler guy, " We were the Ramchargers " and " They call me Mister 500 " about Andy Granatelli .

 

Great suggestions.
Surprised nobody has recommended the fantastic series of books from the late Don Montgomery (Rockerhead on the HAMB).
I have his entire series and have read them cover to cover many times. Light reading with plenty of photos.

 

I totally forgot about "Fast Guys.....and Idiots". That is a great read.

 

I'm back into this one every few weeks ...

 

I agree about the Andy Granatelli auto biography
It is humorous and well written. Often fellows on
the hamb raise questions and doubts about long
distance traveling with flat head Ford motor powered vehicles. In the Granatelli story there is a rollicking
account of Andy and his brother Vince, both hustling
young entrepreneurs of the post depression WW11
era. They account about hauling 40 ft. government house trailers from the Chicago area to the west coast for G.I. lodging. The brothers used hopped up 40 Ford
coups with an occasional G.I. along for a bit of extra
revenue. This chapter alone is an amazing revelation
of the durability of the flathead. Get yourself a copy,
its full of interesting stories.

 

"The Art Of Racing In The Rain" Great read and different. For Dog lovers also.

 

I listened to this book on an audio book while on a driving business trip. Story is told by Enzo the main characters dog. Sounds bit weird but really works. It will make you laugh but probably also bring a tear to your eye. Really great book. The movie adaptation was also very good staying pretty close to the actual book.

 

All of Roger Jetter's (40studedude here on 'HAMB') books

 

Hello,

There are a ton of books that we all like, mentioning something about cars and hot rods. The first one read cover to cover was in 1965 called “The Kandy Colored Tangerine Flake Streamline Baby,” by Tom Wolfe. It is a cl***ic, previously published in Esquire in magazine form. At the time of the era, I was a college student with open eyes and ears.

The world was pressing down on all of us and there had to be time to just sit around in a neighborhood park on a sunny day reading this cl***ic book. It was one of the first books I bought that year other than those expensive school books. Obviously, it was much more appealing. I needed something to get me back in line with my Long Beach hot rod roots and locale. Drag racing was fading, although several trips to the nearby Fremont Dragstrip was fun, but it was unfamiliar and I lost interest, as I was not involved, but just a spectator.

This book brought back some of the memories of just being involved and in an area that we had seen/ visited. We were able to see those cool cars at our local, almost monthly, car shows. Sure the Grand National Roadster Show was also just up the freeway, but by the time I enrolled, it was over and the next time it came around, I was back in Long Beach.

It is not a coffee table book, but something that is referenced as a new way see and read about So Cal hot rod/custom car culture. It still is a cl***ic read.
1st edition
“Originally published in Esquire magazine in 1963 under the ***le "There Goes (Varoom! Varoom!) That Kandy-Kolored (Thphhhhhh!) Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby (Rahghhh!) Around the Bend (Brummmmmmmmmmmmmmm)…" Wolfe's essay for Esquire and this, his first book, are frequently heralded as early examples of New Journalism.”

Description: Wolfe's account of the custom car culture centers on Ed Roth, one of the fathers of the Kustom Kulture movement and George Barris, who had a completely different philosophy of customizing cars (Roth’s pure art approach, as compared to Barris’ cars that were still designed for drivers), but called himself the "King of the Kustomizers."

Jump up a million light years to 2015 and I needed some reference books to get some identification for my newly created digital movie films. In talking to one of the original writers of the coffee table style books on drag racing and hot rod circles, it opened my eyes to how others saw the historic action back in 1958-60 era. It was nice to see a section that told about our 1940 Willys incident, although mislabeled from a Drag News story of that time period. The book told of a different way to see what was happening in those development years at Lions Dragstrip, the Long Beach speed shop collective, and the new ideas that came from those innovators, Mickey Thompson, Joe Mailliard, Joe Reath, Clay Smith, etc.

Mickey Bryant /Todd Hutcherson’s books on Lions Dragstrip
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-history-of-los-angeles.446547/page-115#post-12484729

Jnaki

The neat thing about these books is the different approach to the historic era. The big names in drag racing ventured out West to give everyone information on their builds and experiences. The So Cal racers were holding their own with new records in almost every racing cl***. Every publication of the time period had their own way to look at things.

Now the most recent (2017) collection of stories, original artwork, historic photographs of this developing era was also rewritten and captured through another set of eyes. John “Waldo” Glaspey developed this latest book on drag racing and So Cal culture from his countless experiences in the area, while growing up.

This definitely is a coffee table book that will draw people’s eyes to the cover and once inside, will be amazed at what is in store for them throughout the book. We have it front and center in our conversation room and it fits right in with various topics that deal with hot rods and drag racing. It can be described as a very comprehensive description and stories from that historic era. As seen from a young person’s eyes and growing up right in the middle of the time period. It falls into the category of “must have and must read” before any other book on the subject matter.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/what-are-you-reading.1111852/#post-12650123 John Glaspey

an excerpt from another thread:
“I have read and watched most magazines and books as well as movie films from Lions Dragstrip’s history from the beginning. We seemed to have been walking distance to the drags like a lot of Westside Long Beach locals back then. So, the history was well within our realm of home court advantage in information. Some of the books are really good and do a great job of stating actual facts, supported by plenty of photos.”

“The most recent book on Lions Dragstrip, “So Cal Thunder…When Lions Roared” is written by John “Waldo” Glaspey. It is one of those books that supports the fact that it is well done and has the most comprehensive historical writing/photos/original artwork of any book on the subject. This is a book for the archives, your coffee table, and for your drag racing history paraphernalia.”