Fascinating tales beckon as pages unfold

History, nostalgia drive automotive writer

This season’s choice of books have been heavily influenced by a road trip I took in the summer, a sevenweek voyage in our 1950 Chevrolet along Route 66 to the salt flats of Bonneville and then onto the custom-car mecca of Southern California.

The Bonneville Salt Flats — Twenty Years of Photography

By Peter Vincent Stance & Speed $85 at www.stanceandspeed.com Hardcover, 272 pages, 12.5 x 10.75 in. Photos: 300+ colour and b&w images A photographer for more than 40 years, Peter Vincent lives in Moscow, Idaho, and his photography has a distinct western vibe to it, mixed with a passion for the California hotrod scene.

This gives his work a unique look that will interest the enthusiast as well as lovers of fine art photography. Vincent has captured the stark beauty of the desolate salt lakes of Utah, home to land speed racing since the end of the Second World War.

Pointing his lens at the curved horizon and at the fine details of salt-encrusted cars, Vincent presents one of the finest collections of images published to date.

A limited edition version of only 149 hand-numbered, author-signed books, is available for $300. It includes an exclusive archival print.

Bluebird and the Dead Lake

By John Pearson intro by Richard Williams Aurum Press U.K. $15.95 at www.motorbooks.com Paperback, 195 pages, 7.75 x 5.25 in. This fascinating book looks back at one of the world’s greatest adventures with a man who would ultimately die in his pursuit of speed records on land and sea. This was a different world, when the race for space began to overshadow traditional exploration of man’s limits. All things seemed possible in terms of speed. There was a great battle between British and American racers to claim the title of the world’s fastest land speed record.

Ab & Marvin Jenkins — The Studebaker Connection and the Mormon Meteors

By Gordon White Enthusiast Books $24.71 at www.motorbooks.com Paperback, 160 pages, 8.5 x 11 in. Photos: 200 b&w images Another fascinating tale of a father and son who set hundreds of speed records in the earliest days of racing on the salt flats of Utah. An intriguing story of how automobile manufacturers teamed up with brave drivers to set records in the quest for more sales in a crowded market.

Merchants of Speed: The Men Who Built America’s Performance Industry

By Paul D. Smith Foreword by Barney Navarro Motorbooks.com $30 @ www.motorbooks.com Hardcover, 240 pages 9.25 x 10.875 in. Photos: 250 b&w images This book is a fascinating look at the men behind the names that every kid knew by heart. These were the men who made hot-rodding and racing what it is today. In tiny garages and sheds, they designed parts and machined castings into the go-fast parts that we all desired.

The Hotrod Reader

By Peter Schletty and Melinda Keefe (editors) Motorbooks.com $18.75 at www.motorbooks.com Hardcover, 288 pages 6.25 x 9.25 in. Illustrations: 30 colour and 40 b&w images This book is a collection of articles and stories chronicling the joys of hot-rodding, the historical circumstances of its creation, and the major events, people, cars, and builders who have made customizing cars an art form. Writers include Jay Leno, Gray Baskerville, Ed Roth, Wally Parks, Dean Batchelor, Robert E. Petersen, Dean Moon, Ken Gross, Tom Wolfe, LeRoi “Tex” Smith, and many more.

Hotrod Roots: A Tribute to the Pioneers

Compiled by Dain Gingerelli Foreword by Alex Xydias American Hotrod Foundation $26.21 at www.motorbooks.com Hardcover, 176 pages, 9.25 x 10.875 in. Photos: 22 colour and 151 b&w photos Gingerelli looks into the roots of hot-rodding from the 1920s to the early 1960s and how they intertwined with racing on the dry lakes and salt flats. Robert Genat explores the symbiotic relationship between hot-rodders and the U.S. military during the Second World War; Pat Ganahl looks at the birth of the belly tank; Greg Sharp tracks hotrodding’s impact on the development of circle-track racing; Ginger- elli explains how the sanctioning of quarter-mile drag racing accelerated hot rodding’s growth; Ken Gross documents the effect of enthusiast magazines and car shows; and Mark Morton shows how hot-rodding’s early roots will always remain a part of the sport.

This book is filled with rare photographs from the archives of the American Hot Rod Foundation.

Kustomland: The Custom Car Photography of James Potter, 1955-1959

By Thom Taylor Motorbooks.com $18.71 at www.motorbooks.com Hardcover, 128 pages 8.25 x 10.625 in. Photos: 96 colour and 61 b&w images Kustomland was an area loosely defined as running from Long Beach in the south to Maywood in the north, near Hollywood. Filled with machine shops, garages and speed shops, this was the fertile ground where the U.S. custom car builders flourished after the Second World War.

In this photographic history of that time and place, Thom Taylor presents the best of James Potter’s photography, depicting the cars of Kustomland.

In brief two- to four-page features, two dozen renowned custom cars, from mild to radical, are caught by Potter’s freelance camera work.

Old School Customs: Top Traditional Custom Car Builders

By Alan Mayes Motorbooks.com $18.71 at www.motorbooks.com Hardcover, 160 pages 9.25 x 10.875 in. Photos: 206 colour and 5 b&w images This colourful book profiles the work of some of the car customizers who keep the flames lit with welding torches and paint guns. Featuring dozens of chopped, sectioned, shaved, decked, flamed, frenched, nosed, lowered, scalloped, striped, and slammed Caddies, Mercs, Buicks, shoebox Fords, Chevys, and Oldsmobiles that exemplify traditional custom car design, author Alan Mayes includes profiles of top builders, taking the reader to visit the workshops and garages of Gary ‘Chopit’ Fioto, John D’Agostino, Bill Hines, Richard Zocchi, Darryl Starbird, Bo Huff, Rick Murray, and others.

Hotrod Pin-Ups II: Gearhead Girls and Dragstrip Dolls

By David Perry (photographer), Foreword by Coop Motorbooks.com $18.71 at www.motorbooks.com Hardcover, 144 pages 10.875 x 9.25 in. Photos: 129 colour images Following his 2005 bestseller, Hot Rod Pin-Ups, photographer David Perry has an all-new collection of photos focused on the timeless theme of girls ’n’ hotrods.

Shot on location in garages, on the road, at the races, Perry, an accomplished master of contemporary hotrod pin-up photography, recalls classic 1950s illustrators. Essays by male and female stars of the hotrod world round out this delightful book.