Books and Models

Two must-own car design books and a new Porsche 718 RSK ‘Monoposto’ model by Cult

To Boldly Go

By Graham Hull, £25, veloce.co.uk, ISBN 978 1 78711 002 1 Graham Hull was chief stylist at Rolls-royce in the Nineties, so this refreshingly unique work comes from someone with vast industry knowledge and deep insight.

Hull’s subject is the car designs that pioneered new thinking or took radical ideas to pure conclusions. Because of this, the book contains few obvious cars apart from the Austin Seven, Citroën 2CV and Mini.

It seems eccentric at first, but by the midway point when Hull explains why the Panhard 24CT was more revolutionary and influential in design terms than the Citroën DS, we see how the world of car design is so often years ahead of its time.

From the origins of the affordable ‘light car’ and the influence of sidecar racers on sports car handling and what the Alfa Romeo SZ has in common with almost all cars designed since – it’s all here.

The Le Mans Model Collection 1949-2009

By Mark Holman, £200, porterpress.co.uk, ISBNS 978 1 907085 57 4 / 58 1 / 59 8 This heavyweight three-volume epic is as unusual an undertaking as it is lavish. Master modelmaker the late Ron Peggs scratch-built tiny detailed replicas of every car to race at the Le Mans 24 Hours between 1949 and 2009, and these books are a tribute to his work as well as a document of the famous race over 60 years.

Each year’s event gets a precis page explaining the context and the technical developments that changed the appearance of motor sport over the decades. What follows is a reminder of all the diverse machinery to contest endurance racing’s ultimate trophy, as well as engine and driver information and the fate of the car in the race.

The Encyclopaedia of Italian Coachbuilders

By Alessandro Sannia, £149, ilcammello.it, ISBN 978 88 96796 43 6 Few people have attempted to tackle a book spanning the entire story of Italian coachbuilding – because it’s such a huge task. Alessandro Sannia’s slipcased two-volume 654-page document is exhaustive and the result of many years of work.

The two books are dominated by an in-depth A-Z of Italian design houses, coachbuilders and modifiers. Where possible Sannia has sourced supporting photographs to demonstrate trends and common themes, and there are sections on the likes of Bertone, Italdesign and Pininfarina, and on the birth of aluminium-forming techniques.

It may be expensive, but this is surely the definitive reference work on Italian coachbuilding.