Single best car/racing/driving book you have ever read.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Is "Street Rod" the one where the kid builds up a trick deuce, paints it pink and gets killed on the last page?

You read it too?? Ha!
It's been over 50 years since I read it, but that sounds about right. I think we're talking about the same book. I got caught up in a fit of nostalgia and went to eBay and ordered a vintage copy just after I posted that.

[L8Brakr]

Fast Guys, Rich Guys, and Idiots - By Sam Moses.

Moses was a Sports Illustrated writer. He was assigned a project to go racing at the entry-level and bring back a story. Great read. Almost 35 year old book, but go to any HPDE or Club Race of your choice and you will still see the same variation of characters today.

[tevake]

Tom Cotter's. Barn find books are fun!

Cheers Richard

[herr_oberst]

I read every car book that the little school library had when I was a kid. There weren't very many of them, so I re-read 'em a lot....

There was another one where the kid (who had a twin brother who played the piano) built up a 55 chevy dragster, went racing, and eventually graduated to a rail dragster.

Then there was another one where some kids who lived in Detroit went to the soap box derby,

But "The Red Car" was the best. The kid bought a wrecked MGTC and fixed it up with the help of a grizzled old mechanic, "Frenchy", and entered a road race in his town. He couldn't drive it in the race because he was too young, so Frenchy (who it turned out was a famous racer back in the day) raced it while the kid rode shotgun...They raced against Oscas and Porsches and Simcas and the like. It established a romantic love of furrin cars in me!
(In a fit of nostalgia, I went on ebay to find it but copies are between 75 and a hundred bucks, so I shelved that urge to relive my yoot..)

[tevake]

Yep, I read all the car books I could get my hands on in jr High school years.

I remember one where a kid was driving in his hot rod panel van or truck. And got into a little race with some sort of sports car. When the car pulled over with problems he went back. Pull a hilicoil out of the back his truck and fixed a blown out spark plug in th exports car.
Think this led to a job working on sports/race cars. ( the dream of lots of readers)

Funny what will pop into focus sometimes.

Cheers Richard

[nota]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

I read every car book that the little school library had when I was a kid. There weren't very many of them, so I re-read 'em a lot....
(In a fit of nostalgia, I went on ebay to find it but copies are between 75 and a hundred bucks, so I shelved that urge to relive my yoot..)

old car books are mostly insane priced
esp the good ones

but I didnot know the car fiction is also up there

[Noah930]

Another vote for The Art of Racing in the Rain.

I've also enjoyed the Burt Levy series of books about sportscar racing in the 1950s and 60s: The Last Open Road, Montezuma's Ferrari, The Fabulous Trashwagon, & Toly's Ghost.

[nut11]

Vic Elford "High Performance Driving"

87 blk coupe
11 GTI

[Bill Douglas]

I liked the Vic Elford book too. I follow his advice for smooth fast flow through the twisties. All of his stuff made sense too.

[doug_porsche]

If you like old (60ies - 70ies) F1, and getting an insight on how successful people/teams think..

The old (pre-1975's) Jackie Stewart authored books

Example: Faster! A racers diary or World Champion, etc

PS. Racing it the rain was stupid. I dont like books where the dog dies.

[mikesride]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Is "Street Rod" the one where the kid builds up a trick deuce, paints it pink and gets killed on the last page?

Thanks for ruining the ending!!!!!! LOL!!!!!

[Scott Douglas]

Jenks - A Passion for Motorsports

I remember reading a series of books in elementary school about a Mexican mechanic that worked on Carrera Panamerica cars but I can't remember the titles or who wrote them

[dafischer]

PJ O'Rourke's "Driving Like Crazy". Damn funny, and good car stories as well.

[masraum]

Not exactly a regular book, but I think you can buy books that are compilations of the Peter Egan "Side Glances" columns from R&T. I haven't, but I've always wanted to. The Peter Egan column was always my favorite part of R&T, and I actually enjoyed reading R&T, especially compared to the other US car mags.

[Jrboulder]

Porsche 911 Story 5th edition by Paul Frère

The 5th edition covers all of the air cooled models and nothing beyond it.

[71scgc]

The Racing Driver by Denis Jenkinson.

When I brought home my first Alfa, my Pop handed me his copy.

Carter

[jcommin]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

You read it too?? Ha!
It's been over 50 years since I read it, but that sounds about right. I think we're talking about the same book. I got caught up in a fit of nostalgia and went to eBay and ordered a vintage copy just after I posted that.

I read this in high school in the mid 60's. I think I read it twice.

[wdfifteen]

After I read Street Rod I built a Revel '32 Ford kit like the car on the cover of the book. I even posed the front wheels the way they are on cover of the book. I don't remember painting it pink though. It was a light maroon - I think.
Sorry, I've gone WAY off topic.

[Wilhelm]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

I was probably in the fifth grade when I found this treasure, and I bet I read it 5 times:

I remember that book as well !

[Wilhelm]

Here are 2 of my favorites from many years ago:
"Cars at Speed"

"The Cruel Sport"

Both by Robert Daley. I wore those books out. So I bought used copies on ebay a few years ago