The Art of the Sports Car: The Greatest Designs of the 20th Century

From Publishers Weekly
Auto buffs will be in raptures over this lusciously illustrated history of the sports car. Adler, editor of Car Collector magazine, provides a highly detailed account of the evolution of small cars with big engines, recounting the travails of famous auto designers, the engineering and styling innovations they pioneered and the races and road rallies at which cars proved (and advertised) themselves. His narrative dwells mostly on European makes such as Jaguar, Porsche and Ferrari, but also discusses the American Corvette and muscle cars like the Ford Thunderbird and the Dodge Challenger. Sounding a frankly erotic note, Adler writes that "this book is, then, about passion" and "lust" and "about whatever fuels your desires when...you whisper to yourself, 'I want one.'" Hard-core aficionados will derive much gratification from the detailed descriptions of mechanical design and performance ("the engine developed 105 horsepower at 4,800 rpm, with a 72mm x 100 mm (2.8 inch x 3.9 inch) bore times stroke and 7.5:1 compression ratio"). But just about anyone will be entranced at the pictures of classic cars meticulously restored, polished to a sheen and photographed on opulent country estates. It's a "high-speed tour" of the greatest sports cars in history, enthuses the famously car-collecting Leno, and while this volume is a kind of car porn, many of these machines are indeed beautiful enough to merit the term "art."Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
There are great cars, and then there are sports cars, those that have not only withstood the test of time but steadfastly defied it -- cars that have remained desirable and valuable for more than 50 years, to become the most treasured automotive artifacts of our time. Many of the automobiles pictured in this book are stunning examples of the motorcar and require no further credentials. Others have been selected because they were benchmarks in the history of the sports car in this century. Illustrated throughout, with more than three hundred color photos, this gorgeous profile of the most highly coveted cars on earth is sure to evoke the dream of all car enthusiasts: speed and adventure.


About the Author
Author and photographer Dennis Adler is recognized as one of the leading automotive photojournalists in the world, with more than 5,000 articles and photographs published. The Art of the AutomobileMotor Trend, Road & Track,andAutoweek,to Forbes,the Robb Report, Popular Mechanics, and the Dupont Registry. His photographs have graced the covers of hundreds of magazines, and during the late 1980's and early 1990's, he did much of the new product photography for the Chevrolet Motor Car Division of General Motors. He is also a noted portraitist of automotive collectors and their collections.Adler is a member if the prestigious Meguiar's committee, which annually selects and pays tribute to those individuals who have excelled in the automotive hobby; he serves on the Meadow Brook Concours d'Elegance Selection Committee, and was a founding member of the American Automotive Heritage Foundation. He is presently senior editor of European Car, and for the past fifteen years has been the senior contributing editor of The Star--the official publication of the Mercedes-Benz club of America. A native Californian, he now lives in central Pennsylvania.


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Auto buffs will be in raptures over this lusciously illustrated history of the sports car. Adler, editor of Car Collector magazine, provides a highly detailed account of the evolution of small cars with big engines, recounting the travails of famous auto designers, the engineering and styling innovations they pioneered and the races and road rallies at which cars proved (and advertised) themselves. His narrative dwells mostly on European makes such as Jaguar, Porsche and Ferrari, but also discusses the American Corvette and muscle cars like the Ford Thunderbird and the Dodge Challenger. Sounding a frankly erotic note, Adler writes that "[t]his book is, then, about passion" and "lust" and "about whatever fuels your desires when...you whisper to yourself, 'I want one.'" Hard-core aficionados will derive much gratification from the detailed descriptions of mechanical design and performance ("the engine developed 105 horsepower at 4,800 rpm, with a 72mm x 100 mm (2.8 inch x 3.9 inch) bore times stroke and 7.5:1 compression ratio"). But just about anyone will be entranced at the pictures of classic cars meticulously restored, polished to a sheen and photographed on opulent country estates. It's a "high-speed tour" of the greatest sports cars in history, enthuses the famously car-collecting Leno, and while this volume is a kind of car porn, many of these machines are indeed beautiful enough to merit the term "art." (On sale Oct. 22) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.


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