By Kamil Kaluski
At the Overland Expo East I bought both of Dan Grec’s books; The Road Chose Me and 999 Days Around Africa. We chatted, I took pics of his Jeep, and he signed the books for me. I am currently halfway through The Road Chose Me and it’s really good. More on the books and Dan’s Jeep later.
Reading this book made my realize that perhaps we should start something like The Hooniverse Book Club©®™. There we would recommend and discuss books on automotive, transportation, travel, and basically anything-car related topics. Service manuals, while likely most widely read, would be excluded.
What good automotive books have you read? My last one was The Act of Racing in the Rain. I don’t remember any of it other than that it was good.
Jeff Glucker
The Unfair Advantage by Mark Donohue hooked me until I finished it. It made seeing the 917/30 at the Indy Museum even more special.
I have read it after I got a recommendation here. Indeed interesting!
I am sure I would like Smokey Yunick’s posthumous autobiography, but have not purchased it yet.
http://www.smokeyyunick.com/autobiography.php
I liked Brock Yates’s book on Enzo Ferrari.
https://books.google.com/books/about/Enzo_Ferrari.html?id=iVmnDwAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description
Not car related, but definitely snowmobile racing related
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41-DgPiI7ML._SX298_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
Really, really entertaining read of the wild, wild west snowmobile racing scene in the ’60s and ’70s – from the beginnings to the tragic end of the Polaris factory race team in 1978.
As enthusiastic about cars as I am, I don’t think I’ve ever read a legitimate automotive book (other than repair manuals or reference catalogues).
BS Levy’s The Last Open Road is an excellent fiction read as are the next two in the series, Montezuma’s Ferrari and The Fabulous Trashwagon.
I have had Bob Lutz’s Car Guys vs. Bean Counters sitting on my bookshelf forever.
Brock Yates’ Sunday Driver is a classic, and since it’s Tuesday, A Twist of the Wrist by Keith Code and Tuning for Speed by Phil Irving
Lee Parks’ Total Control is a pretty good bikey guide to go with Code’s book.
Engines of Change: A History of the American Dream in Fifteen Cars by Paul Ingrassia is the auto history book I recommend to most anyone. It only focuses on 15 cars but goes deep into detail about WHY each one was so impactful and the stories behind it. It makes the cars relatable beyond their own merits and brings in cultural context.
W.O. Bentley’s “My Life and My Cars”
Great insight into early LeMans racing. Funny to read how he sandbagged Mercedes.
CAR by Mary Walton is a great insight into the design process of the 1996 ford taurus, and modern vehicles in general
Anything written by Peter Egan.
“Car Design Asia: Myths, Brands, People” – by Paulo Tuminelli is the only one that really sticks.
Probably the only book about Asian cars I’ve read that doesn’t approach it with western pre-conception and dismantles a lot of snooty Euro-centric assumptions about design intent. e.g. Europeans used to mock Toyota Crowns and the like as knock-off Mercedes, when in fact they were apeing Cadillac. It’s pretty funny how it disarms that sense of self importance. Also, it has lots of Pictures and less words.
Not read “The Art of Racing in the Rain”, but I’d take a lot of convinicing that a novel featuring reincarnation as a dog played entirely sincerly as a plot point is going to be good.
While I have read many auto related and themed books over the years, this kid’s novel, published in 1968, may best indicate the love thejeepjunkie and I have for all things Jeep. Back in the day, we read it until it was “dog eared” and I am pretty sure that original copy still sits on a shelf in his home to this day. A few years ago, I tried to “borrow” it from him but he would not let it out of his sight. Ahhh….simpler times to be sure. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6cf5598a25bd31828beea3a4b41258efe5da107b6b4f902c46ca0b57cba5ea9c.jpg