Automotive Car Books? Who Collects?

[mrknowetall]

Who's got 'em? This is my bloated collection. It's still growing.

Edited July 27, 2013 by mrknowetall

[mrknowetall]

Detail shots...

[Ace-Garageguy]

I've been collecting (since the early '70s) aeronautical and automotive engineering books and service manuals from the 1920s, including a first edition (1923) "Internal Combustion Engine" by Sir Harry Ricardo, and everything ever written by Michael Costin (half of Cosworth), Colin Campbell and some other notables.

Edited July 27, 2013 by Ace-Garageguy

[The70judgeman]

I've been collecting automotive, as well as aircraft and train books, over the last 20-25 years. I'd take a picture of the book shelf, but the shelves recently collapsed under the weight of the books. They're now just stacked on the floor in a bedroom. I use them a lot as reference while building models.

[lordairgtar]

Since before I ever got a computer. I found that magazines only held a small part of automotive knowledge. So I started buying books at yard sales, libraries, Half Price Book et al. Most are stored in the garage and some in the bedroom. Had to make an emergency move a few years ago and I almost threw them out. A girl helping me move said I should make room for them somehow. That is how they wound up in the garage. Glad I listened to the girl...thanks Ashley!

[Eshaver]

^{Gee, include me too. Hey, I've been collecting car books , history books , automotive histories , shop manuals , you name it , I'm still buying . For what it's worth, I was the researcher for the book , Check the Oil by Scott Anderson and I wrote a college text , Contains Lead , a retail look at gasoline station practices .............}

[Longbox55]

Count me in on this list, too. Most of mine is tired up in tractor/ag equipment and Chevrolet/GMC truck books, lots of very dry reading. I also have a habit of reading shop manuals for fun.

[Bernard Kron]

I guess I'm a steady, life-long collector with a small but good quality library, mostly about racing cars and race car engineering. I don't actually see myself as a collector because I buy books to read, but I've always had trouble getting rid of the books I like so the "collection" has grown over the years. I have books going back to my childhood. The subject matter varies according to what things automotive I have been interested in at various times. Currently I seem to be acquiring hot rod and custom car oriented books. I buy whatever takes my fancy, both old books and current releases. I'm particularly attracted to books contemporary with their subject matter and to oral histories. I have north of 150 books. Here are some of my all-time favorites which I have read repeatedly and still go back to even now.

• The Grand Prix Car - Volumes 1-2 by Laurence Pomeroy (1906-1953), Volume 3 by L.J.K. Setright. (1954-1966)
• American Road Racing - The Automobile Racing Club Of America In The 1930's by John C. Rueter
• Racing With Mercedes Benz by George Monkhouse (published by Floyd Clymer in 1948, Monkhouse's year with MB in 1938)
• Muroc: When the Hot Rods Ran May 15, 1938 by William Carroll (a l ittle photo book of a day at the lakes)
• Flat Out by Albert Drake (pre-war lakes racing and hot rodding)
• Offenhauser and also Kurtis Kraft, both by Gordon White
• Racing and Sports Car Chassis Design by Michael Costin and David Phipps (from 1967, first edition)
• The Golden Age of the American Racing Car and Miller, both by Griff Borgeson
• Book Of The 1950 Carrera Panamericana - Mexican Road Race by Floyd Clymer (published immediately after the first year and an original edition)
• High Performance: The Culture and Technology of Drag Racing, 1950-2000 by Dr. Robert C. Post (the greatest history of Top Fuel drag racing ever written)
• Kustomland: The Custom Car Photography of James Potter, 1955-1959 by Thom Taylor
• Barris Kustom Techniques of the '50s: Volumes 1-4 by George Barris
• For Practice Only by Louis Klemantaski and Michael Frostick and also Klemantaski Himself (his autobiography) (the dean of postwar grand prix and sportscar photography)
• The American Hot Rod by Dean Batchelor

Edited July 27, 2013 by Bernard Kron

[mk11]

Anyone remember these?

Kept finding these during my searches of book stores, flea markets and garage sales for 'real' car books and manuals so I started collecting them too

mike

[Chitown]

I've amassed a bit of a collection over the years.

Primarily drag racing related, starting with The Sox & Martin book of Drag Racing in 1974.

I'm always on the lookout for new releases on vintage drag racing, and there have been some really good ones in recent years.

I also have a collection-in-progress of vintage hot rod magazines, titles include Popular Hot Rodding, Car Craft, Super Stock & Drag Illustrated, etc. These start around 1960 and I peg the cutoff at about '74 or so.

Used to be able to score good deals on the 'bay, but magazine prices have gotten out of hand lately.

Being a bit of a bottom-feeder, I've found much better deals at automotive swap meets.

[High octane]

I have about 40+ automotive books in my collection and sometimes use them often for reference on a current or future model build. Here are pics of a few of them.

[zenrat]

i've got some 30's, 40's & 50's British motorcycling books. Great reading.

Recommended riding clothing in one is waders and an overcoat plus a mohair scarf in winter (but it will leave fluff on the collar of your suit).

My dad has a book on Bluebird signed by Leo Villa (both Campbells' chief mechanic) which he picked up for almost nothing as the seller didn't know who Villa was.

[CorvairJim]

I often refer to "60 Years of Chevrolet" by George Dammann for information about MY brand. There is an updated "75 Years of Chevrolet" that I don't have, but Mr. Dammann passed on before he could offer any further updates. He also did titles on other American makes, but I'm not too familiar with them. The Consumer Guide titles as shown in Nick's 3rd photo above are great for getting model details right - they're full of high-quality photos of factory-stock cars.

I've collected antique books for many years, both automotive and non-automotive topics. One of my favorite finds came from a flea market about 20 years ago - "The Practical Design of the Modern Motor Car", copyright date: 1914!

[Luc Janssens]

I got close to a hundred books about US vehicles, but it's been a while since I bought anything new, mostly due to not visiting the US as frequently as in past, cuz always took home a few when visiting B&N, Borders and in Burbank autobooks-aerobooks.

[Luc Janssens]

I like this format, got a copy each of the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s edition.

IMHO one format of books is still missing, sort of a "look on" as in the VP days,

Edited July 27, 2013 by Luc Janssens

[Guest]

I have a good collection of books and magazines as well, both automotive and aircraft.

[Art Anderson]

My library of automotive literature goes back almost 50 years (includes every single issue of both Collectible Automobile, and Special Interest Auto's, along with dozens of books on antique cars, Indy racecars and whatever else has caught my eye over time.

I'm not worried about the sheer numbers, but my landlord could be concerned about the floor load!

Art

[Greg Myers]

I'd guess it's like your "stash" of kits. If you've been in the hobby any length of time, much less six decades, you'll have a few books. Just moved into a new home and had to buy a new book case to hold the over flow that had been accumulated in the old one. So that's about four automotive / aircraft book cases for me not counting the big one in the garage with my full collection of Hot Rod Magazine including all of the specials through the years ( year books, engine specials, pictorials I.E.).

Here are a few books on Cobras : http://www.amazon.com/TOP-ELEVEN-COBRA-BOOKS/lm/R3HOPU136F8IRG/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full

Edited July 27, 2013 by Greg Myers

[thatz4u]

yesterday I found a history of Chevrolet stock cars, from the 50's to the present, taking it to the Southlandz swap meet in Nov.

[sjordan2]

Tons of books, shop manuals, parts manuals, driver's manuals, etc., for the cars in my stash. I have originals of all of the above for the Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing and Roadster, plus an original Rolls Phantom II operator's manual, lots of original sales brochures, plus a few 1:1 parts and trim.

[Harry P.]

Let's just say I have more books than I have bookshelves to store them on!

[bill w]

These are my hard cover books, my magazines are packed in a box somewhere!

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Hosted on Fotki

[Harry P.]

These are my hard cover books, my magazines are packed in a box somewhere!

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No pictures.

[cobraman]

I only have a few books but a ton of new and old magazines.

[mrknowetall]

I have a bunch of magazines as well, but I've learned that I can't keep 'em all. Some get gven away, a few get saved, and many end up being recycled,