10 Best Luxury Automotive Books

The epic story also told in the film FORD V. FERRARI: By the early 1960s, the Ford Motor Company, built to bring automobile transportation to the masses, was falling behind. Young Henry Ford II, who had taken the reins of his grandfather’s company with little business experience to speak of, knew he had to do something to shake things up. Baby boomers were taking to the road in droves, looking for speed not safety, style not comfort. Meanwhile, Enzo Ferrari, whose cars epitomized style, lorded it over the European racing scene. He crafted beautiful sports cars, “science fiction on wheels,” but was also called “the Assassin” because so many drivers perished while racing them. Go Like Hell tells the remarkable story of how Henry Ford II, with the help of a young visionary named Lee Iacocca and a former racing champion turned engineer, Carroll Shelby, concocted a scheme to reinvent the Ford company. They would enter the high-stakes world of European car racing, where an adventurous few threw safety and sanity to the wind. They would design, build, and race a car that could beat Ferrari at his own game at the most prestigious and brutal race in the world, something no American car had ever done. Go Like Hell transports readers to a risk-filled, glorious time in this brilliant portrait of a rivalry between two industrialists, the cars they built, and the “pilots” who would drive them to victory, or doom.

Best-selling author Randy Leffingwell celebrates a half-century of one of the world’s premiere sports cars, focusing on the major themes that have defined Porsche’s rear-engined wonder. Porsche 911: 50 Years tells the whole story– design and development , racing and competition , engineering and technology , style and culture. All the iconic 911 models are included: * The original 901 prototype that set the standard * The legendary RS models that made the little Porsche a dominant force on the world’s racetracks * The infamous Turbo , the car that kept the performance flame alight during the dark, dismal decade of the 1970s * The fabled 959 , the model that redefined the term “sports car” * The 993 , last of the original air-cooled models * The 996 , 997 , and 991 , the liquid-cooled cars that brought the 911 into a new millennium Beyond telling the story of the cars , Porsche 911: 50 years also spotlights the people behind them : Ferdinand “Butzi” Porsche, the son of legendary Porsche founder Ferdinand “Ferry” Porsche , who co-designed the instantly recognizable 911 shape; Peter W. Schutz , the Porsche CEO who saved the 911 from extinction; and Dr. Helmuth Bott , the engineering genius behind many of the groundbreaking technologies that have defined the 911, including fuel injection, turbocharging, and all-wheel-drive. Leffingwell also tells the story of the 911 community –the clubs and culture that surround the car. Together, all of these facets make Porsche 911: 50 Years the most essential book in any Porsche owner or fan’s library.

2017 Silver Medal Winner of the International Automotive Media Competition! Relive the first one hundred years of Germany’s best two- and four-wheeled rides. Established in 1916, BMW is one of the auto and motorcycle industry’s oldest and most-respected car and motorcycle manufacturers. Over the past century, the company went through myriad developments. The BMW Century chronicles this remarkable transportation company through images of the cars and motorcycles it manufactured, from the 1923 R32 motorcycle to sleek electric cars of today. This handsome volume is filled with images, history, and in- depth looks at the incredible machines BMW created year after year. The BMW Century showcases how the company’s new visionary team systematically rebuilt BMW in the post-World War II years into the spectacular success we know today – that is, a company with sales projected to be upwards of two million cars annually by 2016, led by its 3-series, the best-selling luxury-performance car in the world. BMW’s motorcycle division is no less legendary. It began with the 1923 avant- garde R32, which featured a 180-degree, horizontally opposed twin, the engine configuration that would become BMW’s hallmark. Along the way, BMW would use that configuration to power groundbreaking machines like the R90S, R100RS, and R80GS. Beginning in 1983, they would add three- and four-cylinder machines to their offerings, culminating in today’s spectacular S1000RR sport bike. From the pre-war motorcycles to the iconic R-series twins of the 1970s and 80s to the mighty M-series cars and superbikes of today, The BMW Century offers a full review of German engineering at its finest. The book is illustrated with hundreds of historic, contemporary, and racing photographs – many sourced from BMW’s archives – and detailed text relating the BMW’s full history. This is the one volume no BMW aficionado can be without.

A comprehensive official monograph that provides a complete history of one of the most renowned brands in the luxury automotive landscape. This lavishly produced volume features the complete collection of all the models produced by Lamborghini from 1963 to the present day, including special editions, unreleased models, and those that underwent significant evolutions. Stunning photography highlights the exquisite lines and lavish details of the vehicles, along with spectacular archival images and technical information celebrating the glamour and excellence of Italian automotive design. The book also includes information on the prominent designers, including Filippo Perini, Walter de Silva, Mitja Borkert, and Marcello Gandini, who created some of the company’s most iconic models, such as the Miura, Countach, Aventador, Huracan, and the new Urus as well as astonishing prototypes such as the Marzal, Egoista, and the Terzo Millennio. This official book is dedicated to the history of the legendary Italian luxury sports car company that was founded in Sant’Agata Bolognese in 1963 by Ferruccio Lamborghini. His dream was to create the perfect car and, more than half a century later, Lamborghini continues to produce sports cars that are sought after and renowned throughout the world for technical innovation, cutting-edge design, and stylish, original use of color.

Porsche – Origin of the Species is the latest Porsche heritage book by renowned automotive historian Karl Ludvigsen. Within Jerry Seinfeld s renowned Porsche collection resides an unassuming yet extraordinary piece of Porsche history: Porsche Gmund coupe 356/2-040. Captured exclusively for this book in a series of evocative portraits by acclaimed automotive photographer Michael Furman, 040’s unsullied originality conveys with startling immediacy the combination of artistry, innovation and determination that went into its improbable creation. This cornerstone of the Seinfeld collection serves as the inspiration for Porsche – Origin of the Species , an in-depth exploration by the eminent automotive historian Karl Ludvigsen into the specific influences and circumstances that brought forth the first Porsche-badged sports cars. How and when did the people of the Porsche firm find themselves in a sawmill in Gmund? What was the influence on the 356 of the cars and engines built by Porsche before and during the war? How and why was the first 356 shaped as it was? What was the real relationship between the tube-framed Type 356 roadster and the first 356/2 coupes? Questions like these deserve answers because the resulting DNA is so powerful, so robust, that it still influences the shape and style of Porsches well into the twenty-first century. Karl Ludvigsen, author of the award-winning Porsche: Excellence Was Expected and Ferdinand Porsche Genesis of Genius , tackles these questions and more in Porsche – Origin of the Species. The saga that emerges encompasses mechanical revelations, human drama and the turmoil of world war. Porsche – Origin of the Species will appeal to all car enthusiasts who are eager to know what events really ignited the spark from which all other Porsches evolved.

From the earliest workshop days to the grandest marque in the automotive world, the story of one of the most important enterprises of the twentieth century comes alive in this complete history. The rich history of Daimler-Benz (now DaimlerChrysler) has its roots in the early experimentation with the use of the internal combustion engine by three men: Carl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler, and William Maybach. Benz, working alone, and Daimler and Maybach, working together, the two shops separated by a mere sixty miles, in the late 1880s simultaneously laid the foundation of what would become the German automotive industry. At first there was competition between Benz & Cie. and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft, as they engineered and styled the earliest motorwagens and began to develop markets for their products. These early efforts led to the establishment of an entire industry by the start of World War I. But the war and its aftermath devastated these two companies, as it did the German economy overall. By the early 1920s it became apparent that the only way to survival was a merger, and thus, on June 29, 1926, the stockholders of both companies gave approval to the new company, Daimler-Benz, which led directly to the birth of one of the world’s best-known brands: Mercedes-Benz. In the hands of noted automotive photographer, author, and editor Dennis Adler, the history of the marque and the company unfolds through the decades, as Mercedes-Benz advances in fame, from the racing glory years to the present, becoming the standard that all automakers strive to meet. With archival (many never before published) and the author’s own photographs, the beauty and power of the automobile comes alive, from the earliest models to the first crop of twenty-first-century Mercedes-Benzes. It is a story of excellence that is in many ways unmatched in the history of any industry. Today, as a global leader in design, safety, and overall excellence, Mercedes-Benz continues to lead the way.