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

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.""