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THE BRITISH CAR INDUSTRY OUT PART IN ITS DOWNFALL
By James Ruppert
ISBN-13: 978-0-9559529-0-6
Publisher: Foresight Publications
Price: £12.99 plus £2.00 postage
THEY SAY
‘'The British Car Industry Our Part In Its Downfall' explains why you can't buy a British built hatchback anymore. James Ruppert was really worried because in 1974 his Dad did a very strange thing and came home in an Audi 100 LS. James wondered whether the rot set in from that point.'
'Free of car jargon, too many stats and opinions of industry experts. This is how the fortunes of the British car building directly affected one family, so there is social history, power cuts, flared trousers and failed driving tests plus laughter, tears and runny noses.'
WE SAY
We're big fans of Ruppert's writing, add in a reference to the British Car industry and we're hooked. The book doesn't disappoint. It doesn't bog down with too many statistics or boring analysis of where the industry went wrong, but rather concentrates on the view from the man in the street - basically James and his Dad, and the cars that came and went in the Ruppert household.
Dealing with what is basically a tragedy, it's a great read. And if anybody had forgotten just how dreadful British built cars could be, how loyal British buyers were in the face of shoddily built and fatally flawed products, and how easily the UK market was hoovered up by overseas makers, here's your chance to live through it, through the experiences of Ruppert senior.
Definitely a book to get you through the dark evenings of the New Year. Highly recommended.
Get your copy at www.jamesruppert.co.uk
5/6
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BARRIS CARS OF THE STARS
By George Barris and David Fetherston
ISBN 978-0-7603-3222-1
Publisher: Motorbooks
Price: £17.99
THEY SAY
'The list of names is a who’s-who from Hollywood of the Sixties, Seventies and beyond – Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, John Travolta, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Ann-Margaret. When these megastars wanted their cars customised to fit their styles, tastes and personalities, they went to one man – George Barris, King of the Kustomisers. Now, for the fist time, hear the inside story of how these famous celebrities came to the Barris shops and see the results of George’s collaborations with them. ‘Barris Cars of the Stars’ is a trip down memory lane to the days when men wore paisley, women wore miniskirts, and all the cars were kool – Barris Kustom Kool.'
WE SAY
There is retro and there is retro... It’s safe to say that if you like every single one of these customised cars, well, you really do need to seek medical attention. Some are fascinating, some make you laugh, some might inspire and some will make you gag.
The format is pretty simple: the book works through George’s list of clients, revealing the cars which the stars specified with words and pix. Taking in the mad (Bob Hope’s caricature golf cart); the fad (Redd Foxx’s Wacky Racerish tow-truck); and the bad (sorry, but there are too many to mention).
It would have been nice to have seen some concepts drawings or some pix of the building process, just to give the book a bit more depth, but as it is this tome really does illustrate the old chestnut that ‘money can’t buy you taste’.
It is also highly dangerous because the longer you look at some of these howlers, the less they offend your tastes, and the more you start to like them... Particularly, George Foreman’s Continental Hardtop, Farrah Fawcett’s Corvette and Dick Martin’s Pontiac Grand Prix – all of which are rate as double dizzle on the pimp-o-meter.
4/6
