Carrera Panamericana
Carrera Panamericana

Author: Daryl Murphy

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 0595483240

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Carrera Panamericana: the Mexican Road Race. In its day it was the longest, fastest and likely wildest international automobile race ever staged. A World Championship event along with Le Mans, the Mille Miglia, Nüburgring and the Tourist Trophy, most drivers considered it the best-and the worst-of them all. From 1950 to 1954, it was witnessed by ten million spectators along a nearly 2,000-mile course that featured deserts where the faster cars could reach 180 mph and 10,000-foot mountain passes requiring first-gear operation. Carrera Panamericana influenced engineering and marketing from Michigan to Modena. Ferrari designed and named a model specifically for the race. Lincoln emerged as a high-performance sedan and Porsche's Carrera was named in honor of its wins. The Pan-Am was so unconventional and fascinating that it came to hold the world's attention for a full week each year. It was one of the last of the great open road events and the first in which European and American cars could be compared and marked the return of US factory support to racing in America.

The Carrera Panamericana 'Mexico'
The Carrera Panamericana 'Mexico'

Author: R.M. Clarke

Publisher: Brooklands Books Limited

Published: 1999-12-17

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781855204126

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The fast-paced story of how Lincoln, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Oldsmobile, Lancia, Chevrolet, Porsche, Dodge and Mercedes-Benz won glory in the gruelling Mexican road races run between 1950 and 1954.

La Carrera Panamericana - “The World’s Greatest Road Race!”
La Carrera Panamericana - “The World’s Greatest Road Race!”

Author: Johnny Tipler

Publisher: David and Charles

Published: 2014-02-10

Total Pages: 1077

ISBN-13: 1845846893

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Carrera Panamericana was first run to celebrate the inauguration of the Panamerican Highway, and traversed the length of Mexico, from Tuxtla in the south to Juárez near the Texas border. Firms like Alfa Romeo, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Porsche took advantage, and as class winners, Porsche even applied the event's Carrera name to its sportier models. Since its 1987 revival, it's been run rally-style with half-a-dozen special stages a day. Just as it did in the early-'50s, half the entry comprises brash American stock cars, today mostly Panamericana specials based on spaceframe chassis and 600bhp NASCAR V8 engines and running gear, lurking beneath period Studebaker, Hudson, Lincoln or Oldsmobile bodywork. The '50s and '60s European classics are no less heavily modified. Mexicans love a fiesta, and the arrival of La Carrera Panamericana at each of the provincial towns on its seven-day, 2000-mile progress through central Mexico last November provided an excuse for wild celebrations. As Johnny Tipler and his co-piloto Sarah Bennett-Baggs experienced when they drove the race in 2011 in a Porsche 914/4, everywhere the entourage is mobbed by enthusiastic spectators, waving, cheering and demanding souvenirs. Crowds throng, brass bands play salsa, and the tequila overflows. Includes over 400 images, maps of the modern and original 1950s routes, plus results of original events.

The Automobile and American Life, 2d ed.
The Automobile and American Life, 2d ed.

Author: John Heitmann

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2018-08-14

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 147666935X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Now revised and updated, this book tells the story of how the automobile transformed American life and how automotive design and technology have changed over time. It details cars' inception as a mechanical curiosity and later a plaything for the wealthy; racing and the promotion of the industry; Henry Ford and the advent of mass production; market competition during the 1920s; the development of roads and accompanying highway culture; the effects of the Great Depression and World War II; the automotive Golden Age of the 1950s; oil crises and the turbulent 1970s; the decline and then resurgence of the Big Three; and how American car culture has been represented in film, music and literature. Updated notes and a select bibliography serve as valuable resources to those interested in automotive history.

The Red Car
The Red Car

Author: Don Stanford

Publisher: Buccaneer Books

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781568497310

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This is the story of Hap Adams, a teenage boy who finds a beat-up MG TC sports car, restores it, and learns the joys of sports cars and driving from the town mechanic, Frenchy Lascelle.

The Complete Book of Classic Volkswagens
The Complete Book of Classic Volkswagens

Author: John Gunnell

Publisher: Motorbooks

Published: 2017-06-20

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 0760359350

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Volkswagens are some of the most iconic and easily recognizable cars on the road, and The Complete Book of Classic Volkswagens is your definitive visual encyclopedia. The classic air-cooled Volkswagen Beetle, officially the Volkswagen Type 1, is regarded as one of the most important and well-engineered vehicles of the twentieth century. It was the most popular imported car in America in the 1960s, and before that it enjoyed a humble beginning as "the people's car" in its native Germany. The Complete Book of Classic Volkswagens encompasses the evolution of the popular Beetle as well as other variations of Volkswagen's air-cooled cars, vans, and trucks. Thoroughly illustrated, this is an invaluable reference to Volkswagen's collectible and iconic cars. The history of VW automobiles is just as colorful as the hues they were manufactured in, and this book illustrates the full story. German automakers originally sought to supply their countrymen with an automobile that was easy to mass produce. By 1938, they finalized the design for the VW "Bug"--the first rear-engined, rear-wheel-drive configured car. In its heyday, the rounded Beetle was produced at a rate of more than one million per year. Today, with more than 23 million cars built, the Beetle holds the record as the most-produced passenger car of all time. But the Beetle is only one part of The Complete Book of Classic Volkswagens. The rest--from Type 2 vans, pick-ups, and campers to the Type 113 "Super Beetle"--is included here. If you're the owner of a Volkswagen or if you just love their iconic look and you're interested in their evolution, this book deserves a place on your bookshelf.

The Last Open Road
The Last Open Road

Author: Bert Levy

Publisher: St Martins Press

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 9780312186241

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A year out of high school in the early 1950s, New Jersey mechanic Buddy Palumbo falls in love with two things at once: race car driving with its speed and adventure, and his boss' niece, Miss Julie Finzio