This book review is based on my Christmas presents which should not surprise anyone this time of year
I am not a great buyer of car books, I generally find that I can get what I need from magazines and the internet far easier. Where I do get into buying books is where those books are proper reference works or are in some other way worthy of taking up valuable shelf space.
And then there’s the Christmas books, generally badly written and thrown together for aunties and whoever to buy for the car fan of the house. You know, celebrity written forward and some nice glossy photos and hideously inaccurate text…
But here’s my selection…
#1: Kustomland –Thom Taylor.
This is basically a collection of photos taken by James Potter (freelance snapper who was published in Hot Rod, Rod & Custom and was founding editor of Motor Trend magazine) in a nice hardbound volume. The photos are very specifically from 1955-1959 period and a specific geographic area of California, namely the area leading north from Long Beach through Compton to Lynwood and out to Lakewood and Bellflower. Back in the 50s and early 60s kids growing up in these neighbourhoods were looking to find a way to express their individuality in the face of the homogeneous white middle class suburban lifestyle and landscape. Now if you are familiar with the lyrical content of popular African-American popular music combo NWA you’ll find the idea of Compton and its surrounding hoods as being a stiflingly safe white middle class suburb to be surprising, but I guess that really shows how much can change in 40 years.
The book is written by Thom Taylor, hot rod stylist and designer, and if he needs any introduction, go Google him: You have missed out. The book falls into a series of brief introductions covering the social conditions of the 50s which lead to the custom boom, the clubs of the time (and reading up on these will make any claims of “Elitism” against current rod and custom organisations seem laughable!) and then on to the meat and two veg which is a series of features on the cars. These are modern writing with period contemporary photos and this works really well to convey the feeling of the time in a manner which makes sense to a modern reader. Sometimes reading original articles from the period does demonstrate the cultural disconnect between the modern reader and the subject… The photos are all beautiful, mostly in colour and its that delightful 1950s Eastman-Color style of colour too.
A lot of the cars featured in the book are the “big” cars of the era, and these photos would have been the unused ones from features from magazines and the like so there is a definite familiarity about some of them. The makes, models and styles covered are pretty varied though and spotting some of the feature cars is almost like spotting an old friend. Well, to me anyway. Other readers may want to check the contents list as some of these cars are definitely featured in other works.
What you do get with Kustomland is superb unique original period photography by a guy who understood his subject and knew how to capture it with a Panaflex. For round about £15 it’s a cracking book. Part way between the reference guide and the coffee table book, Akku says: 5/5
www.amazon.co.uk/Kustomland-Custom-Photography-James-Potter/dp/0760322597/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230547127&sr=8-1
#2. Barris Kustomising Techniques of the 1950s – George Barris
This is actually a review of two books, which are oddly enough the 2nd and 4th volumes in a four book set and the only two in current reprint. These cover principally bodywork restyling mods and paint and refinishing respectively, although theres more crossover between the titles than that. The other two volumes which are currently out of print cover more heavy body modifications and “interiors and engines” although once again I suspect that due to the format there will be some crossover again. I have spent a little time and found that the two “missing” volumes are to be reprinted for July 2009, so don’t go paying £65 a copy from a “rare books” vendor on Amazon for them unless you really seriously can’t wait.
How these books work is quite an interesting concept. George Barris (one of the most famous Kustom builders and the guy who claims to have been the first to spell Kustom with a “K”) takes the reader though the build-up of a number of famous kustom cars turned out by Barris in the 1950s. As he says in his intro, this is not a “how to do it” manual but a “how I did it” book. Some readers may find the lack of detail infuriating at times if you were hoping to replicate some of the modifications on your Amazon, Minor or whatever, but there are other books, magazines, etc out there which have done step by step guides on a lot of these techniques. For the most part you get a nice mix of photos showing the finished car as well as the “work in progress” shots from Barris’ workshop. Now theres a couple of things to consider here: (1) AWZUMZ!! these are actual build photos from Barris’ workshops! (2) George Barris was an accomplished professional photographer – BUT – some readers brought up on modern publications with full colour high-res digital images filling the pages may be a little disappointed by the comparatively soft focussed black and white images which make up much of both books. I can imagine George grabbing a battered box brownie type thing to quickly snap shots off as they worked on the cars, not anticipating that half a century later this would be being judged as “great art”… in fact only the paint issue has any colour photos in it at all.
What really makes these books a stand-out IMO is that not just the photos but the words are all by George Barris too. This is as authoritative as it gets! Of course everyone writing their own effective biography will big up their part and put as much gloss on themselves as they can, although in these books George Barris comes across pretty matter of fact and straight up. If you’ve ever read Carol Shelby on Carol Shelby you’ll know what I mean that it can come across as an ego trip on paper (whether that’s the intent or not) but George Barris even gives us the dirt on when it all went wrong. One example is a Chevy Impala they built for a show car client, and due to “problems we had with the stability of some of the early candy paints” the expensive kustom paint job all faded and reacted up. The owner painted “this is the crappy work you get from Barris” on the car in huge letters and parked the car at the gates of the Winternationals Rod and Custom Show. A photo of this makes it into the book…
If you want a nice glossy colour book of kustoms or lead sleds then this isn’t for you. Again you’ll have seen a number of these cars before, and some of them are in Kustomland anyway. If you just want a nice anthology of Barris cars there are other books in print will serve you better. However if you are like me and when you get cut you bleed Candy Apple Red with flake, then you’ll find some fascination in these books. These are soft bound and you can expect to pay about £12 each volume for them.
www.amazon.co.uk/Barris-Kustoms-50S-Grills-Frenching/dp/1929133561/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230547185&sr=1-1
www.amazon.co.uk/Barris-Kustoms-Techniques-Scallops-Panelling/dp/1929133553/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b
#3. Top Gear’s Guide to Mid Life Crisis Cars – Matt Master
Priced around £6 this is a small hard bound book (format size similar to postcards) which takes you on a journey through various sports and performance cars, mostly of the “retro period” with what I assume Matt Master considers to be a humorous description of each. As with most things Top Gear gets its name on this is high on opinion and low on fact. Most of the photos are great period shots from the archives of the manufacturers concerned and the subject matter covers stuff from the Fiat X1/9, Ford Capri, through to the Ferrari Testarossa and the Bugatti EB110. Not the sort of thing I’d keep on my bookshelves although it passed some time at the inlaws on Christmas day with me tut-tutting at it and waiting for my pud. Anyway, because more than one person has the same sense of humour I got two copies of this book. Both are available free to a fellow RRer £1 P&P please to cover my costs there.
PM me if interested in the books rather than clutter up this thread, ta.
I am not a great buyer of car books, I generally find that I can get what I need from magazines and the internet far easier. Where I do get into buying books is where those books are proper reference works or are in some other way worthy of taking up valuable shelf space.
And then there’s the Christmas books, generally badly written and thrown together for aunties and whoever to buy for the car fan of the house. You know, celebrity written forward and some nice glossy photos and hideously inaccurate text…
But here’s my selection…
#1: Kustomland –Thom Taylor.
This is basically a collection of photos taken by James Potter (freelance snapper who was published in Hot Rod, Rod & Custom and was founding editor of Motor Trend magazine) in a nice hardbound volume. The photos are very specifically from 1955-1959 period and a specific geographic area of California, namely the area leading north from Long Beach through Compton to Lynwood and out to Lakewood and Bellflower. Back in the 50s and early 60s kids growing up in these neighbourhoods were looking to find a way to express their individuality in the face of the homogeneous white middle class suburban lifestyle and landscape. Now if you are familiar with the lyrical content of popular African-American popular music combo NWA you’ll find the idea of Compton and its surrounding hoods as being a stiflingly safe white middle class suburb to be surprising, but I guess that really shows how much can change in 40 years.
The book is written by Thom Taylor, hot rod stylist and designer, and if he needs any introduction, go Google him: You have missed out. The book falls into a series of brief introductions covering the social conditions of the 50s which lead to the custom boom, the clubs of the time (and reading up on these will make any claims of “Elitism” against current rod and custom organisations seem laughable!) and then on to the meat and two veg which is a series of features on the cars. These are modern writing with period contemporary photos and this works really well to convey the feeling of the time in a manner which makes sense to a modern reader. Sometimes reading original articles from the period does demonstrate the cultural disconnect between the modern reader and the subject… The photos are all beautiful, mostly in colour and its that delightful 1950s Eastman-Color style of colour too.
A lot of the cars featured in the book are the “big” cars of the era, and these photos would have been the unused ones from features from magazines and the like so there is a definite familiarity about some of them. The makes, models and styles covered are pretty varied though and spotting some of the feature cars is almost like spotting an old friend. Well, to me anyway. Other readers may want to check the contents list as some of these cars are definitely featured in other works.
What you do get with Kustomland is superb unique original period photography by a guy who understood his subject and knew how to capture it with a Panaflex. For round about £15 it’s a cracking book. Part way between the reference guide and the coffee table book, Akku says: 5/5
www.amazon.co.uk/Kustomland-Custom-Photography-James-Potter/dp/0760322597/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230547127&sr=8-1
#2. Barris Kustomising Techniques of the 1950s – George Barris
This is actually a review of two books, which are oddly enough the 2nd and 4th volumes in a four book set and the only two in current reprint. These cover principally bodywork restyling mods and paint and refinishing respectively, although theres more crossover between the titles than that. The other two volumes which are currently out of print cover more heavy body modifications and “interiors and engines” although once again I suspect that due to the format there will be some crossover again. I have spent a little time and found that the two “missing” volumes are to be reprinted for July 2009, so don’t go paying £65 a copy from a “rare books” vendor on Amazon for them unless you really seriously can’t wait.
How these books work is quite an interesting concept. George Barris (one of the most famous Kustom builders and the guy who claims to have been the first to spell Kustom with a “K”) takes the reader though the build-up of a number of famous kustom cars turned out by Barris in the 1950s. As he says in his intro, this is not a “how to do it” manual but a “how I did it” book. Some readers may find the lack of detail infuriating at times if you were hoping to replicate some of the modifications on your Amazon, Minor or whatever, but there are other books, magazines, etc out there which have done step by step guides on a lot of these techniques. For the most part you get a nice mix of photos showing the finished car as well as the “work in progress” shots from Barris’ workshop. Now theres a couple of things to consider here: (1) AWZUMZ!! these are actual build photos from Barris’ workshops! (2) George Barris was an accomplished professional photographer – BUT – some readers brought up on modern publications with full colour high-res digital images filling the pages may be a little disappointed by the comparatively soft focussed black and white images which make up much of both books. I can imagine George grabbing a battered box brownie type thing to quickly snap shots off as they worked on the cars, not anticipating that half a century later this would be being judged as “great art”… in fact only the paint issue has any colour photos in it at all.
What really makes these books a stand-out IMO is that not just the photos but the words are all by George Barris too. This is as authoritative as it gets! Of course everyone writing their own effective biography will big up their part and put as much gloss on themselves as they can, although in these books George Barris comes across pretty matter of fact and straight up. If you’ve ever read Carol Shelby on Carol Shelby you’ll know what I mean that it can come across as an ego trip on paper (whether that’s the intent or not) but George Barris even gives us the dirt on when it all went wrong. One example is a Chevy Impala they built for a show car client, and due to “problems we had with the stability of some of the early candy paints” the expensive kustom paint job all faded and reacted up. The owner painted “this is the crappy work you get from Barris” on the car in huge letters and parked the car at the gates of the Winternationals Rod and Custom Show. A photo of this makes it into the book…
If you want a nice glossy colour book of kustoms or lead sleds then this isn’t for you. Again you’ll have seen a number of these cars before, and some of them are in Kustomland anyway. If you just want a nice anthology of Barris cars there are other books in print will serve you better. However if you are like me and when you get cut you bleed Candy Apple Red with flake, then you’ll find some fascination in these books. These are soft bound and you can expect to pay about £12 each volume for them.
www.amazon.co.uk/Barris-Kustoms-50S-Grills-Frenching/dp/1929133561/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230547185&sr=1-1
www.amazon.co.uk/Barris-Kustoms-Techniques-Scallops-Panelling/dp/1929133553/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b
#3. Top Gear’s Guide to Mid Life Crisis Cars – Matt Master
Priced around £6 this is a small hard bound book (format size similar to postcards) which takes you on a journey through various sports and performance cars, mostly of the “retro period” with what I assume Matt Master considers to be a humorous description of each. As with most things Top Gear gets its name on this is high on opinion and low on fact. Most of the photos are great period shots from the archives of the manufacturers concerned and the subject matter covers stuff from the Fiat X1/9, Ford Capri, through to the Ferrari Testarossa and the Bugatti EB110. Not the sort of thing I’d keep on my bookshelves although it passed some time at the inlaws on Christmas day with me tut-tutting at it and waiting for my pud. Anyway, because more than one person has the same sense of humour I got two copies of this book. Both are available free to a fellow RRer £1 P&P please to cover my costs there.
PM me if interested in the books rather than clutter up this thread, ta.