NSU Ro80 - The Complete Story

NSU Ro80 - The Complete Story
Author: Martin Buckley
Publisher: The Crowood Press
Total Pages: 439
Release: 2023-02-14
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 0719841755

Launched in 1967, the NSU Ro80 had modern aerodynamic styling, a technologically advanced Wankel rotary engine and was voted Car of the Year in 1968. However, after the initial positive reception, the car developed a reputation for unreliability, with problems arising as early as 15,000 miles and many vehicles required a rebuilt engine before 30,000 miles. Despite the company resolving these reliability issues in both existing and new vehicles, and offering a generous warranty, the damage to the car's reputation was done. The NSU Ro80 is the most celebrated motoring lost cause of the second half of the twentieth century, outranking the likes of the Edsel and the DeLorean because, unlike those statements of misplaced optimism and ego, it was a good car. Not just good: the NSU Ro80 is one of the great saloons. Launched in September 1967, the Ro80 was an all-new four-door five-seater from a West German company that – post-war – had never made anything other than economy runabouts, motorcycles and mopeds. That alone should have been enough of a risk, but this was also the world's first purpose-built Wankel-engined family saloon. This compact, refined and elegantly simple power unit was the first really new concept in the realm of internal combustion engines to achieve mass production for ninety years. A car like the Ro80 could only really have come from Germany, where there was a passion for research and a pride in engineering not found elsewhere in Europe. With front-wheel drive, superb power steering and four-wheel disc brakes, the car had top handling and driver appeal. Quite simply, it was a masterpiece, considered by many to be the finest vehicle of its type in the world. But with one fatal flaw: its engine. With over 300 archive photographs, drawings and diagrams, this book tells the story of the NSU

BMW E34 – The Complete Story

BMW E34 – The Complete Story
Author: James Taylor
Publisher: The Crowood Press
Total Pages: 378
Release: 2024-10-29
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 071984441X

The BMW E34 5 Series is considered one of the most impressive car designs to come out of the 1980s. The BMW E34 5 Series became the benchmark executive saloon during its eight-year production life, and today enthusiasts still look back on it as one of the high points of the BMW story. The E34 range made its debut in 1988, and built on BMW's growing success in the medium-sized saloon class. From the start, its makers aimed to seize leadership of the market sector from their arch-rivals at Mercedes-Benz, and to that end they developed a sleek, sporty shape and made the car available with a range of 6-cylinder engines. These included highly regarded diesel types, and later there would be an entry-level 4-cylinder as well. BMW kept the E34 range fresh to the very end, through three major eras of production. The first lasted until 1990, and established the range firmly. The second period, from 1990 to 1992, brought 'Touring' (estate) models, 4-wheel-drive variants and advanced new 4-valve engines. Between 1992 and 1996, the third phase brought annual updates, including VANOS variable valve timing and new V8 engines for the top-of-the-range models. In the BMW tradition, these cars combined strong performance with excellent handling, and these qualities were exploited to the hilt by the M5 variants produced by the legendary M Division. Aftermarket tuning specialists made their own contributions, too, adding to the aura of glamour around the E34 range. There were lesser-known elements of the story, too, when BMW used the E34 range for some fascinating experiments with hybrid power systems, a convertible, and a dual-fuel system.

Rover Rebirth

Rover Rebirth
Author: James Taylor
Publisher: The Crowood Press
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2024-08-16
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 0719844134

Like other British motor manufacturers, the Rover Company spent World War II helping the war effort rather than building cars. Bombed out of its original home in Coventry during the Blitz in 1940, it was fortunate in 1945 to be able to move into the new factory at Solihull that it had been managing on behalf of the Air Ministry. The Solihull factory was not only new: it was huge. Its size presented Rover with a welcome opportunity for expansion, but first the company had to get back into the game. With no new car designs ready, Rover's only option was to re-start production with mildly improved versions of their pre-war models. New models were a long time coming. Early ideas focused on a small economy car, but it soon became clear that this was not what the public wanted. Meanwhile, ambitious plans for a new and ultra-modern car, using mechanical elements that had been under development before the war, had to be put back when there were delays in designing a satisfactory modern body style. As a temporary measure, Rover added their new mechanical elements to modified pre-war style bodies to deliver the P3 models in 1948. The solution was unexpected. Rover's Chief Engineer had bought a war-surplus Jeep for his own use, and he quickly realised that Rover could easily build something similar that civilian users both at home and abroad would find useful. Combining their new engine with the simplest of chassis and body to save time and costs, Rover had the Land-Rover ready shortly after the new P3 – and its immediate world-wide success took them by surprise. It had plans, too – far too many to put into production. There were gas turbine-powered cars inspired by the company's wartime jet engine work; there was a hybrid of Rover car and Land-Rover called the Road-Rover; and there were ideas for expanding the existing model ranges and adding more. By 1953, when the story told in this book ends, Rover was ready to introduce new saloons and Land-Rovers that would see it comfortably through the 1950s. Not only had it survived, but it was in better health than ever before.

Porsche 911 GT3

Porsche 911 GT3
Author: Johnny Tipler
Publisher: The Crowood Press
Total Pages: 492
Release: 2024-08-09
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 0719843790

One of the most exciting models ever released by Porsche, the first 911 GT3 was introduced in 1999, based on the then-current 996 coupé, suitably modified as a contender in the FIA GT3 championship category. Successive iterations of the 911 GT3 – the 997 GT3, 991 GT3 and present-day 992 GT3 – were similarly adapted from the contemporary production-line model, with mechanical and aerodynamic upgrades, constructed at the Stuttgart-based company's Zuffenhausen plant, with upgraded performance in RSR, R and Cup versions applied by its nearby Weissach competition department and test track. With over 300 stunning images, most previously unpublished, including professional photos, factory archive pictures and specially commissioned artworks, and featuring several interviews with Porsche heroes intimately concerned with GT3s in build and in competition, this book tells the thrilling story of a masterpiece of design and technology on road and track.

BMW E30

BMW E30
Author: James Taylor
Publisher: The Crowood Press
Total Pages: 426
Release: 2021-06-28
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 1785008730

The E30 3 Series was the car that defined BMW more than any other during the 1980s, and it has gone on to become a much-loved modern classic. This book tells the full story of the cars from the time in 1976 when work first began on the successor to the original E21 3 Series. This new book features the story of how and why BMW designed their new compact E30 saloon for the 1980s; the styling, engineering and specification changes introduced over the lifetime of the model. There are full technical specifications, including paint and interior trim choices given along with a chapter on the special US variants. Details of the M3 and the cars produced by the leading German tuners and finally, there is a chapter on buying and owning a BMW E30.

Hunted: The Kevin Barry Artt Story

Hunted: The Kevin Barry Artt Story
Author: Dan Lawton
Publisher: Merrion Press
Total Pages: 431
Release: 2024-05-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 1785375199

On Sunday, 26 November 1978, two IRA gunmen kicked in the front door at 8 Evelyn Gardens in Belfast, the home of Maze prison official Albert Miles. They executed Miles in front of his family and vanished into the night. In 1983 twenty-four-year-old Catholic taxi driver Kevin Barry Artt was convicted and sentenced to life for Miles’ murder, falsely named by an IRA member-turned-jailhouse-informant. On his way to the Maze in handcuffs, Artt resolutely professed his innocence. Six weeks into his life sentence, he escaped in one of the most daring and notorious prison breaks in history, fleeing to California and going underground. The epic legal saga that followed spanned one ocean, two court systems and nearly three decades, as Artt was relentlessly pursued by the British government, aided by the US Department of State and the FBI. Dan Lawton discovered the vital piece of evidence that caused the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal to throw out Artt’s murder case in 2020, and in Hunted, he has forensically chronicled Kevin Barry Artt’s surreal story of survival and redemption.

Mercedes-Benz SL and SLC 107-Series 1971-1989

Mercedes-Benz SL and SLC 107-Series 1971-1989
Author: Andrew Noakes
Publisher: The Crowood Press
Total Pages: 387
Release: 2017-11-20
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 1785003666

As one of the most remarkable models that Mercedes-Benz has ever created, the 107-series was a sales success for nearly two decades and has been an automotive icon for far longer. Elegant styling, effortless performance and superior build quality are central to the appeal of the Mercedes-Benz R107 SL and C107 SL models. This book details the complete history of the model from its design in the late 1960s, its launch in 1971, its development through the 1970s and 1980s to the end of production in 1989. Accompanied by over 250 archive pictures and original images, Mercedes-Benz SL and SLC 107-Series 1971-1989 - The Complete Story reveals the story behind the racing SLs and the works rally SLCs, and provides a valuable guide to buying and running these cars. Superbly illustrated with 260 archive and original colour and black & white photographs.

Citroen

Citroen
Author: Lance Cole
Publisher: Crowood
Total Pages: 484
Release: 2014-03-31
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 1847976603

In this new view of the Citroen story, automotive/aviation writer and design specialist Lance Cole investigates not just the details of the cars of Citroen, but the aeronautical and cultural origins that lay behind Citroen's form and function. The book digs deep into the ethos of Automobiles Citroen to create a narrative on one of the greatest car manufacturers in history. Using interviews, translations, archive documents and specially-commissioned photographs, the Citroen journey is cast in a fresh perspective. It explains in detail the influences upon Citroen design: Voisin, Lefebrve, Bertoni, Boulanger, Mages, Opron and recent Citroen designers such as Coco, Blakeslee and Soubirou. As well as all the men of the great period of 1920s-1970s expansion, it also cites less well-known names of Citroen's French engineering, design, and influence such as Cayla, Gerin, Giret, Harmand, Dargent and others, to give a full picture of Citroen heritage.The book provides in-depth analysis of all major Citroen models with an engineering and design focus and profiles key individuals and cars up to the present day and Citroen's 'DS'-branded resurgence. It features many newly commissioned photographs, rare archive drawings and interviews with Citroen owners.Researched amongst leading Citroen experts and restorers, Lance Cole provides a fresh perspective on the Citroen car manufacturer, its design language and the legacy of its extraordinary engineering which will be of great interest to all Citroen and motoring enthusiasts. Superbly illustrated with 329 colour photographs, many newly commissioned along with rare archive drawings.

Saab 92-96V4 - The Original Saab

Saab 92-96V4 - The Original Saab
Author: Lance Cole
Publisher: The Crowood Press
Total Pages: 438
Release: 2022-05-16
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 071984018X

Launched in 1949 as the 92 before evolving into the 93, 96 2-stroke and 96V4, this car was in production for thirty-one years. Attracting global admiration and sales, it also excelled in motorsport and by the early 1960s was the most successful rally-car in Europe. A decline in sales in the 1960s was reversed with the launch of the 96V4 which resulted in its success continuing into the 1980s. With over 200 archive and colour photographs, this book provides a new description of the Saab company's original car and includes detailed biographies of important Saab figures and extensive discussion of the engineering and design decisions that made the car such a success. There is coverage of the original Saab story in North and South America and a comprehensive review of Saab 92, 93, 96, motor sport history. Full technical details and specifications and tuning details are given and finally, there is a chapter on owners' experiences and Saab veteran's recollections.

Aston Martin DB9 and Vanquish

Aston Martin DB9 and Vanquish
Author: James Taylor
Publisher: The Crowood Press
Total Pages: 510
Release: 2024-03-15
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0719843170

Aston Martin broke new ground with the Vanquish at the start of the 21st century, having previewed the model with a fully driveable prototype called Project Vantage at the Detroit Show in 1998. The Vanquish became the company's new flagship model, with a sleek and readily recognisable shape penned by Ian Callum that would later be further developed for the slightly less expensive (but no less exotic) DB9. The importance of these two models to Aston Martin went far beyond publicity and the company image. For the Vanquish, a completely new and highly advanced body structure had been created, and this was further developed for the DB9 as the VH platform. Deliberately designed to provide flexibility and underpin further new models, this went on to become the basis of every new Aston Martin in the early years of the century. This book tells the complete story of the DB9 and Vanquish, the models that established a new and successful era for the company that made them.