The Driving Machine: A Design History of the Car

The Driving Machine: A Design History of the Car
Author: Witold Rybczynski
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 163
Release: 2024-10-08
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 1324075295

The renowned design writer on the extraordinary history of car design. In this lively and entertaining work, Witold Rybczynski—hailed as “one of the best writers on design working today” by Publishers Weekly—tells the story of the most distinctive cars in history and the artists, engineers, dreamers, and gearheads who created them. Delving into more than 170 years of ingenuity in design, technology, and engineering, he takes us from Carl Benz’s three-wheel motorcar in 1855 to the present-day shift to electric cars. Along the way, he looks at the emergence of mass production with Henry Ford’s Model T; the Golden Age of American car design and the rise of car culture; postwar European subcompacts typified by the Mini Cooper; and the long tradition of the streamlined and elegant sports car. Rybczynski explores how cars have been reflections of national character (the charming Italian Fiat Cinquecento), icons of a subculture (the VW bus for American hippies), and even emblems of an era (the practical Chrysler minivan). He explains key developments in automotive technology, including the electric starter, rack-and-pinion steering, and disc brakes, bringing to light how the modern automobile is the result of more than a century of trial and error. And he weaves in charming accounts of the many cars he’s owned and driven, starting with his first—the iconic Volkswagen Beetle. The Driving Machine is a breezy and fascinating history of design, illustrated with the author’s delightful drawings.

BMW Z4

BMW Z4
Author: David Lightfoot
Publisher: Gibbs Smith
Total Pages: 156
Release: 2004
Genre: BMW automobiles
ISBN: 0975498401

BMW Z4: Design, Development and Production is the story of the creation of the Z4 from the first concept in the summer of 1998 until the delivery of customer cars in October 2002. David Lightfoot had exclusive access to the designers, engineers, and production personnel involved in the Z4, and provides an exciting behind-the-scenes look into the process. Never before has the story been told of how BMW brings together creative people and world renowned technical resources to deliver dream machines to its devoted clientele. David Lightfoot is a BMW enthusiast of the first order. He writes for Roundel, the publication of the BMW Car Club of America, on topics ranging from BMW history to future products and development. A particular interest is high performance driving; he has been an instructor with his local BMW Club for more than 20 years. The irony of his driving style and his last name have been brought to his attention many times. He is a lifelong resident of Seattle, Washington. This is his first book.

The Drive

The Drive
Author: Maximilian Funk
Publisher: Die Gestalten Verlag-DGV
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016
Genre: Automobiles
ISBN: 9783899556513

Handcrafted, radical, and subversive, these custom cars are designed and made by a small number of specialists

Home

Home
Author: Witold Rybczynski
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 273
Release: 1987-07-07
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 0140102310

Walk through five centuries of homes both great and small—from the smoke-filled manor halls of the Middle Ages to today's Ralph Lauren-designed environments—on a house tour like no other, one that delightfully explicates the very idea of "home." You'll see how social and cultural changes influenced styles of decoration and furnishing, learn the connection between wall-hung religious tapestries and wall-to-wall carpeting, discover how some of our most welcome luxuries were born of architectural necessity, and much more. Most of all, Home opens a rare window into our private lives—and how we really want to live.

Where Is My Flying Car?

Where Is My Flying Car?
Author: J. Storrs Hall
Publisher: Stripe Press
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2021-11-30
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1953953271

From an engineer and futurist, an impassioned account of technological stagnation since the 1970s and an imaginative blueprint for a richer, more abundant future The science fiction of the 1960s promised us a future remade by technological innovation: we’d vacation in geodesic domes on Mars, have meaningful conversations with computers, and drop our children off at school in flying cars. Fast-forward 60 years, and we’re still stuck in traffic in gas-guzzling sedans and boarding the same types of planes we flew in over half a century ago. What happened to the future we were promised? In Where Is My Flying Car?, J. Storrs Hall sets out to answer this deceptively simple question. What starts as an examination of the technical limitations of building flying cars evolves into an investigation of the scientific, technological, and social roots of the economic stagnation that started in the 1970s. From the failure to adopt nuclear energy and the suppression of cold fusion technology to the rise of a counterculture hostile to progress, Hall recounts how our collective ambitions for the future were derailed, with devastating consequences for global wealth creation and distribution. Hall then outlines a framework for a future powered by exponential progress—one in which we build as much in the world of atoms as we do in the world of bits, one rich in abundance and wonder. Drawing on years of original research and personal engineering experience, Where Is My Flying Car?, originally published in 2018, is an urgent, timely analysis of technological progress over the last 50 years and a bold vision for a better future.

Introduction to Modern Vehicle Design

Introduction to Modern Vehicle Design
Author: Julian Happian-Smith
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 601
Release: 2001-07-16
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0080523048

An Introduction to Modern Vehicle Design provides a thorough introduction to the many aspects of passenger car design in one volume. Starting with basic principles, the author builds up analysis procedures for all major aspects of vehicle and component design. Subjects of current interest to the motor industry, such as failure prevention, designing with modern materials, ergonomics and control systems are covered in detail, and the author concludes with a discussion on the future trends in automobile design. With contributions from both academics lecturing in motor vehicle engineering and those working in the industry, "An Introduction to Modern Vehicle Design" provides students with an excellent overview and background in the design of vehicles before they move on to specialised areas. Filling the niche between the more descriptive low level books and books which focus on specific areas of the design process, this unique volume is essential for all students of automotive engineering. - Only book to cover the broad range of topics for automobile design and analysis procedures - Each topic written by an expert with many years experience of the automotive industry

Motor Age

Motor Age
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 1370
Release: 1914
Genre: Automobile industry and trade
ISBN:

The Secret Lives of Objects

The Secret Lives of Objects
Author: Jane Graves
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
Total Pages: 166
Release: 2012-03-27
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1466920777

This book looks at everyday, and not-so-everyday objects from a psychoanalytical perspective as well as the practice of art and design. It is an entertaining interpretation of the creation, consumption and culture of things we take for granted.