Book reviews, July 1983, July 1983
The Corvettes — 1953-1984, by Richard Langworth. 144 pp. 7¼’ x 9″ (Motor Racing Publications Ltd., 28 Devonshire Road, London, W4 2ND. £8.95.) With their Collector’s Guides, MRP offer compact yet comprehensive one-make picture books, competing with the Auto Histories of Osprey Publishing. One has to commend MRP and Langworth for packing in an enormous amount of information about the Chevrolet Corvette sports cars in this little landscape-shaped volume. The heading is not in error, it really does look at next year’s Corvette.
The book begins with a short discourse on America’s first sports-cars and then dives into a detailed account of all the Corvette range, from the first-generation cars, through the Sting Ray era, to Show models and the changing Corvette image, to what the GM sports-car will look like in 1984. In addition, there are chapters about buying a Corvette, and about the Clubs that cater for these cars and the firms which can supply spare parts for them and offer a restoration service. In addition, the Appendices cover Corvette milestones from 1953 to 1983, the technical specifications and major options over those years, serial numbers, production figures, weights and the prices the different Corvettes sold for, and performance data for the different models, concluding with a listing of the interchangeability of Chevrolet small-block engines. With the many pictures, all the gm n any Corvette fan should require, all for less than nine pounds in cash. — WB.
Occasionally, I suppose, those of us obsessed with cars have to find some other outlet to entertain our passengers and in this respect, visits to gardens open to the public come to mind, as when my wife looked round those of East Lambrook Manor while I interviewed Brooklands racing-driver FH. Boyd-Carpenter. A guide to over 200 such visits is available from the English Tourist Board. It is titled: “Visit an English Garden” and costs 75p. — WB.
“Maserati Sports, Racing & GT Cars from 1926” by Richard Crump and Rob de la Rive Box has gone into a second edition, obtainable from the Haynes Publishing Group, Sparkford, Yeovil, Somerset, BA22 7SS for £14.95.
The Road Locomotive Society has don, an ambitious publication of R. A. Whitehead’s “Wallis & Stevens — A History”, obtainable for £9.00 post free from the Society at Oak Lea, Moss Lane, Mobberley, Knutsford, Cheshire.