Preston Tucker and Others: Tales of Brilliant Automotive Innovators & Innovations

Description

Can you imagine a world where people drive beautiful and unusual cars, created by designers prodigiously endowed with talent and imagination? Names like Preston Tucker, Carl Borgward and John DeLorean are hardly known today. Nevertheless, today's cars would be a lot different without their contributions to automotive engineering. Although the car is a technological and rational affair, it's the dreamers and eccentrics like these who have made the biggest contribution to the development of the industry; those who have had the ability to think beyond their time and conventions. Money doesn't drive progress in the car business - it is a passion for speed, and an obsession with mechanisms. Yet for many a dreamer, this passion has ended in fiasco. Misunderstood and pushed aside by their contemporaries, they have been forced to watch their dreams trampled underfoot. This book takes a look at the history of the car from a different angle, avoiding the mainstream moguls and telling a story about a man and his dream, and the like-minded people that came before and after him. Lavishly illustrated and intensively researched, it documents the making of some of the strangest and greatest cars of the past century. The main section is devoted to the unsung heroes of motoring, and the rest of the book shines a light on the many ingenious inventions we now take for granted. Let's show some respect to the dreamers. Our world wouldn't be so exciting without them.

Arvid Linde is a car enthusiast and an appreciator of eccentric design ideas. He has an MSc degree in Car Engineering and Logistics but has currently found himself on a career path of new media marketing. Arvid is Estonian. He worked as a car journalist for more than 10 years before moving to the UK. He now edits electriccarnews.co.uk website where he tries to unravel the dilemma of whether the electric car is the answer to the green motoring needs of the 21st century, or just another political gimmick The constant dissatisfaction with some of the modern car design tendencies has worked for him as an inspiration to recall the times when engineers were more passionate about cars.

"Packs plenty to fascinate anoraks of obscure cars and their masterminds." - Classic & Sports Car "Well worth a read." - Octane "This is a fascinating book - an excellent selection of pictures bears testimony to the far side of car design." - Classic Cars "Innovation and engineers go hand in hand, and this book celebrate automotive trail blazers such as Preston Tucker and Guy Negre. There's a lot in here, which proves how ahead of their time many of these automotive geniuses really were." - Practical Classics "Preston Tucker & Others is highly recommended for any auto buff interested in automotive innovators. It celebrates the pioneering innovators of automotive designs who took radical approaches to design, and offers a history lavishly illustrated, well researched and packed with color photos. A top pick for any collection strong in auto innovations and history!" - Bookwatch "A great look at the more unusual elements of automotive history." - Daily Express