These Are Your Favorite Automotive Books

Who doesn't love a good book? A rainy summer evening, a drink by your side, and a compelling read to keep you entertained can be one of life's purest joys. But we here are car enthusiasts, and we want to read books about cars. We asked for your top picks yesterday, and today we're delving through the best answers.

"Go Like Hell" by A. J. Baime. If you liked the movie "Ford vs Ferrari", the book is better (as is the usual case).

Everyone and their parents saw Ford Vs Ferrari (or, if you're Owen, Le Mans '66), so why not read a more in-depth account of the same story?

Submitted by: Midlife Miata Driver

P.J. O'Rourke's Driving Like Crazy is still one of my most prized possessions. We disagreed on 50% of everything, but the man could tell a story. RIP.

Having not read Driving Like Crazy, but knowing how comedy tends to age, I'm a little wary to pick up a copy. But, if it comes so highly recommended from all of you in the comments, maybe it's worth a read.

Submitted by: King Ginger, not writing for Business Insider

[just an image of the cover]

I know how to build a go-kart, having done it from scratch. I don't know how to build a car, exactly, but I imagine it's similar. You buy some plumbing pipe, Sawzall the ends into proper angles, then weld everything together in your classmate's dad's auto body shop. Simple as that.

Submitted by: Bob

Couple of favourites:

It's been reprinted so many times but this is the same cover as my weathered and worn copy.

This one is a must read for anyone that loves bikes and has experienced loss.

This has been on my own reading list for years, and it'll probably end up being my next book after Lone Rider. I'm on a bit of a bike kick, if you hadn't noticed.

Submitted by: wellgruntled

I have two: 1. Racing the Silver Arrows by Chris Nixon – Pretty comprehensive book on MB and Auto Union with some great photos. 2. RX-7 by Jack Yamaguchi – Super detailed book on how they designed and developed the RX-7. Probably similar to the holy grail of auto books, Driving Ambition, just a tad less fancy. :)

Deep, intricate histories of individual cars can be some of the most interesting stories in the automotive world. Look no further than the development of the original Z to see that.

Submitted by: Capt. Janeway's Imaginary Cat

It's definitely of its time, but an entertaining read for sure. Brock Yates makes anything better.

Normally something like this might be titled "rise and fall," but no. Brock Yates wants you to know that from the perspective of 1983, things have been bad, are bad, and are going to keep being bad.

Submitted by: Unacceptably Dry Scones

I wore out my copy of Cars and Trucks and Things That Go as a kid, I knew it so well that my parents couldn't get away with skipping a page or two even though it's the child's equivalent of War and Peace. And as much as my 3YO doesn't always have the attention span to sit through a full book, he'll sit through this often enough.

Plus, Richard Scarry had to like cars (at least a little bit) for some of the choices he made. I'm certain some of the cars are inspired by stuff like the Alfa Romeo Montreal, Saab Sonnet, and there's a pretty obvious Mercedes W111 coupe (to name a few). And Dingo Dog is absolutely driving a Jag E-Type.

Richard Scarry introduced so many children to the wonderful world of the automobile. He also likely served as the inspiration for Andy's Apple Car rendering, whether Andy wants to admit it or not.

Submitted by: Maynar

Mine would have to be one written by everyone's favourite Canadian!

I too would like a miniature monster truck, that still looks tall enough to hop curbs and climb hills. They say not to judge a book by its cover, but I'm interested.

Submitted by: 89islander

Taken for a Ride: How Daimler-Benz Drove off with Chrysler

An actually phonemical read, no need to be a car enthusiast to enjoy it.

Besides anything written by Walter Dean Myers, this is something I really gravitated to, and it may very well be a top 3 book for me, even though I don't really read much, unless it's something on my phone.

The "new epilogue" about DaimlerChrysler is an incredibly funny one, having seen the company go from there to FCA to Stellantis. Always in motion, and always in partnerships.

Submitted by: T2400

Citroen SM by Jeff Daniels (no, not THAT Jeff Daniels)

I had been obsessed with the SM since I saw cruising through my South Jersey neighborhood when I was about 10 years old. When I saw the ad for this book in the back of Collectible Car magazine c.1983 I ordered immediately.

It cost me nearly two nights worth of tips bussing tables IIRC (about $20.00) and I had to send a check, through the mail, like a filthy animal and wait nearly a month for it to arrive.

It is a fantastic book that gives an in depth look at the development, history and legacy of the SM without getting too nerdy with the tech stuff. It still has an honored place on my bookshelf 40 years later.

Much like the RX-7 book earlier, this seems like a truly deep dive into how the Citroen SM came to be. Sounds like something worth getting, even if it means dealing with the mail.

Submitted by: Earthbound Misfit I

I have two: (1) "Driving Ambition: The Official Inside Story of the McLaren F1." The complete story of the greatest car ever built. If you like the F1, you need a copy of it. And it's worth the crazy after-market prices, because it's been out of print for a long time. (2) "Viper: Pure Performance by Dodge." Similar thing for the Gen I Viper. I still own the copy I checked out from the library dozens of times as a kid.

Doug Nye worked with Ron Dennis and Gordon Murray himself to detail the F1's development. What better sources could you ask for?

Submitted by: dodge_viper

Wow...very hard to pick just one. I mean, there are several anthology books of Peter Egan's writing, on motorcycles AND cars, that could fill a Top 10 list, not to mention some other auto journalist anthologies that should be 'required reading' for auto enthusiasts.

Someone else mentioned 'Driving Ambition', which is in my top 3 for sure...it is an amazing book about an amazing car built by amazing people. Someone else mentioned 'Racing the Silver Arrows', which is also up there...but I will list a different Chris Nixon book, 'Mon Ami Mate', about Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins and includes a pretty thorough breakdown of The Crash (Le Mans '55). It is wonderful, glorious, fun, and it brought me to tears...twice. Anyone with even a peripheral interest in racing 'back in the day' must absolutely read this one.

Another favorite is 'All Corvettes Are Red' by James Schefter...it is interesting on its face if you are into cars, but written in that 'storytelling' way that sucks you in. It is frustrating, too...thinking about many 'might have beens'. But there are some good heroes in it as well: one of my biggest features in here, John Heinricy (a great racer and at the time one of the managers, maybe platform manager?), he of the title quote (which is from one of the best car and corporate anecdotes of all time...for those who don't know, he was stuck in a meeting for hours talking about colors for the following model year. He finally had enough, slapped his notepad closed and said, "Why are we even having this discussion? All Corvettes are red. The rest are mistakes."). A lot of the book is about corporate politics, but it does show just how difficult it can be to get a car made...we all think 'why didn't they just do x, or y?' and this kind of shows how that doesn't ever happen...plus, you get a glimpse into why changing one little thing can have a cascade effect (such as, you can't just have a free-er flowing intake because then the hood won't close and you can't lower the engine to get more room because the cross-member would have to be redesigned, which would require re-engineering of the steering system which would require new parts be ordered and so on and so on). Cool stuff.

Finally, Mark Donohue's book 'The Unfair Advantage' is amazing...he was a pretty decent writer (had help from a ghost writer, but still), a pretty good engineer, and a fantastic driver. One thing that set him apart was, as an engineer and just plain smart guy, he could explain what the car was doing. He and Roger Penske reinvented auto-racing, just by being smart and thinking about stuff, instead of just going 'eh, billy-bob said this'd work' or ' it LOOKS right, it must BE right'. Iterative testing and actually planning pit stops were huge game changers (seriously, other teams did testing, too...but many of them would change a bunch of stuff at once...Penske's team did one change, retested, another change, retested, etc.). You get insight into the engineering, the driving, the prepwork, the racing, and even the human side of things...a GREAT read.

So, TL;DR – 'Driving Ambition' second vote, 'Mon Ami Mate' by Chris Nixon, 'All Corvettes Are Red' by James Schefter, and 'The Unfair Advantage' by Mark Donohue.

Corporate politics aside, the quote in the title is dead wrong. All Corvettes are yellow, clearly.

Submitted by: Osmodious

My favorite book on the auto industry is "The Reckoning", by David Halberstam (author of "The Best and the Brightest", among other bestsellers).

Published in 1986, it traces the parallel evolution of Ford vs Nissan (the #2 automakers in their respective countries), and how Ford's management emerged from WW2 with a narrowing emphasis on financial results. Robert McNamara comes out looking particularly clueless about the product. Nissan, in contrast, becomes ever more proficient at manufacturing, as does the rest of the Japanese industry. Somewhat out of date now, but it still makes for fascinating reading about the decline of American industry after WW2.

Ford and Nissan make for a very interesting comparison, since to Americna eyes the former far dwarfs the latter. The warring priorities of cash and construction certainly make for nice parallels.

Submitted by: JimEmery

The only books I ever purchased on my own will:

Younger's Race

Two brothers building a drag car and all the drama that comes with it. If you ever wrenched on anything with a sibling, you'll love this book (impossible to find).

Iron Fist, Lead Foot

The story of John Coletti (I am one letter off from sharing the same last name as him: Colletti) and how the legendary "Terminator" SVT Cobra came to be. Spoiler alert, the Focus SVT was faster than the 2001 SVT Cobra.

Even the cover of this book is impossible to find, let alone all the pages that come after. If you're scouring the internet for a copy, good luck.

Submitted by: i86hotdogs

My Dad found this for me in a library book sale years ago (I was like 14 or something). Story of Clint Brawner, who was a Chief Mechanic for Indy teams starting in the 50s through the late 60s. Covers the transition from front engined cars to rear engined cars in a lot of technical details. Plus he had some great drivers, including winning Indy with Mario Andretti. Fascinating era of Indy car, well told.

The idea of looking at events through the eyes of the common people dates back to Kurosawa, and was famously used in the original Star Wars with R2 and C-3PO. Telling the story of Indy through the eyes of those most underappreciated, the mechanics, seems to follow nicely int hat vein.

Submitted by: emilminty drives an E30 and the Fiero is mostly fixed