Automobilist Century

   Over twenty years in the making, its pages are reflections of metalled emotion. It transverses lawn and asphalt to examine the Twentieth Century’s defining automotive engineering.
The earliest examples of le Belle Époque through to the end of the Century’s Avant Garde exotica are presented to honor the designers imagination, industrial vision, art of the craftsmanship, and intimately, the driver's visceral experience.

    The conversations are stories told by the low rumble at idle, the reverberating thunder echoed across concrete and hillside, approaching, passing, and vanishing into the distance of time, from where the histories emanate.

   From its inception Automobilist has been a thesis on automotive photography. Having trained as a technical illustrator I saw photography as my abstract medium. A visual platform upon which shape, light and color could be examined for its own sake, as opposed to a representational portrayal of instantaneous journalistic storytelling.
   In moving into automotive photography a four decades ago I saw the potential of bringing the two worlds together: portraying the near abstract compositions of shape, light and color, while clearly, if subtly, representing the engineering and performance inherent in the subject. There is also a third element here, specific to automotive photography. Having spent a professional life in the photo studio, art directing product photography, my photographic style clearly states that it is only beneath natural light that the automobile truly reveals itself.

   For this new 2024 edition, we have completely revised Automobilist Century to address major upgrades in our custom publishing production process.
   What this implies is that we have spent the last two years innovating an entirely new pre-press and on-press method of publishing art books.
   To appreciate the visual intensity of what we have accomplished with this new edition of AC, go to this link that discusses in depth how we have transformed gallery art print publications.

   Click below to review the revised table of contents of each volume.

   For further production details and timing as well as acquisition cost and the secure purchase link, go to the Ordering Details link below.

   Have any questions? email us at the link below.

Volume One Table of Contents

Volume Two Table of Contents

Volume Three Table of Contents

1910 Ford Model T speedster
Ford Model T commercial vehicles
Rabbit the First
Establishing a Reputation
Giuseppe Merosi establishes the young A.L.F.A. as a high performance car company.
A.L.F.A 40 60HP engine
Campari et Ramponi Targa Florio
A.L.F.A 1913 Grand Prix
1912 Hispano Suiza King Alfonso XIII
To The Manor Born
The story of a young Ettore Bugatti and the car company he established his name on.
Bugatti Type 13
Twilight of Époque
The cars Mercedes crated for the 1914 French Grand Prix.
In the shadow of their victory at Lyon, Europe was swept into war, leaving behind as it did the innocence of a graceful era that had given birth to the automobile.
1914 Mercedes GP
1914 Mercedes 28/95
1918 Straker - Squire
1919 Miller TNT w/ 183 c.i.

1956 Ferrari 290MM & 290S
Show Car for the Enthusiast
We follow Harley Earl, from his West Coast family coachbuilding firm to establishment of GM's Art and Colour division. For the 1950s GM and Earl wanted to recreate the '38 World's Fair Motorama. For the first of these traveling single Marque auto shows, Earl created a show car for the enthusiast sports car driver. Thus was born the Corvette. It was such a European scale sports car operation, it was nearly cancelled, until in Dearborn…
1956 Ford Thunderbird
1957 Corvette “Fuely” Competition car
1957 Corvette “Fuely” Road car
1957 Jaguar D Type
Lancia D24S
1957 Maserati 250F
1957 Maserati 450S
1958 Corvette Competition
1959 Corvette
1958 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa
1959 Aston Martin DBR1
1959 Chevrolet Impala
1959 Corvette Stingray prototype
1959 Porsche RSK
Cooper T-53
Formula Transformation
As the Fifites came to a close, the British reinterpreted Formula One engineering. It may have seemed they looked back to Benz, Porsche and Miller, but it was solidly Cooper and Chapman in interpretation. Unlike previous efforts and achievements, 1950s mid-engine chassis design was to have the seminal effect of the twin cam engine before it.
Lotus 18

1954 Lancia D50
1954 Mercedes W196
1955 Mercedes SLR
1955 Maserati A6G54 2000 Zagato
Michelotti Vignale Ferrari
1955 Lotus 11 LeMans
1955 Maserati A6GCS Fantuzzi
1955 Jaguar D Type
1955 Mercedes 300SL
1955 Chevy Bel Aire
1955 Maserati 150S
1955 Ferrari 250 Monza
1956 Aston Martin DBS
1956 Maserati A6G54 Frua
1956 MGA
1956 Pontiac ‘supersonic contrails’
The Forward Look
Chryslers had always been design by their body engineers, and they looked it. CEO K. T. Keller decided a change was needed, so he hired Virgil Exner Sr. This is the story of how an Italian coachbuilder, went to Detroit looking for some business, hooked up with Exner to produce some of the most ingenious limited production show cars of the period. Evolving Chrysler's designs from the staid to Suddenly It's 1960.
1956 De Soto Adventurer
1957 Chrysler 300
1956 Plymouth Belevdere
1956 Lotus 11
1956 Oscas
1956 Ferrari SuperFast prototype
Austin Healey 100
One Worth Saving
Here we follow the prototype Fixed Head Coupe Aston DB 2/4 from its press car origin, as it vanishes into old sports car obscurity during the 1960s, to be discovered and resurrected in the 1970s by a Canadian doctor and its life within the burgeoning classic car scene that followed.
1956 Aston Martin DB2 / 4 FHC

1950 Ferrari 166 Mille Miglia
1950 Cisitalia 204 Abarth Spyder
1950 Maseati A6GC Vignale
1950 Allard J2
Gentleman At Speed: Fred G. Wacker
When America went racing after the war it was powered by sportsmen like Fred. From the ubiquitous MG & the brutal Allards, as a member of the Cunningham LeMans team, to the Grand Prix circuits of Europe, Fred embodied American racing coming out of the War.
1951 Cunningham C2-R
1952 Siata 8V Comp Spyder
1952 Jaguar C Type
Lap of a Thousand Miles
The modern Sportscar era was officially flagged to a start at Brescia on May 4th 1952. In a predawn downpour, a tale shadowed by the passions of the past, was told of a cobbled together race car, and a man in shirtsleeves who would rise from the roads of Italy to national heroism.
1952 Ferrari 225S / 250S
Art Print: Bracco in Motion
1952 Ferrari 212 Inter Ghia
1953 Alfa Berlina Aerodynamica Technica
1953 Siata Berlina Bertone prototype
1953 Alfa Romeo 3000CM Zagato Spyder 1953 Maserati A6GCS Colombo
Jaguar C / D Lightweight
1953 Alfa Romeo 3000CM
1953 Buick Skylark Roadmaster convertible
1953 Studebaker Champion
1954 Ferrari 250 Europa cabriolet
Alfa Giulietta Sprint body buck
Alfa Romeo 1900 Sprint
A phone rings in the Midlands
Norman Dewis discusses Jaguar's internal evolution as racing improved the breed, from the chopped and channeled sedan chassis XK120 to become the super sports road car XK140M.

Zepher V-12 prototype
The Car that Saved Ford
War, corporate conspiracy, madness, death, transform the first family owned multi-national corporation. Maternal ultimatum, government collaboration, turn this arsenal of Democracy over to a new generation, who reinvent the Dearborn company from the ashes of internecine conflict.
1949 Ford Club convertible
Old Ford Warehouse
1947 Maserati A6GCS
Ferrari’s first 125 Corsa
1947 Cisitalia 202 Pinin Farina
1948 Talbot Lago T26C
1948 Maserati 4CLT "San Remo"
Ferrari 125 F1 / 166 F2 / 166 FL
1949 Fiat 750 Zagato Panoramica
1949 Ferrari 166 LeMans

1936 Auto Union C type
1937 Auto Union C Type streamliner
1937 Voisin Figoni et Falaschi cabriolet
1937 Voisin C27 Ski Coupe
1937 Bugatti type 57S
1937 Peugeot dal ‘Mart
1937 Delahaye 135 MS Fagoni et Falaschi
1937 Delahaye 145 GP
Alfa Romeo 12C
1938 Dodge Coupe
1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B competizione
1938 Cadillac V-16 Fleetwood
1938 Bugatti T54
1937 Chapron Delahaye 145
1939 Talbot Lago Super Sport
Thunderbolt
Duel on the Salt
The last powered Land Speed Records were accomplished in the Schneider Cup tradition between two of the Era's greats.
Railton
Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Sport

1930 Maserati 26M Mille Miglia
1930 Bentley four and a half
1930 Rolls Royce Phantom II
1931 Cadillac V-12
1931 Bugatti type 45
1931 Alfa Romeo 8C2300
1933 Riley RPM
Veteran Craftsmanship,Vintage Success
The story of the Riley. A family run car company with decidedly brass era craftsmanship, that was to become the foundation upon which British racecraft would be built after WWII
1932 Riley "Nine"
1932 Riley Brooklands
1932 Riley Brooklands
1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Figoni Roadster
Ninety-six hours at Sarthe'.
All the great Marques have made their reputation at the 24h of LeMans. Here we see how Alfa took victory for four consecutive seasons, which should have been five.
1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 LeMans
1934 Triumph Dolomite SS Corsica
1934 Alfa Roemo P3 Scuderia
Alfa Romeo 8C Grand Prix and Touring
1935 Maserati 8CM
Alfa Romeo 8C 35
1936 Packard Dietrich Victoria

Just as Harry would have wanted it.
Harry Miller's only two seat sports car was made the year before. With its cast aluminum body it languished for decades before Bob Sutherland bought it and restored it with a twin cam 183.
1922 Delage T1
1922 Aston Martin Zborowski
1924 Amilcar CGS3
Ford Model - T Racer
Bugatti Type - 35C
1924 Miller 122
1925 Wills St. Claire
1925 Duesenberg 122 Sidewinder
1926 Miller 91
1926 Bentley 3 Liter LeMans team car
1926 Delage 1.5 liter Grand Prix
Bugatti T37
Bugatti T39
1927 Lagonda speed model 14/60
1927 Ford Model A
1927 Mercedes S type 28-180 Sportwagen
1928 Hispano Suiza H6 Roadsster

1910 Ford Model T speedster
Ford Model T commercial vehicles
Rabbit the First

Establishing a Reputation
Giuseppe Merosi establishes the young A.L.F.A. as a high performance car company.
A.L.F.A 40 60HP engine
Campari et Ramponi Targa Florio
A.L.F.A 1913 Grand Prix
1912 Hispano Suiza King Alfonso XIII
To The Manor Born
The story of a young Ettore Bugatti and the car company he established his name on.
Bugatti Type 13
Twilight of Époque
The cars Mercedes created for the 1914 French Grand Prix.
In the shadow of their victory at Lyon, Europe was swept into war, leaving behind as it did the innocence of a graceful era that had given birth to the automobile.
1914 Mercedes GP
1914 Mercedes 28/95
1918 Straker - Squire
1919 Miller TNT w/ 183 c.i.

1902 Mors Type Z
1902 Napier Gordon Bennett
1903 deDion Bouton Paris Madrid
1903 Pierce Arrow
1904 Napier L-48 Gordon-Bennett
The Pope
The story of Colonel Pope, the man
who started the first series production car company, and the amazing racing car he produced to promote it.
1904 Pope Toledo
1908 Packard Model 30 Roadster
1906 FIAT S74
1905 Panhard et Levassor

1960 Wally Meskowski upright
1960 Porsche RS60
1960 Lola Sport
1960 Buick LeSabre
1961 Fiat Abarth Zagato (print)
Maserati Type 61 Birdcage
1961 Lancia Flaminia Touring GTL
1961 Vignale Corvette
Maserati 3500 GTi Sebring
1961 Jaguar E Type
1961 Ferrari TRi
Jaguar MkII
Ferrari 250 California
Cobra 289
Little Immoralities
Enzo Ferrari bent the rules so often from his early days at Alfa that he had a name for these cars…
Ferrari GTO
1961 Ferrari 246 SP (92)
1962 Ferrari 248SP (93)
1963 Triumph TR4A
1963 Lotus 35B
1963 Corvette Stingray
1963 Dodge Dart station wagon
Maserati Tipo 63
1963 Ferrari 400 Superamerica S2
Ford GT40
Starting from Scratch
When Lee Iacocca convinced The Deuce to walk away from the AMA's non-competition agreement there were no half measures.
With the assistance of Roy Lunn we trace the Ford GT to its Mustang I origin. Forever retiring the old Lola GT myth. From Stirling Moss driving the two seat, space frame, stressed skin 40" high sportscar on the recon lap at the 1962 Watkins Glen F1 race, to Richie Ginther running up the Mulsanne Straight two years later, we detail how the image of the blue oval was transformed from the Country Squire to the first 200+ mile an hour coupe and the pinnacle of international racing.

Collector comment
29 July 2024

"Re: Automobilist Century-WOW

It got here about 11:30. After unpacking and a quick look, I am so glad I got these. Stunning, fantastic, words don't do justice...Thank you for going to all the trouble to make this great set. it will be the highlight of my collection, I'm sure."

John B