"Build Book: #4"
Author: Written by Scott and BJ Killeen; published by Team Killeen
Content: Details the construction process of a single car, in this case a '57 Chevrolet built by Boyd Coddington Hot Rod Shop. Presented in a highly refined magazine format, each book details a car's evolution and showcases shop talent and vendor products.
Editorial Comments: A few years back, auto journalist Scott Killeen sort of surprised us all with what we have to admit is a novel idea: Why not publish a book based on what it takes to build one specific car? While Killeen has decades of estimable work (among other things, he's one of the few car photographers worthy of imitation), and despite the fact that he's endured some of the more-how do we put this?-demanding editors, most of us thought the idea to be pretty intense. After all, building cars takes time, archiving their construction requires frequent visits, and not all shops are within a stone's throw.
After a period of collective breath-holding, he proved to us that it's not only possible, it's repeatable; after he set the "BUILD BOOK" precedence by working with Rad Rods by Troy, he followed up with another project with POSIES. Since he expanded his frequent-flyer miles by working with ProRides, we can sort of understand why he chose a commission with the Great Bearded One in somewhat local La Habra, California. As noted earlier, it's a '57 Chevy sponsored by O'Reilly Auto Parts-two things that celebrated their 50th anniversaries in 2007, incidentally.
While we keep referring to Scott, you should know something else about Team Killeen: BJ Killeen. An automotive journalist with merit enough to make most of us hacks blush with relative inexperience (for the record, that group includes me), she's key to these projects' success. In their words, Team Killeen follows a "Concept to Reality" model.
As part of this comprehensive outline, they offer detailed profiles of the fabricators, painters, and trimmers that it takes to craft such machinery. Rather than merely means to an end, vendors' parts suddenly become stars in their own right. While "BUILD BOOK" publications are fairly technical, bear in mind that they aren't necessarily instructional. Instead, they're highly detailed journals of what it takes to build a car.
Due to this comprehensive format, each "BUILD BOOK" is a bounty of harvested ideas. Due to good planning, great photography, sharp copy, and tasteful design, they're informative entertainment. Due to such interesting subjects, they're bound to be references for generations to come.
"Gasser Wars, Drag Racing's Street Classes: 1955-1968"
Author: Edited by Larry Davis; photography by multiple sources
Content: It's an annotated photo journal and history of drag racing as it pertains to non-stock gas coupe and sedan classes. First published in 2003 as a hardcover, this is the softbound reissue of that book.
Editorial Comments: Editor Larry Davis sums it up: "For every Eliminator type of car that competed on a national level, there were literally thousands of gassers that competed every weekend. And for every gasser at the strip, there were another thousand cars on the street that were gassers in every sense of the word except they simply didn't know it because they didn't compete at organized drag events." For those latter groups, this 192-page photo essay is a testimonial. No, make that a shrine.
Plain and simple, this book features the highly modified street machines that basically defined drag racing for the common man from the mid-1950s to the late '60s. Despite the fact that most of us associate the nosebleed stance of a prewar Willys with the term, Davis makes a good case that the vast majority of gassers in their day were basically ordinary (but hot) street cars that doubled as race cars on occasional weekends. By dipping into a pool of photographs taken by enthusiasts, racers, and up-and-coming journalists, he backs up this proposal with hundreds of photos to prove it.
In this book, Davis basically plots the evolution of the gas classes from its nascent days when the average gas-class race car did double duty all the way to when serious competition all but precluded street use. A native Ohioan, he offers an insider's perspective of what gas-class racing was like in Ohio, a place generally credited as the epicenter of the movement.
Despite the fact that this isn't the book's debut, the softbound version bears mention. For the true drag-racing devotee, it's a cornerstone of a good collection; for those interested in grassroots racing the way it was at its height, it's a centerpiece.