Chances are you trudged through snow to fish this issue from the mailbox. Even if the chill in the air hasn't put the kibosh on your joyrides, there's a chance that the chill in the market has.
But just because the chill is on doesn't mean you have to go cold turkey. Recently some publishers released a number of titles that promise to keep the blood flowing.
Some of these titles represent a shift in the publishing world. Naturally we still have our history books, like the Deuce restoration guide and a supercar review to inform us; instructional books like the GM automatic transmission rebuild manual, the Flathead performance handbook, and the automotive trim restoration guide to teach us; and art books, like the one loaded with illustrations, another about a prolific car builder, and a third about real hot rodders' garages to entertain us. But we've noticed a sort of new genre: idea books to inspire us.
These books bridge the gap between magazines and books. They're condensed reviews of a particular genre, whether hot rods or interiors. They strip away the formalities and show nothing but . . . ideas. Reading them won't be just like going to a show to harvest ideas, but it's a pretty close approximation.
So while it might be a bit cool at times, we found considerable comfort in these books. Who knows, if we use our downtime properly, we might come out looking better than ever.
The 1932 Ford Book,
A Production Chronicle and Restoration Guide
David G. Rehor
The Early V-8
Ford Club of America
ISBN-13 978-0-615-26201-7
For a one-year-only car, the '32 Ford sure got a lot of attention. It underwent a lot of changes too.
Those changes are the cornerstone of The 1932 Ford Book, A Production Chronicle and Restoration Guide. With the blessing, resources, and publishing wherewithal of the Early V-8 Club of America, David G. Rehor has assembled quite possibly the single most comprehensive '32 Ford restoration guide to date.
In fact, this guide is so complete that it takes two full spiral-bound books to contain it. Its repair-manual chaptering system makes it difficult to say just how many pages these two books embody, but they're as thick as a Russian novel or display bible.
The bible analogy is no coincidence; these books spell out, practically by chapter and verse, every niggling '32 Ford detail. It goes from things as broad as chassis stamping protocol to minutia as deep as tire-valve hardware. For example, did you know that the firewall underwent more changes than any other part of the car? It did-the author claims to have seen at least 80 lefthand-drive variations and half a dozen from right-handers (although he doesn't chronicle each since most were combinations of common variations).
The books are a seemingly endless outline of production changes, some highly debated, like door details, and some hardly, if ever, noticed, like the orientation of the engine-turned circles on the dash insert (early ones were vertical; later ones were staggered).
Rehor devoted the primary book's 19 chapters to the car's construction details. Naturally he broke down the chapters in various subjects: chassis, powertrain, electrical systems, fender and hoods, bodies, exterior colors, trim varieties, and so forth, most of which feature numerous subsets.
It's the chapters you'd never expect that are the icing on the cake. For example, he dedicates several to accessories, tools and instruction books, and service campaigns (recalls). In fact, he dedicates a whole chapter to notable entries from the Rouge engine log. At seven pages it's relatively short, however, it's appropriate considering the teething process Ford underwent to introduce its V-8 engine to the masses.
Above and beyond the information compiled within it, this book owes its existence to the vast body of '32 Ford literature amassed by Bob Shinn. The pretty vintage photos are one thing, but nothing can compare to the volumes of technical drawings Ford dedicated to this model year.
Even with the breadth and depth that the first book offers, you're likely to go straight to the appendix, which he dedicated to the second book. And it's a dandy; it starts with a pictorial guide of body styles, including a significant number of export models. It then transitions into Ford's advertising literature, including dealer brochures and articles written about the car when it was new. But we make the case that the hardware photos and part number lists are the true fruit of this book. It illustrates everything from exterior door handle variations (14 of 'em) to the seemingly never-ending array of fasteners, grommets, and bushings.
Naturally it took a great deal of effort to amass this information, and the price reflects it (it's a few bits more than $90 with shipping). At the same time, these two books represent great value, even if only for entertainment value. Among other things, they lay to rest once and for all the lore of the "heavy" Deuce axle. But to get that one you'll have to buy the book.
Hot Rod Garages
Peter Vincent
Motorbooks
ISBN-13 978-0-7603-2696-1
Judge Peter Vincent's latest book by its cover. It's a photo of a crusty old commercial segmented door, only its windows are real . . . sort of. They've been cut out to expose a lakes roadster beyond them. It's in a garage, only this garage isn't one of those sterile "dream garages" popular among people who've probably never even changed oil, let alone built a car from scratch. No, by the tools, parts, and ephemera on the walls, shelves, and benches, it's a laboratory for a mad scientist bent on going fast. The title "stenciled" on the garage removes all doubt: Hot Rod Garages is the handbook to the shrines of speed.
Vincent is one of those rarities among us. Primarily he's a hot rodder, and it shows; every one of his titles bears proof to his passion. He's also an extraordinary photographer. People bandy about terms like artist, but it really sticks to Vincent; each photo in his earlier book, Hot Rod: The Photography of Peter Vincent, is worthy of matting and framing.
For the most part Vincent lets the cars speak for their builders, however, in Hot Rod Garages he gives builders their due. These are people who express themselves in tin, rubber, and glass, and the photos tell their stories-at least the stories about what they were doing when Vincent opened the shutter.
Vincent is unashamedly traditional in both taste and practice (he shoots film rather than digital), so naturally he gravitates toward like-minded people. At the same time, the 18 entries in the book show the diversity within this genre. For example, there's a world of difference between Roy Brizio (Chapter 1) and Steve Moal (Chapter 10) even though they're merely a watery bay apart. Vern and Keith Tardel (Chapter 13) and Cole Foster (Chapter 2) and his late-father Pat (Chapter 3) are as different from each other as they are from Brizio and Moal, despite the fact that they're a short drive north and south from each other.
Given California's status and population naturally Vincent invested a lot of time there, however, he more than compensated by traveling the rest of the country. John Gunsaulis (Chapter 5) carries the torch for his late father, Dick "Speedy" Gunsaulis, in Spokane. A book like this wouldn't be complete without a trip to upstate New York's Keith Cornell and Ken Schmidt, aka Rolling Bones (Chapter 12). Vincent crossed the border to see Cam Grant (Chapter 4), a guy more people stateside should know.
It's remarkable that some of the more esteemed craftsmen would even let a loaded camera in their private space. Vincent's stories tell why they grant him admission: rather than subjects, the people in the garages are his friends. That translates in the informal familiarity to these photos. In a sense we get to be these guys' friends, if only vicariously through his camera and descriptions.