Cars - The Old Classics - From The Early Days To 1945

Cars - The Old Classics - From the Early Days to 1945 by Andrew Whyte, published by Treasure Press in 1985, is a celebration of the motor car before it became a sealed plastic appliance full of computers, warning lights and mysterious electronic systems that require a laptop to explain why the boot will not open.

This is the era of proper old machinery: brass lamps, running boards, enormous radiators, exposed spare wheels, wooden dashboards, leather straps and steering wheels apparently borrowed from small ships. Cars were not yet designed by committees worrying about cup holders and infotainment screens. They were mechanical objects first and foremost, and frequently looked as though they might require both courage and a spanner simply to get to the shops.

Andrew Whyte takes the story from the pioneering days of motoring through to 1945, covering the remarkable transformation of the car from experimental contraption to established part of everyday life. Along the way came some of the great names and great shapes of motoring history, from fragile early machines that seemed barely convinced by the idea of forward motion to the elegant touring cars, sports cars and luxury monsters of the inter-war years.

It was also a time when motoring itself was an adventure. Roads were poorer, breakdowns were normal and motorists were expected to possess at least some idea of what was happening under the bonnet. Calling a roadside assistance service because the dashboard displayed an orange symbol shaped vaguely like a tap was not yet an option.

The book is particularly enjoyable for anyone who appreciates that old cars had personality partly because many of them were slightly inconvenient. Starting procedures could resemble religious ceremonies, brakes were occasionally more philosophical than practical, and weather protection sometimes consisted of optimism and a folding piece of canvas.

Yet this was the period in which much of modern motoring was invented. Engineering improved at astonishing speed, manufacturers experimented with layouts and materials, and cars moved from novelty to necessity while acquiring an extraordinary variety of designs along the way. Before standardisation made everything increasingly sensible, manufacturers were apparently allowed to have ideas.

Cars - The Old Classics captures that mixture of innovation, elegance and mechanical eccentricity. It is the sort of book in which one can happily admire machinery without needing to understand every technical detail, while enthusiasts can enjoy identifying marques, models and design features from an age when even an ordinary family car could be instantly recognisable from fifty yards away.

Published in 1985, the book now has an additional layer of nostalgia of its own. It was produced at a time when many pre-war cars were already considered classics but were still considerably closer to living memory. Some readers buying this book new may have remembered seeing the later cars on the road when they were ordinary transport rather than objects appearing behind velvet ropes at heritage events.

It should appeal to classic-car enthusiasts, motoring historians, collectors of transport books and anyone who believes cars became marginally less interesting once manufacturers stopped fitting external horns large enough to frighten livestock.

Condition: Good. A sound used copy with the normal signs of age and handling expected from a book published in 1985. It has survived better than a considerable number of the cars it depicts and, unlike most veteran machinery, should not require oil, batteries or several hours of swearing before use.

ISBN: 1850510652.

A pleasing survey of the early decades of motoring, from the days when simply making a car move was impressive through to 1945, by which point the basic idea had clearly caught on.

Sold by Crappy Old Books — where the classics are old, the books are older than they look, and none of them require an MOT.

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