Library Muse

The F1 season is heating up. As I write this, just previous to the Monte Carlo weekend, there has been five races, each having a different winner and manufacturer. The season hasn't started this close since 1983. And the GP circus is returning to The States this fall. The last times that the Grands Prix were stateside a group of us from CMGC would venture down to Indy for the weekend. But this year in Austin TX the ticket prices in the grandstand will, according to the April 30 Autoweek, will range from $2,500 to $6,750. At that price, I would rather fly to Europe and to watch one of the races.

This month we have several additions to the library; Tales from the Toolbox, and Maynard Hirsch donated Fill 'er Up. Leigh and Joanne Clark donated a series of T-Series books, including The T Type Restoration Handbook, Midget (TD/TF) Workshop Manual, T Series Restoration Guide (Malcolm Green) and MG Midget TA-TF Autobook.

Tales from the Toolbox
by Michael Oliver, 2009, 172 pages, color an b&w photos

"A unique collection of behind -the -scenes stories and anecdotes from former (60s and 70s) grand Prix mechanics. ... mixing with drivers and team bosses , witnessed a side of the sport that is rarely seen, and even less heard about." Great stories from the "Golden Age" when motor racing was more of a sport than a business.

Fill 'er Up
by Bellamy Partridge, 1952,
227 pages, b&w photos

This book is a rare gem. Written in 1952 about what was then the golden days of motoring in the US. Includes another telling of the Chicago race that we celebrate every Thanksgiving, the first auto show, founding the Lincoln Highway,and when the AAA motor club really was a club. I particularly enjoyed reading of the cross country trip by a young couple in a (then new) brass era car and the author's predictions for the future.

~~Bill Mennell