Re: On the level?

[John McEwen <moparrr@xxxxxxx>]

Hi John:

No one in Britain has ever written a book on American cars of any 
sort and every gotten even close to correct.  Invariably captions are 
a joke and negative and snide comments abound.  I can supply a list 
of books to be avoided at any cost - particularly an incredibly bad, 
opinionated so-called Encyclopedia.  All of these books were written 
to grab the trade on the discount and coffee table market in the big 
stores - where people knowing nothing about cars are looking for a 
cheap gift.  Even the pictures are generally lousy and often of 
modified cars, not described as such, as you have noted.

John



> My wife brought home a book for me, thinking
> I'd enjoy it because it's supposed to be about
> 'Muscle Cars'.
>
> Clearly, the author is clueless.
>
> The Ultimate Guide to Muscle Cars
> by
> Jim Glastonbury
>
> Much of the spelling and terminology is decidedly
> British, as are several of the cars' license
> plates, so we might forgive his errors due to
> his location...but the jacket states he is
> stateside often and a owns vintage GTO and 'Stang
> himself.
>
> The book's chapters are mainly about a specific
> car model. GTO is credited as the first 'Muscle
> Car' and gets the second chapter to itself which
> follows a chapter about the 'pre-muscle cars' or
> the fore-runners (which notes many cars that came
> long after the first GTO...how are these fore-
> runners?).
>
> The remaining one-model chapters focus on Pony
> Cars instead of Muscle Cars (sorry...not bending
> on the distinction, folks), singling out the
> Mustang, Camaro, Firebird and so on.
>
> Mopars are crammed together in a blanket 'The HEMI
> Story' section which displays 18 beautiful cars...
> of which only 5 are HEMIs. At least 3 of the
> remaining 13 are labeled as HEMIs, but clearly
> aren't...including a 340-6 Challenger T/A!! And
> the lone HEMI Cuda he shows is labeled as a 1976!!!
>
> AMCs, as usual, are few and dumped into the 'Also
> Ran' section. A 68 AMX Go-pak 390 car is shown
> equipped with a chrome luggage rack on the decklid!
> I'm fairly certain that wasn't available factory
> stock, but then it has an Eagle's steering wheel
> with a 71-73 horn cap, and a disfigured arm rest.
>
> Then, a single shot of a 78 AMX (...Muscle?!?)
>
> The next is 71 Javelin SST 360 with Torque-Thrust D
> wheels. Otherwise, a very clean, stock car.
>
> In the text, he speaks of the AMX as if it debuted
> ahead of Javelin, states the 68 390 AMX was hampered
> by a 3-speed tranny while 69 got a four, and the
> AMX/3 is treated as a production car.
>
> Also in the 'Others' section are true Muscle Cars
> like 442, GSX, Chevelle SS, and many others. Why
> aren't they is a GM section instead of lumped in
> with Studes and such?!?
>
> In the Trans Am racing section, he states AMC built
> Red/White/Blue Trans Am replicas because of their
> Championship wins in 1971 and 1972...yet the cars
> were 1970 models?!? Clairvoyance?? If so, why didn't
> they see the Wankel disaster coming? <snicker>
>
> Hey...if you've got a coffee table with one short
> leg, this is the book you need to level it. Just
> don't read it.
>
> John W Rosa
>
> http://www.JavelinAMX.com