Italian Auto Legends: Classics of Style and Design

As the editor and publisher of Model Cars Magazine, I am always looking for reference and idea books for help with building model cars. I saw this book: Italian Auto Legends: Classics of Style and Design, here on Amazon.com, and I knew I just had to have it. Not just for the cover feature, but for hopefully what would be inside.And boy, was I not disappointed! There are some great cars in here, some I have never heard of or seen before. The ideas and references that are in this book is well worth the very reasonable cost of it.I could go on and on about this book, but if you are a model car builder, and want a great reference book, then GET THIS BOOK! Just seeing the stock Fiat Topolino made me want to go crazy and try and build one from the old Revell drag body. Boy, would that be a project! The Ferrari's and Maserati's are what I was looking for, and I have enough photos and references to help me build some great models.I can't say enough.BUY IT!Gregg HutchingsEditor/PublisherModel Cars Magazine

This was a "used" book purchase. WOW what a find. This book was exceptional. It was a gift for my 12 yr old grandson. It exceeded my expectation. Great find....

Great book and great service

This is a thoroughly researched, well-written and beautifully photographed book. Those who have followed the design of Italian sports cars will inevitably be surprised by some cars that have been included and disappointed by some that were omitted (the Maserati Ghibli, for one, is a personal favorite). But that is a minor point. The book should be in every collection of books on Italian cars. (Let me also plug the incomparable "World Sports Cars" by Frank Oleski, which has cogent essays and stunning photographs in Alpine settings and follows the same progressive format, from 1945-1980, in selecting cars from those years.)

Extremely well written with fabulous photography of many cars this "car buff" has never seen or heard of. Great value, worth much more than I paid.

Great!

The photos are very high quality studio shots, but a buyer should be aware the coverage is more impressive and thorough of the pre-1965 era. There are some omissions of important cars from the 1960's through 80's.I bought this after reading a positive review in a British auto magazine and seeing the nice cover photo of the Ferrari 250GTO. You get very very nice studio photos of select classic Italian cars. The emphasis is on pre-1965 cars, but the title didn't say that. The cars are presented chronologically starting in 1907 and by 3/4 of the book we are at 1960. Fewer photos are dedicated to each post-1960 car. This leaves sparse and perhaps a bit Ferrari-centric coverage of the remaining years up to 2004, but even the lovely Ferrari Lusso gets only one photo. Everyone has their own taste. Personally I am disappointed by the following: You won't find the Iso Grifo, Ghia 450SS, Maserati Ghibli, DeTomaso Mangusta, Alfa-Romeo Tipo 33, or the Ferrari 288GTO. Yet you'll find the relatively unappealing and in my humble opinion "non-classic" DeTomaso Vallelunga. You'll find the Pininfarina Ferrari 512S showcar from which few styling cues were used on production cars, but you won't find the Lamborghini Marzal or Afla Romeo 33 Carabo. I do give the book credit for its early year coverage and beautiful photos of those cars, and I'm grateful it's not trying to be a historical or technical reference piece saving more space for photos.

GREETINGS...THIS PARTICULAR COVER HAS A SILVER FERRARI AND INSIDE A BLUE SUNOCO OF PENSKE RACING AND SOME RED ONES AS WELL.BUT!THE ONE CAR THAT GRABS ATTENTION IS THE BIRDCAGE.MASERATI TIPO BIRDCAGE THAT IS.THIS PARTICULAR RACER HAS A LOOOONG HISTORY.EVEN SIR STIRLING HAS RACED IT AND WON.THE PORTRAITS IN BLACK DO THIS CAR JUSTICE.THE 5/6 PAGES ON THIS UNIQUE CONSTRUCTION PROVE THIS BOOK IS VALUE AT THIS PRICE...REGARDS...RONALD.C.LEE-HARRIS

This is a very good visual reference book, especially if you are an automotive or industrial designer. It features historically important Italian cars but I assume one of the selection criteria was aesthetics as all cars are beautiful. The quality of the photos is very good and they cover multiple angles of the same car. The text description for every car is brief but as I mentioned above this book is really about quality photos.

Good content, but I was expecting a large, around A4 size book, it is around A5 size.All in all, a good perchase at its price

Excellent book for a good price and nice people to deal with!

The quality of the photos is beyond reproach (besides the usual issue of fingerprints on the glossy paper) and it is a different experience to see a a car's picture spread on two rather large format pages. Of course, the cars themselves are a treat for the eyes, and going through them gives an idea of how things have come about over the last some 80 years.

A great journey into a magnificent automobile legacy. Italy has made its share of contributions to race car and auto history.