Constructeurs automobiles - Grande Bretagne : livres (1/3)

The Ferguson name is as important in the field of four-wheel drive as it is in tractor development. This is the story of the research and development behind it and the struggle to get that technology accepted as comprehensively as it is today.

But more than technology itself, "Traction for Sale" tells the story of the men behind it; Fred Dixon, who first though of the idea of a super-safe family car with four-wheel drive, Harry Ferguson, who gave his name and the full weight of his fortune and dedication to it and Tony Rolt, whose unfaltering drive and conviction made it all happen.

Then there were teams of brilliant engineers and mechanics, working at the cutting edge of automotive development. Featured are the stories of Ferguson's fasciating research cars, including the Ferguson-Climax grand prix car, the most famous cars that use Ferguson Formula four-wheel drive, including the Jensen FF, the Indianapolis and Formula One race cars and its systems that use its most important component, the Viscous Control Unit.

This includes the most prominent Group B rally cars and their successors, Ford's Sierra and Scorpio 4x4, many Jeep models, later Range Rovers and Audi quattros and the Jaguar X-Type as well as those for which FFD supplied essential transmission components, the McLaren F1 and Jaguar XJ220 supercars, and family car makers Mazda and Volkswagen.

The Gilbern motorcar was the only motorcar to ever be produced in Wales and made use of the iconic Welsh Dragon for a badge. Over the short period of 1959 to1973 it evolved through several changes of ownership from a basic enthusiast's sporty coupe to a gentleman's sporting tourer. Some of the manufacturer's models included the Gilbern GT, Gilbern Genie and Gilbern Invader - all are featured here.

With a wealth of fascinating illustrations, Michael Burgess charts the story of this remarkable company. This is an essential read for anybody with an interest in the history of British car manufacturers.

Founded in 1895 under the aegis of R.H. Lea, the company originally built cycles and motorcycles but, by the 1920s, was established as a manufacturer of high quality sporting cars.

From the 1930s to the 1960s, Lea-Francis specialized in medium-sized cars built with care and the best quality components.
Successful in motorsports, "Leaf" was an innovative company, but a lack of regard for good business principles led to fluctuating fortunes throughout the company's long life. This text tells the story of the firm.

This is the story of Captain Marendaz, a pilot in the RFC in the Great War, his life as a car manufacturer in the 1920s and 1930s when he competed at Brooklands and elsewhere, before moving on to designing and building aircraft.
He was closely associated with Stirling Moss' parents and Kaye Don, being involved in trialling and record breaking with his own cars and the American Graham-Paige.

His passage through life was not smooth, being frequently coloured by disputes, ending up with him being arrested under the Category 18B regulations in 1940, causing him to move to South Africa where trouble followed him before his return to England in 1972.

The book also contains a considerable number of first-hand accounts, by people who worked for Marendaz, of life in a car and aircraft factory before the war, giving a revealing insight into the social history of the period.

His sports cars are attractive with good lines, a point brought out in the many illustrations taken in period and more recently of survivors. His correspondence with the author and others provides an insight into his controversial life.

In the nineteenth century, Jules Verne imagined a journey round the world. At the start of the twentieth century, an American millionaire, Charles J. Glidden, did it for real - though it took many more than eighty days.
Assisted by Charles Thomas, a Sussex engineer, the millionaire took his Napier car twice around the world, to places that had never seen a powered vehicle.

The journeys took them across thirty-nine countries on four continents. In Switzerland they were arrested for driving on a forbidden road.
Later they fitted the car with railroad wheels and drove to Vancouver on the tracks of the Canadian Pacific. During their travels they met people of all kinds, from impoverished pilgrims to maharajahs. In Fiji there was an encounter with the last cannibal; in militarist Japan they experienced anti-Western attitudes.

Andrew Jepson tells the fascinating story of these ground-breaking journeys with the aid of images taken from Charles Thomas' own photograph albums. This is a must-read for all motoring enthusiasts.