REVIEWS, December 1994

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Across Africa and Beyond, by James Wheildon and Paul Davies. Navigator Books, £12.50

If you like reading about motoring adventure you can obtain from Brickwood Enterprises, 76 Victoria Road, Surbiton, Surrey, this 171-page story of how James Wheildon and Paul Davies completed the 1988 London-Sydney Marathon in a 1930 Talbot 75, a challenge arising from an advertisement in MOTOR SPORT in 1985. The old Roesch Talbot was successful and its accomplishment has pleased the STD Register. Now you can recapture the hardships and great moments on this 10,000-mile journey. But the pictures are very amateur. WB

A-Z of Cars in the 1920s, by Nick Baldwin. Bay View Books, £24.95

Fascinating, absolutely fascinating! Here are short histories and brief specifications of some 390 makes of production cars that were made in the 1920s. A work of such application nd industry that I would have thought it might have rendered old Nick mad. Not a bit of it. He has provided all this information,the specifications, engine size, valve location, clutch type, number of speeds, and back axle type, and then laced it with about 650 photographs. Could you find a picture of a Menley, Hariscott or Wigan-Barlow, let alone identify them? But not only does the book contain this great collection of pictures, many of them very rare, but the make by make biogs include much new information about personalities, the firms they were with before joining a given company and where they went afterwards

So this is a wonderful reference book, but also a delight to read or browse through. If you are doubtful about, say, a Urecar, Lothia, Skeoch, Tankette or Suffolk Royal, you only need to consult it. Compiling it must have been a formidable task, yet I can fine no errors except in the Foreword about what 1920s motoring was like – I refrain from saying who wrote it – I know that The Motor was out on Tuesday, not Thursday. Criticism of such a valuable and enjoyable compendium is horrid of me – it is just that I have seen better pictorial representations of a few of the makes/models. But as if this matters! Vintage-car folk need this one, and quickly. WB

Gold Portfolios; TVR, Jaguar Ml I & II, Triumph TR6. Brooklands Books, £11.95.

Newest literature – I feel I must refer to it as this as MOTOR SPORT articles are included! – from Brooklands Books are three more of their invaluable reference works on TVR, Jaguar Mk I & II, and Triumph TR6. These over-170-page reprints in de luxe Golf Portfolio form are priced at £11.95 each, or £1.50 extra if ordered through the post. WB