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Best Car Books for Christmas: Quick Read
- In-depth historical books on Triumph, BMW and Porsche make great Christmas gifts.
- Our favorite racing book is a memoir written by a doctor who cared for drivers after an accident.
- One of the best automotive books this holiday season highlights a love of music and hot rods.
From automotive history to auto racing to rock and roll, if you have an avid reader on your holiday shopping list, here are six of the best automotive books today. Each one is sure to be a hit on Christmas morning!
Everything on this list previously appeared as part of our Book Garage series. While we’ve read and featured dozens of books in this series over the years, the titles below are some of our more recent favorites. We’ve divided this list of the best automotive books into two sections: automotive history and racing and motorsport.
We also include a gem about how rock music and hot rods fit together like candy canes and gingerbread houses!
Best Automotive Books for Christmas: Automotive History
These selections on Triumph, BMW and Porsche are published by Motorbooks, which has an extensive library of automotive history books. Although Motorbooks titles are often illustrated with archival and contemporary photographs, they are much more than just “coffee table books.” Beneath these ornate and stylish covers lies some of the world’s best automotive writing.
Motorbooks authors are often longtime automotive journalists, broadcasters, professors and historians who have scoured mountains of documentation and invested countless hours of research into their writing to deliver the full historical scope of the subject.
Triumph cars: 100 years
In his criticism of Triumph cars: 100 years, Tony Borroz recalls how he grew up in a sports car family, but making it clear that it was always a British sports car (even more interesting since his family is Italian). Although he has shed blood turning wrenches on Triumph cars, Borroz still has a fondness for them.
If you have someone on your holiday shopping list who has a place in their heart for these adorable machines, Triumph cars: 100 years is the best gift you can give them.
Author Ross Alkureishi covers the early 10/20 and early Supras and Glorias on their way to the TR and Spitfire ranges. There are some interesting digressions that any Triumph enthusiast will appreciate, including a sidebar on Bob Tullius. Alkureishi’s writings are complemented by rare racing photographs and Triumph advertisements from the past.
The BMW Century
The BMW Centurynow in It is second editionwas written by Tony Lewin, editor and contributor to Automotive News Europe. In addition to The BMW centuryLewin wrote a host of other titles for Motorbooks, but this BMW volume is among his best books on cars.
For the BMW fans on your Christmas list, this book will give them a complete picture of how the famous German automaker rebuilt the company from the ashes of World War II.
Although cars are a major part of the book, Lewin devotes time to the production of BMW motorcycles. Lewin covers the pioneering R32 of 1923 and how its engine design ultimately led to the R90S, R100RS and R80GS. Hundreds of historical, contemporary and racing photographs, many from BMW’s internal archives, give additional context to the written words.
Porsche 356: 75th anniversary
In our readings and review of Porsche 356: 75th anniversary, we liked how the book was comprehensive but not hampered by long lists or unnecessary tangents. Instead, author Gordon Maltby is one of Porsche’s most genuine enthusiasts, having owned 31 of them over the past five decades and carrying out most of the maintenance and restoration himself .
Maltby’s writings, honed over nearly 30 years as editor of the Porsche 356 registerwill speak to the Porsche fan on your holiday shopping list.
In his book, Maltby covers all 356 variants: the A, B and C series coupes, the Speedster, the Glockler and the Spyder race cars. Maltby even makes time for the outlaw builds, Emory builds and unauthorized cars that add some flavor to the 356’s history.
Best car books for Christmas: racing and motor sports
The selections here come from Motorbooks and Evro Publishing, each offering a unique perspective on racing and the world of motorsport. Like the automotive history books above, the authors dedicated their lives and careers to the track, sharing that experience with us through the pages of the racing books featured here.
One of the selections, Quick response, is rare because it approaches the subject from the perspective of a doctor who spent his career racing on the track treating drivers after accidents. It’s one of the best automotive books in our home library since it was first published in 2019.
If you have a racing fan on your holiday shopping list, they will enjoy reading one of these books after Christmas dinner.
NASCAR 75 years
NASCAR celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2023, and this book will have every fan smiling from ear to ear on Christmas morning. Like any good historical analysis of stock car racing worth its weight in engine oil, NASCAR 75 years takes us back to the sand of Daytona Beachwith each subsequent chapter organized by decade.
For those who grew up watching the sport in the 1990s, this chapter will bring back many fond memories with household names like Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, Terry and Bobby Labonte, as well as the late Alan Kulwicki and Dale Earnhardt. .
While covering 75 years of NASCAR history, the book also devotes some ink to “Next Gen” cars. which started in 2022 and the drivers who raced them at legendary tracks like Daytona and Talladega.
Mr. Le Mans: Tom Kristensen
Between 1997 and 2014, Tom Kristensen won the 24 Hours of Le Mans a record nine times and finished on the podium five times. Now retired, Kristensen’s autobiography is a welcome treat for fans who followed her career.
During our reading and review of Mr. Le Mans: Tom Kristensen, we loved how Kristensen talked about his relationship with his parents and what it means to be a father himself. The book gives a first-hand insight into someone many of us may only know from television screens and highlight reels.
Around 325,000 fans attended the 91st 24 Hours of Le Mans, June 10-11, 2023. If anyone on your Christmas list was in attendance or among the many other spectators at home, Kristensen’s autobiography will make their period a little brighter holiday season.
Quick response
One of our favorites from Evro Publishing is quite different from your average running book, which is why it makes such a great holiday gift. Quick response is the memoir of Dr. Stephen Olvey, the doctor who organized the first traveling medical team in motorsport and whose research into accidents led to advances in race car safety.
Alex Zanardi, whom Dr. Olvey saved after a horrific and bloody accident in 2001, writes the foreword. While competing in the 2001 American Memorial at EuroSpeedway Lausitz in September of that year, Zanardi lost control on pit road and slid across the track. Patrick Carpentier narrowly overtook him, but Alex Tagliani was unable to avoid Zanardi, hitting him head-on.
“Alex Zanardi is extremely critical; he suffered serious injuries to both lower extremities and significant blood loss,” Dr Olvey said. told viewers at the time, indicating that Zanardi was breathing on his own as they prepared transport to a hospital in Berlin. Dr. Olvey was the director of medical operations for CART. Zanardi would eventually have both legs amputated following the accident.
As we noted during our readings and review of Quick response, the Good Doctor’s memoir gets straight to the point, never shying away from the grim details that emerge when drivers crash, but never relishing them either. Dr Olvey’s work offers a rare insight into what happens when emergency services respond to the trail.
For that auto racing fan on your Christmas list who loves and appreciates the sport on another level, Quick response is the perfect gift. Dr. Olvey’s memoirs were transformed into a documentary film in 2019 under the same name. In addition to Dr. Olvey, Mario Andretti, Bobby Unser, Rick Mears and Tony Kanaan appear in the film.
Bonus Book: Billy F Gibbons: Rock + Roll Gearhead
If you have someone on your Christmas list who loves to rock and roll all night and play with cars every day, consider filling their Christmas stocking with this gem. ZZ Top’s Billy F Gibbons opens the door to his personal garage and shows us his collection of custom hot rods and cool guitars.
Published as a reprint in 2020, at the height of the COVID lockdowns, we found this book a welcome respite from all the uncertainty in the world at the time. At home we enjoyed flipping through the pages and admire Gibbons’ unique car collection, which includes the ’34 Ford Whiskey Runner coupe, the El Camino Grocery-Getter and the 1958 Mexican Blackbird Thunderbird. The Eliminator coupe is here too!
For the rocker and car lover on your Christmas list, consider gifting these Billy F Gibbons: Rock + Roll Gearbox. When they open it, they will surely give you all their love, hugs and kisses too.
Best Car Books for Christmas Conclusion
Any of the books featured here will make a unique and memorable gift if you have a car enthusiast on your Christmas list who loves to read. Automotive history books are great for expanding your knowledge on the subject, while volumes on auto racing provide an insider’s perspective. And if you have someone on your list who loves both cars and music, go for Billy F Gibbons’ book!
Carl Anthony is the editor-in-chief of Automoblog and host of AutoVision News Radio and AutoSens Insights. As a respected automotive industry thought leader, Carl has appeared on numerous podcasts and radio shows, including Wrench Nation, Cars Yeah, The Car Doctor and Brains Byte Back, in addition to appearing as a contributor regular on MotorMouth Radio on WHPC 90.3 FM. His work can also be seen and heard 24/7 on the Automotive Blog YouTube Channel.
