BOOK REVIEWS
► It’s fascinating to look back on Car Mechanics issues of past eras, to the days when you didn’t need a computer to do something simple like deactivate a handbrake – and WD40, duct tape, a flat-blade screwdriver and a hammer really could solve most mechanical problems.
Simpler times they may have been, but many car firms and designers still dreamed of a radical future, where we’d all be driving around in machines which looked like they’d just emerged from a Dan Dare comic strip. And nowhere was such flamboyance and optimism more apparent than in the concept cars that appeared at motor shows and other events, when flights of fancy could really be given their wings because it was unlikely that such vehicles would ever make the leap into real production.
The 1960s was arguably the golden era for concept cars (along with car design in general); post-1950s’ austerity, pre- 1970s’ safety, fuel and financial concerns. This book, by prolific motoring writer Richard Heseltine, looks at some of the weird and wonderful creations of the decade, year by year and from all around the world. It’s a large format ‘coffee table’-style book running to 240 pages, but unlike many such works, which major on the images and almost regard any words as secondary, the write-ups from Heseltine are knowledgeable, informative and entertaining. The approach is both light-hearted and authoritative, but with many of the vehicles being ones that not many people will be that familiar with, almost every entry brings new knowledge. This isn’t just trotting out the same old histories that have been repeated so many times before but genuinely bringing something new to the (coffee) table.
However, it is the images that take centre stage, and rightly so. Nearly 200 concept cars are featured, illustrated by around 350 photos overall. And because these vehicles were intended to generate publicity, most of the shots are high quality ones, officially taken for manufacturers for marketing purposes. They’re well-reproduced with fine clarity, and a lot of thought and effort has been put into the overall design; this is a stylish piece of work.
There are some real gems to be found, such as the wild 1960 DiDia 150 with its glass canopy and towering rear fins almost as t
