Some good car books and gaps I can't fill in my library

[RDMcG]

Coming from the pre-internet era, I still like car books, and have a fair number of them bought over the years, some in used book stores. Still, there are gaps I cannot seem to fill satisfactorily.

(1) I cannot find a really good, fully comprehensive history of BMW though a few have been written. Partly this is because the Quandt family were quite involved with the Third Reich and have ben extremely secretive about the company and their involvement. I think something is coming soon in Germany. If anyone has any info, would be grateful for it.

(2) If there is a good history of Group B rallying I would like to find one.

(3) There are dozens of books on the 300SL Gullwing, but none in depth, though the old one by Bill Boddy is well written - I got it on eBay.

(4) The best history of Mercedes-Benz I bought second hand and stops in 1986. Any recommendations on a better one?




Anyway, here are a few books that are pretty good from my shelves:

PORSCHE

There are two three-volume sets
Porsche - Excellence was expected,by Karl Ludvigsen
is a superbly written history of the company from 1948 to date, and probably the one book to have for Porsche fanatics. The second set by Jurgen Barth lists every production Porsche and every competition car with descriptions. photos and production numbers. Very useful as a reference guide:



Porsche and Me, by Hans Mezger is his newly-published autobiography and gives a very good description of the development of the various engines, including the McLaren TAG. Definitely for the technically minded.



A small volume called the Last Eleven is the story of the very first Porsche race cars


A very good history of the 917 in more depth


Porsche - Genesis of Genius by Ludvigsen is the history of Ferdinand Porsche from his birth through the thirties. The guy was a genius, and designed the S Class Supercharged Mercedes, the Auto Union Grand Prix car, and the Beetle. This is very well written and magnificently illustrated,but like virtually every history of German cars goes very light on the relationship with the Nazis. Porsche was no fanatic and generally stayed separate, but he was well aware of what was going on.



Soe lighter stuff..a huge book called the Porsche Book( primarily contemporary images than textual information, and two soft back collections of Porsche posters:







Daimler-Benz.

Best History in the Star and the Laurel from 1986, but I assume there is now a much better one than this, which I bought used:



Chris Nixon's Racing the Silver Arrows is very good, covering the Mercedes and Auto Union rivalry:



However, the politics and propaganda is best covered by this excellent book:





Official D-B histories are virtually silent about certain cars, but these three books cover a gap:the company would prefer to forget:









A couple of the better 300SL and SLR books, but I imagine there are better:










BMW
BMW histories such as these are not in depth:- would lie to find better







JAGUAR
I like the books by Philip Porter, which have newer editions than these:




OTHER:

The Beaulieu Enxyclopedia ( 4 vols) is an amazing reference for rare cars:



The greatest of all photographers IMO was Louis Klemantaski, and there are superb books of his photos. I have a few originals also:



Auction catalogues are sometimes incredibly informative, such as this one from the first ever Ferrari auction in Maranello:



NURBURGING

Chris Nixon has an excellent History


and for Driving, the Idealine Guide is brilliant including try detailed maps, photos and video. The best I have seen



So any suggestions on books would be gratefully received

Edited by RDMcG on Friday 6th January 22:11