Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #91201 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780760329528
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review

From the Inside Flap
In the 1960s and 1970s American automakers produced millions of muscle cars: ultra high-performance cars more adept at competition than transportation. The baby boom generation snapped up these cars and proceeded to use them as intended, drag and street racing the cars until there was nothing left of them.

No longer minimum-wage high schoolers, today's boomers enjoy more disposable income than any generation in history. And many of them are spending that income on highly collectible muscle cars.

Because so few muscle cars survived the abuse of young drivers back in the day, muscle car prices have skyrocketed, with mundane muscle cars commanding six-figure prices and the most significant muscle cars surpassing the million-dollar mark.

Respected muscle car expert Colin Comer and top photographer David Newhardt tell the story of each of these rarest of rare cars in Million-Dollar Muscle Cars, the only book dedicated to these top-flight cars.

From the Back Cover
They were the baby boomers' first cars and they were made to race. These cars, including Corvettes, 'Cudas, Mustangs, and Trans Ams, were driven until there wasn't much left. Now these muscle cars of the sixties and seventies are the stuff of legends . . . and nostalgia. And the handful of rare models that survived in good shape are collectors' dreams, easily commanding six-figure prices and sometimes passing the million-dollar mark.

Million-Dollar Muscle Cars is a beautifully illustrated history of these rarest of rare cars, from the high-performance fantasies of yesterday to the high-finance wheeling and dealing of today. Specially commissioned photos and an expert text tell the story of these cars from their rise in the early sixties to their decline in the mid seventies to their re-emergence as performance icons of historical significance and eternal coolness. Author and top muscle expert Colin Comer explains what makes the world's most valuable muscle cars tick, providing insightful discussions of such cars as the1970-1971 Hemi 'Cuda Convertible, 1965 Shelby GT-350 R Model, 1967 Shelby GT500 "Super Snake," 1968 Camaro Z/28 Convertible, 1969 Trans Am Convertible, 1969 ZL1 Camaro, and 1971 Sox & Martin Hemi 'Cuda Drag Car.

Customer Reviews

My new favorite muscle car book!
I was very skeptical that yet another new muscle car book could actually offer anything that I hadn't read a thousand times before. But for $22 bucks I figured at minimum I'd have a new coffee table book with nice pictures.

I am happy to say this book is far more than a pretty picture book. Honestly, I was shocked Comer gives so much history on each individual car including who owned it, what they paid, when they sold it and even how much they sold for. The legwork in getting this info had to be a real labor of love, and something I've never seen anybody do before. And this isn't some fairy tale book that wants us to believe all muscle cars are great just because they are expensive. Much like another book I love, Joe Oldham's Musclecar Confidential, Comer tells it like it is. I was hooked when I read the fourth sentence in the book - "These rattle trap, bare bones, crude devices were built to conform to a price point with little regard given to sophistication or longevity, and aimed squarely at the youth market." I had never thought about it before, but that really summed up the whole muscle car era. It was about money for the manufacturers then and it seems to be about the money now.

All I can say is if you are a muscle car junkie like me I'm sure you'll have a hard time putting this book down. I had heard rumors of these crazy sales for big bucks, and I knew about a few of the cars. But outside of watching 60 seconds of coverage on a few cars on TV from Barrett-Jackson, I never knew the rest of the story. I learned a lot about the secret world of upper end car deals, and it was cool to follow these cars through and read how they sold for almost nothing only to later sell for a ton.

Really cool stuff. I highly recommend this book to anybody that loves cars, or even just has a passing interest in them. The stories are so interesting that you'll find yourself not even paying attention to the car itself but more the owners and how these cars made it through. Heck, I liked it so much I just came back to buy 4 more to give as X-Mas gifts!

Elegance in the fast lane.
For anyone who has felt the increase in one's pulse rate at the sound of a muscle car coming near, or felt the unique sensation in the presence of the inchoate power of a muscle car from the 60s as one embraces its steering wheel, this epistle communicates a true sense of knowledge of those feelings. Colin Comer can write well, as is obvious, but more importantly he feels the psychic sense of his subject and can elicit from his readers an acknowledgement of that which is not usually susceptible to words. Many will not understand the intimacy of which i speak but for those of us who grew up in the locus of the subject of Colin's book they will know - Colin has captured the essence; Colin has captured the elegance of the era.

Most informative automotive history I've read yet
I've been reading about muscle cars since back when the only literature on the subject consisted of repair manuals, and believe this to be one of the very best of the breed. I've owned a number of muscle cars and know a bit about the market, but nothing like what author Colin Comer knows about the subject. He knows every detail about the cars themselves, about the market for the cars, and about the cars places in history, the reasons why these cars have become so valuable. Best of all, the guy can write. The text was as entertaining as it was informative. The photography was as good as the text. I own maybe 20 books with David Newhardt's photography and this is easily his best work yet.