Motoring & Road Transport
Ambulances
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 329 4 / Shire Library SLI 328 / 32 pp
This book presents a history of the development of the ambulance from hand litters and bicycle ambulances to the advance paramedic units of the 1990s, as well as the continual changes in the ambulance service in Britain. It includes details of livery.
Discovering Horse-drawn Vehicles
Price: £6.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 208 2 / Shire Discovering SDI 284 / 176 pp
Outlines the development of horse-drawn vehicles from their inception to the present day.
Early Vehicle Lighting
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 585 4 / Shire Library SLI 185 / 56 pp
Peter Card here chronicles the development of lighting systems for motor vehicles and bicycles up to 1939, covering oil, acetylene and electric systems.
Electric Vehicles
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 316 4 / Shire Library SLI 325 / 32 pp
MG
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 674 5 / Shire Library SLI 465 / 56 pp
As Britain’s most popular sporting marque, MG has emerged as one of a handful of British motoring names to survive into the 21st century. MG stands for the Oxford-based Morris Garages. It was created in 1924 by its talented manager, Cecil Kimber. Initially the cars were special-bodied Morrises but from 1928 onwards MG became established as a make in its own right. This is the story of the development and evolution of the MG, harking back to the glory days of British automotive construction. From the quintessential open two-seater MG Midget, through the booming post-war years and the emergence of MG as a provider of sports cars for the world, Jonathan Wood provides an in-depth analysis of the rise and fall of a motoring legend. Examining the various models in detail, the author covers the financial and corporate traumas which afflicted the company, its brief resurgence in 1995 with the release of the MGF and the final sad chapter which saw a British icon sold off to foreign investors. As production begins again at the Longbridge factory after a three-year hiatus, this is an informative and at times touching glimpse into the history of one of the world’s most recognisable sports cars.
The author of some thirty-five books on the motoring of yesteryear, Jonathan Wood has made a particular study of the histories of Britain's multifarious car makers. He has received the Guild of Motoring Writers' Montagu Trophy and the Society of Automotive Historians' Cugnot Award.
Motor Car Mascots and Badges
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 629 5 / Shire Library SLI 265 / 56 pp
This book surveys the variety of types of motor vehicle mascots and badges, introduces the designers, outlines the manufacturers and discusses forgeries and reproductions.
Motor Cars of the 1930's
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 85263 981 8 / Shire Library SLI 237 / 32 pp
Motor Scooters
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 668 4 / Shire Library SLI 181 / 40 pp
Motor scooters are commonly associated with two manufacturers - Innocenti who made the Lambretta and Piaggio who produced the Vespa. This book traces the ancestry of the modern scooter.
Motoring Specials
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 118 4 / Shire Library SLI 266 / 32 pp
Number plates
A History of Vehicle Registration in BritainPrice: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 566 3 / Shire Library SLI 419 / 32 pp
Contains Ancient history: the prologue; The golden age of motoring; The post-war years: changing times, change, and change again: the arrival of computers; Modern times: a fresh start; Collectors' gold; Islands and Ireland; Curiosities and eccentricities, auctions and anomalies; and further reading.
Old Buses
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 650 9 / Shire Library SLI 94 / 56 pp
Traces the development of the omnibus through the horse-drawn era to that of mechanical propulsion, when, after experiments with steam and electric battery units, the petrol engine reigned supreme until just before the Second World War.
Petroleum Collectables
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 595 3 / Shire Library SLI 430 / 48 pp
In 1967 Beaulieu held the first autojumble in the United Kingdom and collectors of anything remotely connected with motoring found they had a huge market place. Now anything to do with petrol retailing is a collectable item and this book outlines some of the thousands of pre-Second World War items.
Proprietary Engines for Vehicles
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 496 3 / Shire Library SLI 360 / 40 pp
Road Rollers
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 153 5 / Shire Library SLI 281 / 32 pp
Road Signs
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 531 1 / Shire Library SLI 402 / 32 pp
Featuring road signs, direction, warning, boundary, and advisory, this book covers various aspects of traffic signage and signs.
Sidecars
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 344 7 / Shire Library SLI 332 / 32 pp
Stage and Mail Coaches
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 554 0 / Shire Library SLI 416 / 32 pp
The 500cc Racing Car
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 555 7 / Shire Library SLI 417 / 32 pp
This book outlines the development and important events in the history of 500cc motor racing, and it is hoped that it will stimulate or revive interest in an important era in motor-racing evolution.
The AA, History, Badges and Memorabilia
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 552 6 / Shire Library SLI 414 / 40 pp
This book charts the rise of the AA and reflects the interest in collecting its memorabilia in the form of badges, books, models and signs. It includes detailed information on the dating of car badges. The illustrations are all from the AA archive or have been specially commissioned.
The Austin Seven
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 416 1 / Shire Library SLI 343 / 32 pp
One of the most famous of British cars, the diminutive but robust 750 cc Austin Seven, introduced in 1922, changed the course of automobile design and proved the viability of the small-capacity four-cylinder car. The salvation of the Austin company, it was aimed at families who might otherwise have travelled by motorcycle and sidecar, and it remained in production until 1939. The Seven performed as well on the race track as it did on the road and inspired a team of magnificent twin overhead camshaft single-seaters. It survives in respectable numbers to provide new generations of enthusiasts with a practical, economical car to run, race and restore.
Jonathan Wood, the former owner of an Austin Seven, won the Pierre Dreyfus Award for his acclaimed series of articles in Classic Cars magazine about the birth of the model, based on interviews with Stanley Edge, the designer of the engine. The author of some thirty books, Wood has twice won the Montagu Trophy, awarded by the Guild of Motoring Writers, of which he is a member, and has twice received the prestigious Cugnot Award from the Society of Automotive Historians.
The Bean
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 482 6 / Shire Library SLI 354 / 32 pp
The 11.9 hp Bean represented John Harper Bean's bid to manufacture Britain's most popular car of the 1920s, however it was a casualty of a tangled corporate infrastructure and sure-footed opposition from William Morris's famous Bullnose Cowley.
The Bullnose Morris
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 491 8 / Shire Library SLI 359 / 32 pp
This book explains how the Bullnose Morris helped to make Morris, the future Lord Nuffield, Britain's most successful and rich motor manufacturer of the inter-war years.
The Citroen
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 563 2 / Shire Library SLI 289 / 32 pp
The Ford Cortina
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 519 9 / Shire Library SLI 397 / 32 pp
The Ford Cortina was launched in 1962, it was made for twenty years and sold well over four million.
The Humber
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 057 6 / Shire Library SLI 244 / 32 pp
The Jaguar
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 663 9 / Shire Library SLI 196 / 40 pp
In 1935, William Lyons' company, SS Cars Limited, launched a range of cars, the Jaguar. Later adopted by the company, the name became known for luxury saloons and sports cars noted for their style, performance and value. This title describes and illustrates the history and development of the company up to its ownership by the Ford Motor Company.
The London Taxi
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 692 9 / Shire Library SLI 150 / 48 pp
Londoners have a unique vehicle in their taxicab, for it is the only one in the world to be specifically designed for hire work in cities. Since the early years of the twentieth century London taxicabs have had to conform to very strict regulations of design laid down by the Public Carriage Office, which is operated by the Metropolitan Police. One result of this is their much appreciated turning circle of only 25 feet. The celebrated FX4 dominated the scene for years, now joined by the Metrocab and TX1, but a great variety of taxis have been made since the first electric cabs ventured on the streets in 1897. Before 1914 forty-five manufacturers submitted cabs to the Public Carriage Office, though the market soon became dominated by a few makes, Austin becoming the leading make in the 1930s. This album chronicles the development of the taxi and the growth of the cab trade.
Nick Georgano was born in London in 1932 and became a schoolmaster, during which time he produced the third edition of The World’s Automobiles by G.R. Doyle and wrote a companion volume, The World’s Commercial Vehicles. In 1966 he became a full-time writer and editor and in 1968 his major work, The Complete Encyclopedia of Motorscars was published. He has also edited other encyclopedias on motor sport and commercial vehicles and has written many other books on aspects of the history of motor vehicles including The Bentley, Electric Vehicles and The Humber in this series. He was Head Librarian at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu and is a member of the Museum’s Advisory Council.
The Mini
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 235 8 / Shire Library SLI 299 / 32 pp
The Model T Ford
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 432 1 / Shire Library SLI 348 / 32 pp
16.5 million Model T Fords were built between 1908 and 1927. With many rare photos this book charts the model's 19 year evolution and seeks to explain how this quirky, ingenious motor car put the world on wheels. With 16.5 million examples built between 1908 and 1927, the Model T Ford was, until overtaken in the 1970s by the Volkswagen Beetle, the most popular car in the history of the automobile. Mass-produced in America and throughout the globe, such was the value-for-money T’s market penetration that in 1921 Henry Ford’s deceptively robust Tin Lizzie accounted for every other car on the highways of the world. Illustrated with many rare contemporary photographs from the Ford archives, this Album charts the model’s nineteen-year evolution and seeks to explain how this quirky, ingenious motor car put the world on wheels.
Jonathan Wood is a founder member of the staff of Classic Cars magazine. A full-time writer since 1981, he is the author of some thirty-five books on motoring history and has penned the standard work on the Ford Cortina Mark 1. Wood has twice won the Guild of Motoring Writers’ Montagu Trophy and, as a member of the America-based Society of Automotive Historians, he is a two times recipient of its prestigious Cugnot Award.
The Morgan
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 328 7 / Shire Library SLI 327 / 32 pp
The Morris Minor
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 149 8 / Shire Library SLI 277 / 32 pp
The Rolls Royce
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 577 9 / Shire Library SLI 198 / 32 pp
The Rolls-Royce name is synonymous with perfection and the pursuit of excellence, on account of the extraordinarily high engineering standards demanded by Henry Royce, the marque's founder. All subsequent models have followed this perfectionist approach, maintained by BMW, which acquired the company in 1998.
The Scottish Motor Industry
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 038 5 / Shire Library SLI 238 / 32 pp
The Volkswagen Beetle
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 565 6 / Shire Library SLI 226 / 32 pp
The Wolseley
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 297 6 / Shire Library SLI 322 / 32 pp
Traction Engines
and other steam road enginesPrice: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 525 0 / Shire Library SLI 404 / 40 pp
Traction engines - steam engines to haul loads on the roads - developed in the mid 1860s and were usually dirty, noisy and somewhat crude to handle. This book brings together much information about these engines, from the earliest to the latest, about how they worked and what they did. Attention is also given to the various derivatives of the traction engine - the humble portable, the well-known steam roller, the steam tractor, majestic road locomotive, ploughing engine and, last but not least, the King of the Road, the glorious and glittering showman’s engine. The informative text is accompanied by illustrations that show something of the age in which traction engines worked and of the age when they became treasured historic relics. Engines appear at rallies and other events all over Great Britain and in many other countries. On these occasions they are visited and admired by thousands of people and are now part of our engineering heritage.
Derek Rayner has been interested in steam engines since his schooldays. He first drove a traction engine in 1963 and since that time his interest in these mighty machines has burgeoned. He and two friends purchased a 1915 Aveling & Porter steam roller in 1964, and he has been its sole owner since 1968. Mr Rayner a frequent contributor to ‘Steaming’, the magazine of the National Traction Engine Trust, and ‘Old Glory’ magazine. He involved with a number of traction engine organizations and is the author of the Shire Library book ‘Road Rollers’.
Turnpike Roads
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 155 9 / Shire Library SLI 283 / 32 pp / Available March 2008
Turnpike trusts formed an important part of English life for over 150 years, from about 1690 to 1840, during which time they made a significant contribution to economic development before and during the industrial revolution. Locally and privately funded and usually operated on a relatively small scale, they represented an administrative innovation which recognised and tried to meet the need for an improved road transport infrastructure. For the first time road users paid for repairs and improvements to roads, and parishioners hitherto responsible were relieved of an often burdensome charge on local finances. Over 20,000 miles (32,000km) of roads were ‘turnpiked’, and most of these eighteenth- and nineteenth-century roads are still used today. Apart from the roads themselves, the most obvious survivals of turnpike trusts are the scores of neat little tollhouses and hundreds of roadside milestones. This book outlines the origins, development, success and decline of the turnpike trusts and some of the features associated with them.
Geoffrey Wright was a teacher, before retiring to writing, photography and lecturing. He wrote widely, for Shire and other publishers.
Veteran Motor Cars
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 85263 658 9 / Shire Library SLI 112 / 32 pp
Vintage Motor Cars
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 85263 776 0 / Shire Library SLI 146 / 32 pp
Wagons and Carts
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 676 9 / Shire Library SLI 467 / 64 pp
David Viner is a museums and heritage consultant, freelance curator and consultant. His interest in rural social history dates back to his schooldays, developed throughout a career in museums over thirty-five years. The distinguished wagons of the Cotswolds first inspired an interest in regional types and function, which he now pursues all over the UK. He has contributed a series of studies for Heavy Horse magazine and enjoyed pursuing his research as Museum of English Rural Life Research Fellow at the University of Reading. He is a Fellow of the Museums Association and the Society of Antiquaries and the author of a dozen books and photographic albums.