The Classic Era

Book by Beverly Rae Kimes

This big, expensive book is worth every pound it weighs and dollar it costs, at least in terms of the joy and edification it will provide to the classic-car aficionado. Kimes, an esteemed automotive writer, embraces the entire classic era--the period between the two world wars--in the U.S and foreign car industries, an era that witnessed an unprecedented exuberance in styling and technology that has never been duplicated. The abundant illustrations are mostly in black and white but are exquisitely clear. The text is much more than superficial accompaniment to the photos, as Kimes documents and offers perceptive commentary on the industry's evolution in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Important automotive designers come to the fore as technological and artistic wizards. Can there have been a car more beautiful than the Packard of the 1930s? Well, the Cord of the same decade reached incredible heights of designing grace. But who could forget the Isotta Fraschini of the 1920s, the car Norma Desmond owned in Sunset Boulevard? Brad Hooper
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