Top Muscle: the Rarest Cars from America's Fastest Decade

A muscle-car book unlike any other, featuring the rarest vehicles on Earth. In the 1960s, something explosive happened in the automotive world: the United States' evolving V-8 engine technology was met by 75 million baby boomers, all with an extreme need for speed and all entering the auto market at the same time. The result was the golden era of factory muscle cars, brutish machines that were unlike any the world had ever seen or will likely ever see again--they truly embodied the "sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll" generation. For some, even a factory muscle car wasn't enough. Detroit automakers responded, secretly building some of the most outrageous muscle cars ever created behind their superiors' backs and ultimately creating some of the most powerful vehicles ever sold to the public. In Top Muscle, author Darwin Holmstrom chronicles the ultimate collection of these super-rare high-performance beasts. Captured by the lens of renowned auto photographer Randy Leffingwell, these cars represent the absolute zenith of the most valuable collector cars in existence, with fascinating histories that illuminate the wildest age in American automotive history. The Brothers Collection features over 600 cars, including such rarities as:

- The very first Chevelle Z16 ever built, which was also the very first muscle car that Chevrolet ever built

- The very first Chevelle SS454 LS6 off the assembly line

- The only 1969 Mach I Mustang ever built with a factory sunroof

- The very first A12 (440-6) Roadrunner ever built

- The very last Hemi 'Cuda convertible Plymouth produced, One of the eight convertible Trans Am Ram Air III Firebirds that Pontiac built in 1969

Darwin Holmstrom has written, co-written, or contributed to over thirty books on subjects ranging from motorcycles and muscle cars to Gibson Les Paul guitars, including Indian Motorcycles, GTO: Fifty Years, Let's Ride: Sonny Barger's Guide to Motorcycling, Top Muscle: The Rarest Cars from America's Fastest Decade, BMW Motorcycles, The Life Harley-Davidson, and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Motorcycles. He resides in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Randy Leffingwell wrote his first book, American Muscle, while on staff at the Los Angeles Times. The book examined Times’ publisher Otis Chandler’s muscle car collection. American Muscle, published in September 1990, jump-started a love of book creation that led Leffingwell to leave the Times in 1995. By then, he had authored Porsche Legends and six other books.

To date, Leffingwell has authored more than 60 titles. These include a dozen Porsche titles ranging from general overviews—Porsche 75 Years: Expect the Unexpected, and The Complete Book of Porsche 911—to deeper explorations in Porsche Turbo and Porsche 911: 50 Years. He regularly travels to Germany to continue his Porsche-history research, and he has interviewed more than 200 Porsche engineers, stylists, model makers, racers, and managers.

While Leffingwell has tackled other subjects, including John Deere tractors, Harley-Davidson, and West Coast lighthouses, he admits he is almost addicted to Porsche’s story. In addition to his book work, he is historical editor for 000 magazine and Porsche Panorama. And for the past decade, he has been researching and writing an encyclopedic history of Porsche’s motorsports endeavors.

Leffingwell lives near Santa Barbara, California.