There are probably only a few car historians who are so well known that their name is interesting enough as a book title to generate the necessary sales. Karl Ludvigsen, however, is one of the most famous authors in the automotive field, his name is well known and so the little book we are holding in our hands is called "Ludvigsen's Rear View Mirror".
On the back of the book it says: "In his role as a journalist, editor, author and consultant, Karl Ludvigsen has seen almost everything and everyone in the automotive industry and experienced the golden age at first hand. As a senior executive at General Motors, Fiat and Ford, he was also involved in groundbreaking decisions."
In fact, Ludvigsen is omnipresent when it comes to old cars today. He has published many books, written for renowned car magazines and curated an extensive photo archive. So the man should have no shortage of stories and memories.
23 portraits
The book brings together 23 portraits of interesting car people with whom Ludvigsen has had contact over the past decades. And it is not a run-of-the-mill selection that the author has made.
In addition to racing drivers and designers, he deliberately included managers, engineers and journalists/photographers in his selection. That's why he included people you don't read about every day, such as Rodolfo Mailänder, Paul Frère, Louise Piëch and Alexander von Falkenhausen.
Personal memories
Ludvigsen knows how to color the short biographies (which are mostly related to specific phases of life) with many personal memories. After all, he knew the people he writes about and experienced some interesting things with them. For example, he fought for similar goals at GM and Ford together with Bob Lutz.
The chapter on Stefan Habsburg, who probably only a few readers already know, is an interesting illustrative object. He worked at GM in the design studio and was jointly responsible for the spectacular Firebird III study, among other things. However, the flashback is mainly about a memorable presentation for the head of design, Bill Mitchell, in which the success of Volkswagen in the USA is explained. This presentation not only answers this question, but also predicts the future of Volkswagen, namely a compact front-engined car with a transversely mounted four-cylinder engine. Habsburg anticipated the Golf, six years before its official presentation.
You can probably only read something like that in Ludvigsen.
Not a picture book, but a reader
Hardly anyone buys the book because of the pictures, most of which come from Ludvigsen's personal archive. At least there is at least one picture for each car person portrayed, so that you can better imagine who you are reading about.
However, it is the written word that makes this book interesting, not least Ludvigsen's thoughts and conclusions, which are written fluently and are ideal as bedtime reading, especially as no chapter exceeds 20 pages.
The fact that some of the wording is a little bumpy only slightly dampens the reading pleasure and can probably be attributed to the translation (or editing), as the same book is also available in English with the title "Karl Ludvigsen's Fast Friends - English", a title, incidentally, which actually reflects the essence of the book less well than the title of the German edition.
The 224 pages in small hardback format cost EUR 19.90, a fair deal.
Bibliographical details
- Title: Ludvigens Rückspiegel
- Author: Karl Ludvigsen
- Language: German
- Publisher: Delius Klasing
- Edition: 1st edition July 2019
- Format: Flexible bound, 15,6 x 22,9 cm
- Size: 224 pages, 25 photos/illustrations (black and white)
- ISBN: 978-3-667-11572-0
- Price: EUR 19.90
- Buy/order: Online at amazon.de, at Delius Klasing or in relevant bookstores
