Treasures of the past - automobiles of the world
01/13/2018
You would expect a real tome of a book under this title. But "Automobiles of the World" was a booklet measuring 14.5 x 9 cm, albeit 290 pages thick. You could put it in your jacket pocket and always have it with you. And it was practical, because the first few pages explained the "workings of the automobile, even the functioning of the four-stroke engine and the electrics were worth a few pages to the authors.
This was followed by the racing cars of the year (1967) and an explanation of the car license plates of the world, with a breakdown of both the national license plates and (for Germany and Switzerland) the national emblems. So you also find out that "HÜN" stood for Hünfeld or "SOB" for Schrobenhausen. And you always had all this information with you.
However, the small book mainly dealt with 270 car models from 101 brands.
If you leaf through the pages today, more than 50 years after the booklet was sold, you come across some brands and their cars that have long been forgotten or at least have long since ended up in the rarities section. This starts with Amphicar and ASA, ...
... but also includes brands such as Humber, once a proud representative of the British car industry.
At least Morgan survived, even if the pretty coupé was only just produced in homeopathic doses ...
... or Porsche, at that time basically the manufacturer of a vehicle type with two engines (911/912) and racing cars.
Lamborghini still lacked pictures of the Miura P400, while Jensen described the Interceptor Convertible, which, as is well known, did not make it into series production.
There were just a few pages on the Japanese at the time (Honda, Toyota), but Austin, Autobianchi, DAF, Hillman, NSU, Simca, Vauxhall and Wolseley were generously represented. It couldn't be clearer that it was the British car industry in particular that has suffered the most in the last 50 years.
It is a pleasure to leaf through the old booklet and rediscover forgotten cars. And thanks to the compact format, you can also do this on the move on public transport or in other places ... (today, of course, you have a cell phone for similar "applications").
