Taschen has been known as a producer of quality yet rather affordable books for more than 40 years. They show that again with this new book ’50 Ultimate Sports Cars’
Taschen is not really known for publishing car-related books. In 2021, they released the table-top book ‘Ultimate Collector Cars’ about which we also did a short report at the time. That book was numbered and weighed over 11kgr. A serious stunner to take on your lap for a while but a real masterpiece.
With ’50 Ultimate Sports Cars’, publisher Taschen takes a different tack. This compact book (22.5 x 16.2 x 3.5cm) is easy to take in your hand and flip through.
The book covers 50 sports cars, each of which has made history. According to the cover, the period runs from 1910 to the present. The first car covered is the 1912 Stutz Model A Bear Cat. The last one in the book is the McLaren Speedtail so quite complete after all.
Through five periods, you walk through the history of these 50 sports cars. Thus, the first period runs from 1910 to the late 1930s to then have the next period start in 1951 with the Ferrari 340 America Barchetta. Anyone thinking of buying a picture book is in for a treat. Of course, the book is richly illustrated but each car is also described in detail. And that makes the book just as interesting.
Most of the focus is on the periods from 1950 to 1960 and from 1960 to 1970. If your field of interest is just within those 20 years then it’s really party time because of the 512 pages 319 fall in that period. Not that the other periods are neglected lol but say it yourself. The period in which a Jaguar XK-SS, a Ferrari 335S, a Maserati Tipo 61 and a Ford GT40 see the light of day is hard to ignore!
Actually, the explanation above should be enough to make you press the buy button instantly. If you then also know that the book costs only €25; I don’t know what’s holding you back.
The compact book weighs 1.3 kg and has 512 pages. It is written in English and is published by Taschen. The book is written by Charlotte & Peter Fiell. They mainly write books about and around design. This book is their second automotive book and they clearly like it because there is also a book in the pipeline around and about motorbikes. ISBN 978-3-8365-9166-9
Here is the link to the Taschen website.