Auto Parade 1958

Another buy from Ally Pally was a book on cars.

The International Auto-Parade Vol. II, published by Arthur Logoz, Zurich seems to cover all the cars being manufactured in 1958.

Running through all the manufacturers in alphabetical order, each model is listed, 3 to a page, with full specs in 6 different languages. Thus I can tell you the Hillman Minx de luxe has a turning circle of 33.6ft and cost £794/17/- whereas a Ford Fairlane manages 41.36ft and weighs in at $2197.

It doesn't say if the Minx would fit in the boot of the Fairlane but it probably wood.

All this information didn't seel the book to me of course. Nowadays the interweb does all that sort of thing. Nor was it the idea that this would prove a really useful guide for future modelling projects where I need to make sure the correct vehicles are used, although this was how I rationalised it when handing over a tenner.

No, it's that all the dull statistics are accompanied by wonderful colour photos.

For a book this old, the quality is really quite astonishing. The colours are so vibrant although it appears that Johnny foreigner had access to rather brighter colour paint than British car makers.

There's also a whole lot of manufacturers I've never heard on. Elva Engineering of Bexhill-on-Sea? Fairthorpe of Chalfont St Peter? Elektromaschinenbau of Fulda?

Apparently there is similar publication today produced by Quattroroute. It's given to motoring journalists at the Geneva show where they can enjoy carting a heavy volume around for the day!