Giles Chapman

The original Land Rover evolved for almost seventy years, from the ground breaking Series I model in 1948 to the final Defender in 2016. Now there is a totally new Defender for the 2020s. Land Rover charts the history of the authentic bloodline in striking, carefully compiled and, in some instances, very rare photographs. It presents the memorable mileposts – and bizarre diversions – in an astonishingly long life. This is a rich visual tribute to the genius and guts of these legendary vehicles.

Sixty diverse cars, sixty fascinating stories, sixty contrasting specifications, just one uniting factor: they’re all forgotten, neglected or misunderstood classics. What is that car? Think you know it? Take another look; is it really what you remember? The 1960s may be regarded as the cradle of the classic car, but these are the tantalising ones that got away. Giles Chapman has assembled a line-up of contrasting automobiles here, which quickly became obscure. Each of the cars you’ll discover here tells an unusual story, and the endings are often surprising. In this turbulent decade, brave new engine technology was championed and then rejected, design trends suddenly exploded, and car-buyers became unpredictable. The cars in this book sometimes suffered as a result – although some of them were actually just plain odd! Lost Cars of the 1960s is the final part of a trilogy that includes Lost Cars of the 1940s and '50s and Lost Cars of the 1970s, recording the intriguing sideshows of motoring history from around the world.

‘An intriguing series of tales about love affairs with cars which, like human relationships, can go badly wrong.’ – Christian Wolmar, best-selling author of The Subterranean Railway and Fire & SteamThree Million Miles in a Volvo and Other Curious Car Stories is a whistle-stop tour of fifty fascinating petrolheads and how they changed car culture for goodMeet: The Prince of Darkness! The Sweeney’s ace stunt driver! Renault’s doyenne of colours and fabrics!Discover: A pathetic steam car! Metal underpants! The unseen brilliance of Jaguars!And find out exactly how one man adored his Volvo so much that he drove it around the world 120 times to cruise into the record books.

Sixty diverse cars, sixty fascinating stories, sixty contrasting specifications, just one uniting factor: they’re all forgotten, neglected or misunderstood classics.Motoring in the 1940s and ’50s spanned from post-war austerity to the you’ve-never-had-it-so-good era. It was a time when engines gained more power, suspension became more cosseting, the chassis frame was rendered a thing of the past, and styling followed jet fighters and later space rockets. Many cars found success across the world, but others barely got off the ground and quickly vanished from our collective consciousness.In Lost Cars of the 1940s and ’50s, award-winning author Giles Chapman presents an all-new selection of the intriguing strays of the car world. Rarely seen archive and contemporary images bring daring new designs, economy models and some extraordinary luxury cars back to life … even if they misfire once again in the process.

Sixty diverse cars, sixty fascinating stories, sixty contrasting specifications, just one uniting factor: they’re all forgotten, neglected or misunderstood classics.In Lost Cars of the 1970s, the casualties and sideshows of motoring history from around the world finally get the recognition they deserve. Revisit a motoring decade when fuel economy was top priority, the rotary engine rose and fell, and car buyers wanted a hatchback and the latest styling and safety features. Those that made the grade found global popularity – now meet the cars left behind.Italy’s clever plan to update the Mini; the French GT coupé with an extra seat; America’s electric runabout that paved the way for Tesla; Britain’s stylish, homespun sports cars; the Japanese limo intended to do 25mph; the ‘safety car’ turned into a Polish workhorse … each one enjoys a detailed review that gives the context and thinking around them. Featuring archive images that highlight thirty design specials and one-offs, award-winning author Giles Chapman showcases both the cars that predicted what was to come, and those that pointed to a future that never quite came true.

For fifty years, Britain made the best toy cars in the world, expertly shrinking every kind of reallife vehicle and producing them in their countless, die-cast millions. Dinky Toys were the 1930s pioneers, then in the 1950s came the pocket-money Matchbox series, followed by Corgi Toys bristling with ingenious features and movie stardust.But who were the driving forces behind this phenomenon? And how did they keep putting the latest, most exciting cars into the palm of your hand year after year?In this illustrated and expanded edition of Britain’s Toy Car Wars, Giles Chapman reveals the extraordinary battle to dominate Britain’s toy car industry, and the dramas and disasters that finally saw the tiny wheels come off …

Cars on Film celebrates the car at the movies through a unique and eclectic collection of rare ‘stills’. Cars have been an integral aspect of on-screen storytelling ever since the earliest cameras first rolled, highlighting suspense or humour as they transport characters from scene to scene. Car chases and car crashes have been staples in films from Hollywood to Pinewood, while several cars – the DeLorean DMC-12 in Back to the Future, the Dodge Challenger in Vanishing Point, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang itself – have achieved global fame after silver screen exposure. Award-winning car culture writer Giles Chapman has collected and conserved these rare images over many decades. Packed with pictorial gems, and many forgotten, bizarre or astonishing cinematic moments, this is the book film and car fanatics everywhere have been waiting for.

The 1980s car era had been brash and loud – but the 1990s that followed was markedly more sober, stylish and sophisticated. A period when safety and durability improved . . . even though insurance hikes, speed cameras and the introduction of the separate theory test made driving more of a challenge. Britpop bands battled in the charts as CD players became the ultimate in-car accessory. In the latest addition to this classic series, Giles Chapman investigates the newly nostalgic motoring decade of the 1990s, looking back in entertaining style over the induction of such memorable icons as the Peugeot 106 and 206, Fiat Punto, Jaguar XJ, Toyota RAV4, Subaru Impreza Turbo, Audi TT, TVR Chimaera and Ford Focus MkI.

The original Land Rover evolved for almost seventy years, from the ground breaking Series I model in 1948 to the final Defender in 2016. Now there is a totally new Defender for the 2020s. Land Rover charts the history of the authentic bloodline in striking, carefully compiled and, in some instances, very rare photographs. It presents the memorable mileposts – and bizarre diversions – in an astonishingly long life. This is a rich visual tribute to the genius and guts of these legendary vehicles.

The Jaguar name is synonymous with style, power, performance, luxury and an intangible element of Britishness. It’s hard to imagine its humble origins in a Blackpool backstreet as the Swallow Sidecar Company. Jaguar Cars was formed in 1945, and the metamorphosis began: superb engines, knockout design, epic racing victories and thrilling sports saloons followed. Over the years it has become a living legend. Here, Giles Chapman captures the astounding story of this iconic car company with a collection of beautiful pictures.

It’s easy to forget that the original Range Rover, launched in 1970, created the luxury sport-utility vehicle market from scratch. A marvel of British ingenuity developed on a shoestring budget, it was the first four-wheel drive car that was as happy on tarmac as it was on rocky terrain. It truly blazed a trail for a worldwide motoring trend. The Range Rover Story is a timely and concise reminder of all that Range Rover has achieved since a tight-knit group of engineers first turned their thoughts to something ground-breaking.

Mini celebrates 60 amazing years of this iconic car, from its revolutionary introduction to the popularity of its new-generation models.The first two-door Mini, introduced in 1959 and built until 2000, revolutionized automotive design with its innovative front-wheel-drive layout that made the car appear bigger on the inside than the outside. In 1999, the Mini was voted the second most influential car of the 20th century, behind the Ford Model T.Designed for British Motor Corporation (BMC) by Sir Alec Issigonis and manufactured in England, Australia, Spain, Belgium, Chile, Italy, Portugal, South Africa, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia, the Mini was as successful in competition as it was on the street, winning the Monte Carlo Rally four times from 1964 through 1967.Originally built by BMC, the Mini’s later parent company, Rover, was acquired by BMW in 1994. In 2000, BMW sold most of the Rover Group but retained the Mini brand. The last and 5,387,862nd original Mini rolled off the production line in October 2000. In July 2001, BMW launched production of the new-generation of Mini which was soon joined by Countryman, Clubman, convertible, Cooper Works, and numerous special editions.Nearly 20 years later, the new Minis remain as popular as the original from 1959.

Spanning four decades, the Reliant Robin was a familiar, if eccentric, fixture on Britain’s roads; an object of amusement to those who didn’t understand its ultra-thrifty ways and a source of pride to the many thousands of owners who did. During a time of deep recession in 1970s Britain, this stylish little car from Tamworth became a massive hit, boasting low fuel consumption and cheap tax. Reliant couldn’t make them fast enough, until a culture of more sophisticated car buyers saw it go into eventual decline. From its beginnings in 1973 to its demise almost thirty years later, Giles Chapman traces the colourful history of the most famous and iconic three-wheeled car in Britain.

After the Second World War, cars in Britain were very hard to come by. Most new models had to go for export or were reserved for those drivers who needed them the most, such as doctors. Petrol was still rationed, roads inadequate and modern technology lacking. With the arrival of the 1950s, things slowly began to change: Morris, Austin and Ford put increasing numbers of British families on the road, new sports cars from MG, Jaguar, Triumph and Austin-Healey promised a thrilling drive, and innovative motors such as the Land Rover and the bubble car emerged. By 1958, new car buying was leading a consumer boom, and Britain’s manufacturers still had the market to themselves. Giles Chapman investigates the fascinating motoring history of the 1950s.

On kilpailun ensimmäinen päivä ja sinun ajovuorosi! Kiristä turvavyöt ja aja paalupaikalle lähtöruudukkoon. Opit hallitsemaan lentävän lähdön, ajamaan mutkat vauhdikkaasti, ohittamaan muita ja voittamaan kilpailuja.Teoriatunneilla opit kaiken tarvitsemasi kilpa-autoista ja kilpailujen säännöistä. Saat myös asiantuntevia vinkkejä, joiden avulla sinusta tulee huippukuljettaja.Kirjassa esitellään myös kuuluisien urheiluautojen, NASCAR-voittaja-autojen ja legendaaristen FI-autojen saavutuksia ja salaisuuksia.

It was brash and it was loud – the 1980s put paid to the glumness of the ’70s and nowhere was that more obvious than in the cars we drove, which took a quantum leap in durability, performance, equipment and style. They had to: Japanese quality and European design were luring away ever more customers. Features such as fuel injection, turbochargers, computer-controlled systems and four-wheel drive became commonplace. This was also the decade that brought us the people-carrier and the off-roader, new classes of car that radically reshaped family transport. Meanwhile, seatbelt-wearing became law, the M25 opened, speed cameras appeared and ram-raiding was the new motoring nemesis. Relive everything car-related in Britain in the 1980s with Giles Chapman.

If you owned a car in 1960s Britain, then you’ll love this blast back in time to when driving was still fun, highway speed limits were unheard-of (well, until 1965 anyway), and buying a new car was a thrilling family event. It was a golden period for iconic classic cars – the Mini Cooper, Jaguar E-type, AC Cobra and MGB – but also a time when British manufacturers really got their act together with stylish family models. Who can forget great little runabouts with evocative names like Anglia, Herald, Imp, Viva, Cortina and Hunter? Meanwhile, Rovers, Triumphs and Jags were delighting executives as they cruised along near-empty motorways. It was too good to last, of course, with regulations looming and fancy foreign cars creeping on to Britain’s driveways by the end of the decade. In this richly illustrated book, Giles Chapman recalls all the key cars of the era that you probably owned – or at least coveted – and brings the swinging ’60s back to life.

The 1970s saw some ground-breaking new metal in British showrooms: the Renault 5 established the new ‘supermini’ class, the Volkswagen Golf gave the average family car a hatchback and top quality, the Ford Capri made sporty cars available to everyone and, despite all of this, that old favourite the Ford Cortina continued to rule the sales charts. It was a funny old time to be a driver, and Britain started to experience a love/hate relationship with the four-wheeled machine that previously symbolised nothing but speed and freedom. The economic rollercoaster sent fuel prices soaring, while the country’s roads left something to be desire, and then there was the issue of those cars themselves: it seemed British manufacturers, beset by striking workers and falling quality standards, were stalling as Japan’s Datsuns and Toyotas cruised off with contented customers. Giles Chapman documents the whole turbulent decade stunningly illustrated book, from the cars that dominated our motoring lives to the much-maligned Morris Marina and Reliant Robin actually helped drivers out of a jam.

The very first Land Rover, launched in 1948, owed its low-key existence to shoestring British ingenuity and – literally – odds and ends left over from World War II. Rover thought it could keep its factory ticking over as the company’s post-war fortunes slowly revived. They also thought that farmers might appreciate it as a handy cross between a pick-up and a tractor. But it was soon obvious that the company had created, in the land Rover, a world-beating product. Giles Chapman tells the story of how Land Rovers have tamed the planet’s toughest terrain with their unstoppable off-road capability. It also charts how the Land Rover legend allowed the marque to gradually expand its range with the Range Rover, Discovery, Freelander and the latest Range Rover Evoque. They’re all cars as familiar in cities and suburbs as they are at home in the countryside. Land Rover has been controversial, its fortunes tied to Britain’s economic ups and downs. Today it’s on a roll, leading a renaissance in British design and manufacturing, yet the continued presence of the Defender helps keep the Land Rover Story absolutely pukka.