3 comments about Station Wagon: A Tribute to America's Workaholic on Wheels.

1. Ihad bought a few books by Kowalke (Standard Catalogs), there are Ok, but this one has no chronological or label order.



2. Great ! An excellent publication that pays tribute to an American icon - the Station Wagon -- from a positive/historical perspective. Americana at its best !

   As an avid collector of Ford Station Wagons, it is nice to see some positive - long overdue - recognition of a fantastic piece of American history illustrated that provides the reader with a great perspective of the role and purpose that the American Station Wagon served over the years.

   Being a member of the "baby boom generation," ( age 50 ), I can clearly recollect the role that the American Station Wagon served.

   Best,

   Robert G. Swan




3. Mr. Kowalke has captured the true feelings that most of us (baby boomers) have of these cars! The book is a fine tribute to a lost time in history that the minivan can never hope to achieve.

1 comments about Encyclopedia of Petroliana: Identification and Price Guide.

1. This up-to-date guide was compiled and written by the true oil and gas memorabilia expert. 1,000 large, sharp, full color pictures are included for all types of Petroliana, along with current values. Products are listed alphabetically by company, ranging from Ace and Aero to Polarine and Pure Oil to White Rose and Wolf's Head. It includes globes, cans, thermometers, hats, and signs, promotional give-a-ways, and hundreds of other items. If you collect, or are just a fan of these products, you'll find it a joy to add this book to your collection.

No comments about Picture History of Early Aviation, 1903-1913.

2 comments about Standard Catalog of Imported Cars 1946-2002 (Standard Catalog of Imported Cars).

1. This book looks superficially like the Standard Catalog books dealing with American cars, but the data is incomplete and the editing is grossly inferior. Just a few of the problems I noticed flipping through a few sections:

   They lump model years together into big chunks, when there were substantial differences in models within those years.

   Information is incomplete or wrong. Example: I looked here to find an answer to the question, "When did Toyota first build a Celica convertible?" The text refers to one in 1987, but I know for a fact that Toyota built one in 1985! No mention at all.

   They have pictures of cars that are never discussed in the text or production statistics. Example: Under Volkswagen, they have several pictures of the Thing, but it is never listed or discussed anywhere in the data or text. (And, they have a seemingly infinite number of pictures of the Beetle, which barely changed over several decades, but there are a number of models of which there are no pictures at all.)

   These are just a couple things I remember off the top of my head, writing this review without the book in front of me. I have found lots of other similar omissions and mistakes. I'm sure some of the information is accurate, but how to tell?

   And this may be a pet peeve, but the Standard Catalog of American Cars didn't include the Nash Metropolitan, apparently because it was actually built by Austin in England. But the catalog of import cars doesn't include it either, apparently because it was sold by Nash.

   After the excellent catalogs of American cars, I had high hopes for this book, and I was sorely disappointed. Hopefully a new edition will fix its shortcomings.




2. A remarkable effort to list all the cars imported to the US, and their specifications. For many cars they have total production, instead of US or North American imports, but they try to organize their information. Some good B/W pictures, and short histories of the marques. A numbers book, with a poorly defined pricing guide, not a picture book.

No comments about Model T Ford Club International Golden Anniversary: Tin Lizzie Tales.

No comments about Driving Horse-Drawn Carriages for Pleasure: The Classic Illustrated Guide to Coaching, Harnessing, Stabling, etc. (Dover Books on Transportation, Maritime).

No comments about Collecting black memorabilia: A picture price guide.

1 comments about Standard Catalog of Cadillac, 1903-2000 (Standard Catalog of Cadillac).

1. I am not an car enthusiast, but my brother is. At present he has several Caddies from the 40's and 50's. After reviewing a number of books on his subject, I selected this one and picked a winner. He called earlier today, thanking me for this book again and enumerating it various virtues. I gather it lists all the esoteric information needed. I am afraid my comprehension of exactly why this book was so wonderful is minimal at best. All I know is that he enjoys it very much and consideres it a prize reference for the collector.

4 comments about Classic Railroad Advertising: Riding the Rails Again.

1. What a beautiful book! Hardcover and full of the most deliciuous information. Mr. Burness has compiled, from his own collection of original railroad advertising a real time travel to explain us in the words of the railroads themselves (and some related industries-even Lionel), the evolution, successes and problems of American rail industry. The ads are sorted in alphabetical order by company name. From the 20's and 30's going through that heroic period of WW II and the postwar years and coming to Amtrak, you will witness the introduction of dome cars, the new trains like the California Zephyr, new technical achivements and so on. Reading this book you will feel the fallen flags so alive that is difficult to realize that most of them disappeared 30 or 40 years ago.

   And it is not only the trains. Reading these ads you will be back in time in the United States of yesterday. The problems, the people and their fashions, etc. You will really enjoy this book.




2. An interesting book of over two hundred passenger train ads that appeared in mass-market magazines. Each one fills a page with an informative caption. None of them would have won any design awards, mostly they follow the predictable format of illustration, headline, text and small pictures and as these are train ads, the little route map.

   However, within this predictable (and sucessful) format you will see some great artwork, page 17 shows a 1945 American Locomotives ad with a stunning painting of a railroad yard with five streamliners, pages 52-53 has two Leslie Ragan paintings for the Budd Company. The Shell ad on page 186 looks like it was straight out of something painted by Bruce McCall (it wasn't) and there are thirteen pages of great New York Central ads that all feature cut-away illustrations.

   As well as great art don't forget the copy. I'm pleased to see included the New Haven RR's 'The Kid In Upper 4' one of the most famous ads of the war years, read it and appreciate copywriting at its creative best. I never knew what the term 'highball' meant until I read the copy in the Pennsylvania RR ad on page 169-169.

   I would have given this book five stars but like so many pictorial books the publishers have not taken the presentation seriously enough. Here the none of the ads have a definable edge, they just float in the white space on each page, easily solved by running a very thin black line round the ads original size or better still use a grey vignette drop shadow behind them. The typography of the title, contents, index pages etc is very bland and unimaginative. There are five ads that run across spreads but they don't, each has a thick white margin either side of the middle of the book, doing this is as bad as not correcting typos.

   If you like railroad advertisments have a look at 'All-American Ads 40's' by Jim Heimann, a massive 764 page book that has (in color) thirty five of them in the chapter on travel.




3. This is a brand new, 2001 hardback 224 page library volume that will please every railroad and advertising fan. It features 224 pages with 212 outstanding color photos of train ads of every description. The photos look as good or better than the originals. This covers the period of 1920s through the 1950s. There is an emphasis on how the passengers in the postwar period enjoyed the delight of train travel. Plenlty of interesting text is provided. A delightful work.



4. This is a fascinating book for those interested in the transition era of railroading and the advertising that was created in this era. The book is a collection of nearly 200 classic print advertisment that appeared in magazines during the 1940's, 50's and 60's. The ads range from railroad specific ads, with extensive coverage of the Union Pacific, Pennsylvania, New York Central and Great Northern railroads. Most other major railroads are represented with some pages in the book. In addition to railraod specific ads, this book has lots of ads from the manaufacturers of railroad equipmemt, including EMD and Pullman, along with others.
   If you are interested in railroad art, or are interested in the transition era of the railroads, this is a book for you. This book is a quality publication and the reproduction effort is quite good. This book is a welcome part of my library and covers a neglected area of railroad history.

No comments about Detailing Tips and Techniques (Model Railroad Handbook, No 35).