TITLE
Porsche 356 & 550 Spyder -- A Pictorial History
AUTHOR Rasmussen
ENGLISH
ISBN 10 1879301032
ISBN 13 9781879301030
OUT OF PRINT -- NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE @ BLOCKS BOOKS
FROM MY REVIEWS IN THE 356 REGISTRY:
Henry Rasmussen has out a spectacular new 911 book PORSCHE 911 - SIX CYLINDER SUPERCARS and the publisher, who also puts out EXCELLENCE MAGAZINE, are following-up with a 356 book. This book, PORSCHE 356 & 550 - A PICTORIAL HISTORY, originally stemmed from the book that Gene Babow was writing when he died. However, the chapters in the new book bear no relationship to those Gene sent me several years ago. After Ludvigsen's EXCELLENCE WAS EXPECTED, Conradt's PORSCHE 356 - still auf Deutsch, but read on - and Maltby's PORSCHE 356 & RS SPYDERS there are precious few new facts available for gleaning, yet Henry has achieved a respectable history AND A FEW GEMS. You could use this book as a single reference for 356, if not Spyders. Even so, the real point of any Rasmussen book are his superb photographs. Better than any previous book, the period/contemporary photographs selected help tell a story; achieved in part by contrasting photographs: an early 550 dash inset on the same page as an RS 60 dash: a Pealit banjo wheel (though in a VW) juxtaposed with a Les Leston in a steering wheel in a C, a Spyder racing and a Spyder crashed.
Continued is the tradition of featuring in each chapter a specific car for Rasmussen's beautiful color work. Henry appears to have a solid working relationship with Chuck Stoddard: the Gmünd coupe (last seen, by me at least, at the Registry meet in Indianapolis), the 1954 Pre-A, the America Roadster, the '59 A coupe all belong to Chuck Stoddard. However, there is also an A cabriolet hard top with chrome bumpers, restored after being found in a field,and a Karmann hardtop which has been in one family all its life. The early Spyders, including the Glöckler cars, are covered in 20 pages. Within these pages is only a single photograph of a car later than a 550A. While this is in conformity with the 550 part of the title it is peculiar in that all of the later 718 Spyders properly belong in the 356 era. Still, about half of the photographs from the early Spyder era are unfamiliar to me.
The book's biggest problem will be its title's similarity to editor Maltby's book. Even if you are up on your books the similarity between PORSCHE 356 & RS SPYDERS and PORSCHE 356 & 550 - A PICTORIAL HISTORY is too strong.
