TITLE Porsche 356: 75th Anniversary
Author Maltby
ENGLISH
ISBN 10 No ISBN
ISBN 13 9780760377376
PRICE $60.00
LIST PRICE $75.00
AVAILABLE AT BLOCK’S BOOKS
A beautiful large format (12.5 x 10 x 1”) book on high quality paper with superb photograph reproduction -- even of images from the turn of the last century. The introductory history gives special emphasis on the Gmund years -- F. Porsche with a schwimmwagen carrying a dead stag to photos of the Porsche winch and design plans for the type 323 Cistitalia tractor. The history is excellent, enabling the book to become the definitive history of the 356. Contemporary Porsches including tractors (I certainly did not know the very successful Porsche Mannesman factory was closed to allow the ex Zeppelin building to used by MTU- Mercedes to build diesel engine for NATO tanks), aircraft engines, industrial engine, Spyders are all covered.
Still the meat is in the evolution of the 356 high lit histories of specific models includig serial numbers. This is a required book for all 356 enthusiasts
TITLE Porsche 356 and RS Spyders
Author Maltby
ENGLISH
ISBN 10 879385510
ISBN 13 9780879385514
PRICE $29.95
OUT OF PRINT — ONE LEFT AT BLOCK’S BOOKS
FROM MY REVIEWS IN THE 356 REGISTRY:
I am absolutely delighted to find a book that can be recommended without reservation!!! In PORSCHE 356 & RS SPYDERS Gordon Maltby has written a superb book which may be favorably compared with Ludvigsen's EXCELLENCE WAS EXPECTED.
The text is well written, and if time allows the few errors I found on the galley sheets to be corrected, essentially without error. Almost as important, the text flows well. This is the sort of book you can read all afternoon without feeling as if you have been studying.
Very few of the photographs are courtesy of Herr Paar and the Porsche archives, and these are only photographs from the earliest days: Porsche 356/1 roadster prototype and Porsche 356/2 coupe prototype with cooling slits in its deck lid - funny, while the travels of the 356/1 roadster are well documented - I have never seen any speculation on the fate of the prototype coupe. There
are almost enough "new" photographs to create a mini PORSCHE FACTORY TOUR 1951. Especially impressive is the attribution of photographer, subjects and date of contemporary pictures. Ray Knight should be very happy seeing the Sauter roadster particularly well covered -- assuming Ray did not supply the photographs and history himself.
All this makes the book a very useful vehicle for doing research. Stu French, Tim Kuser and I examined the galley proofs to PORSCHE 356 AND RS SPYDERS at the Princeton swap meet. We agreed that the type and serial number information is better than from any other source. Those of you who dwell upon every word in the REGISTRY will recognize the serial numbers from Brett Johnson's column in the last REGISTRY. Interspersed throughout the early portion of the book are reproductions of pages
taken from a '52 coupe owner's manual with the extremely clear line drawings by Siegfried Warner. These serve as little
chapter headings, and allow comparison between early and later parts. Most of us know the history of the Hirth roller bearing crankshaft and the long stroke 1500 engine. Ever since von Frankenberg's book PORSCHE: MAN AND HIS CARS the reason given for using a Hirth roller bearing crankshaft was to gain room to allow a stroke increase to 74 mm for the 527/528/589, family
of engines. But I had never seen in print the explanation as to how clearance was so quickly arranged for the 546/506/(509) family of engines with the plain bearing crank. Finally it can be revealed that by eliminating the separate rod big end bolts and replacing
them with studs coming from the lower half of the connecting rod, sufficient room could be found to increase the stroke on plain bearing engines. We are not told why this seemingly straight forward modification only came about after the Hirth roller bearing crank formed murder suicide pacts in almost all customer's engines.
At $30 a super book written by a knowledgeable Porsche enthusiast, showing superb research and marvelous period photographs, and a super
deal - buy it!!!
TITLE Porsche 356 and RS Spyders
Author Maltby
ENGLISH
(soft)
ISBN 10 0760309035
ISBN 13 9780760309032
PRICE $24.95
OUT OF PRINT — ONE LEFT AT BLOCK’S BOOKS
FROM MY REVIEWS IN THE 356 REGISTRY:
A source of great pleasure is the return of editor Gordon Maltby’s estimable PORSCHE 356 AND RS SPYDERS to the list of books officially in publication. I still remember the buzz, eight years ago at the Snowshoe Holiday, when Gordon’s book barely beat the similarly named and identically priced Henry Rasmussen PORSCHE 356 & 550 to print. Both books are superb; but in retrospect, Gordon’s history is a bit more knowledgeable and his period photographs are not all from Road & Track or Herr Parr’s Arkivs at Porsche. Gordon takes useful advantage of his larger 10 x 11” format to print large and impressively sharp period, black and white photographs shot by Dave Friedman, Tom Countyman and Gordon himself. In the center are 15 pages of modern (late 80s – early 90s color photographs). Not as sharp, but utterly irreplaceable are a series of George Wilkes' photographs of the 1951 Karosserie Reutter “assembly line” (actually about a dozen cars in two rows on jack stands). Interspersed are line drawings from Porsche owner’s manuals and ads.
PORSCHE 356 AND RS SPYDERS satisfies both the need for a reasonable length (160 page and more than half are photographs) history of the 356; as well as a never ending source of enjoyment from reviewing superb photographs of correct 356 Porsches – it is absolutely astounding how many Porsche books make it to print with photographs of just plain wrong cars! Finally, the price is right. Almost 10 years ago PORSCHE 356 AND RS SPYDERS was considered a good deal at $29.95. Now it is again available, soft bound, listing at $24.95 with a spectacular new cover; which I want to put in my house as a super-graphic, it’s that spectacular.
