No comments about Jaguar XJ6 Ser 3 Daimler Parts Catalog.

1 comments about Jaguar/Daimler XJ6, XJ12 & Sovereign: All Jaguar/Daimler/VDP series I, II & III models 1968 to 1992 (Essential Buyer's Guide).

1. As the owner of a 1986 Jaguar XJ6, I regularly get questions from folks interested in buying one. Now, I no longer have to go into great detail about my experiences and what to look for in a good used model. This book does it for me.
   
   Although this book originates in Britain, it covers North American cars as well. It is jam packed with tidbits of information about all facets of these elegant but not-so-trouble-free autos. The book is handily broken out into sections detailing such things as questions to ask before viewing the car, what to look for while doing a quick walk-around and what to check during a more in-depth inspection. All the well-known (and not so well known) trouble-spots are covered and clear, colorful pictures illustrate these areas. As the title says, all Series are covered and the information within spotlights the differences in them.
   
   Although the book may seem a bit skimpy for the price, it's well worth it. For anyone considering buying a used XJ6, XJ12 or Soveriegn, it's better to spend $20 on this book and get a good car than thousands on a bottomless money pit of a junker.

1 comments about The Star and the Laurel: The Centennial History of Daimler, Mercedes, and Benz, 1886-1986.

1. Large, expensive, photo packed book covering the history of Daimler Benz from the start (mid 1800s) until 1986. Published by Mercedes Benz of North America. Fairly accurate, interesting historical account of the world's finest cars. Includes info on Ferdinand Porsche who designed many cars for Daimler Benz. The author tends to awkwardly go back and forth between the histories of Benz and Daimler (before their union in 1926) but it is still a very desirable book for those interested in European automobile history.

1 comments about Jaguar/Daimler Xj6 Restoration: Practical Classics & Car Restorer (Jaguar Enthusiasts' Club).

1. This book is a collection of articles, with accompanying advertisements, from "Jaguar Enthusiast" magazine. It covers the major areas from body work, to suspension, to engine, drive train, and exhaust.

   I used this book more as a guide to the steps that must be completed. It is not a detailed account of each overhaul. When accompanied by a Jaguar Repair Operation Manual and a Jaguar Parts Catalog, you wind up with almost all of the documentation you need.

   Note: This car is most helpful for restoring Jaguar Series I, II, and III cars built from the early '70s through the late '80s. Though some of the information may be useful, this book does not cover newer models of the XJ40 and beyond.

No comments about The Pleasure Thieves.

No comments about Daimler V8 S.P. 250 (Classic Reprint).

5 comments about Taken for a Ride: How Daimler-Benz Drove Off With Chrysler.

1. Sometimes the reading gets boring in too many details, but the facts in this book are INCREDIBLE!
   It shows that Juergen Schrempp never wanted to merge, but to buy, Bob Eaton was totally involved and everybody else was taken by surprise. Bob Eaton never actually ran the company, maybe that is why he sold it.



2. If you are looking to find out exactly how the Germans came in and stole Chrysler out from under its American leadership, this is the book for you. Superbly written and researched, the book is a page turner that kept me up till the early morning hours. I highly recommend it and hope that nothing like this ever happens again in corporate America. "Taken for a Ride" couldn't be a more fitting title.



3. I don't know how Vlasic was able to get the information in this book. The conversations ring true to me and this story feels as if it really could have occurred the way Vlasic describes it. This is one of the best books I have read in the past year. He is able to take a somewhat chaotic true story and assemble a story that flows smoothly yet also seems accurate. His ability to draw a picture of the characters is outstanding and they have proven quite prescient as time has passed.



4. In 2000, hot on the heels of the Daimler-Chrysler merger, Bill Vlasic and Bradley A. Stertz, both of the Detroit Free Press, chronicled the merger and the run-up to it. Being from Detroit, lament pervades an otherwise riveting story full of intrigue from the Chrysler executives fending off raider/financier Kirk Kerkorian, through the unrelenting pace of the merger talks, and finally the aftermath where the former Chrysler executives started to roll over or jump ship.
   
   At the book's core are the merger negotiations and the power struggle that followed. Starkly contrasted are the styles of Jurgen Schrempp, the awesome Daimler-Benz Chairman, and Bob Eaton, his diffident Chrysler counterpart. From the outset, Eaton is cast as a weakling who crumbles in the face of bigger personalities. The horrendous miscommunication between Eaton and Kerkorian on the eve of Kerkorian's acquisition announcement foreshadows Eaton's flaky approach to the negotiations with Daimler. Throughout the book, Eaton is portrayed as hapless and hopeless. An outsider, chosen as CEO because of a clash of egos that disqualified the vastly more talented Bob Lutz (now the septuagenarian Vice-Chairman of General Motors), he, by all the books accounts, failed to ever become part of Chrysler. Time and again, Eaton is shown to be a ditherer and a weakling - indeed he is reported to have broken down in front of hundreds of senior managers no fewer than three times.
   
   Across the table from Eaton is Jurgen Schrempp, a big man with an insatiable appetite for action. Whether against internal Daimler rival Helmut Werner or at the table with Eaton, he comes off as a brilliant strategist with an unrelenting drive who lives for the big moments.
   
   Irrespective of how the market will judge the merger, the book offers useful lessons for negotiators. The Americans proved the negotiator's adage that failing to prepare is preparing to fail. The Daimler executives set their objectives and then prepared their strategy meticulously. Schrempp created alternatives to a negotiated solution, including the unlikely possibility of an alliance with the Ford Motor Company. At every step, by the Chrysler management team's own admission, they were out-prepared by as much as eighteen months.
   
   The weakness of the book is the authors' undisguised disappointment with the "loss" of an American industrial icon. It is an absolute hatchet job on Eaton who cannot possibly be as pathetic as he is made out to be. After the merger, the German executives are cast as jealous bureaucrats defending their turf. It is hard to determine whether this is an accurate description or the ever-present regret of the authors.



5. The take over of Chrysler by Diamler-Benz was heralded as the "merger of equals". This merger was a joke that was really a buyout of an American icon. The story of the merger is one of intrigue on two continents and is told very well here. It is an interesting book and very well written. I highly recommend it for those who want to see what happened at Chrysler after Iacocca retired.

No comments about Original Jaguar MkI/MkII: The Restorer's Guide to MkI, MkII, 240/340 and Daimler V8 (Original Series).

3 comments about Daimler & Benz: The Complete History: The Birth and Evolution of the Mercedes-Benz.

1. After being disappointed by Adler's Duesenberg book, I approached this book with some trepidation. In the Duesenberg book,the one redeeming factor was the excellent photos. This book, Mercedes-Benz, not only exhibits worthless and erroneous history and information, the photos are a huge disappointment. Poorly cropped, over or under-developed and poorly printed, this book will become the first automobile title that I will actually return for a refund; it will not find its way onto my bookshelf!



2. Adler has done it again with a sumptious book showing the true evolution of the marque. Original photogaphy of very rare cars is complimented by museum archive shots, most of which I've never seen elsewhere. What amazed me was the 1930's poster art as well... Stuttgart clearly gave him total access!
   No stone unturned, here are the cars we all love (and sometimes drive - or dream we could drive).



3. JUST RECEIVED THIS BOOK AND AM WELL PLEASED. I'VE BEEN A LONG TIME FAN OF MR. ADLER'S BOOKS AND MUST SAY I WAS VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH HIS MERCEDES BENZ SILVER STAR CENTURY BOOK. THE NEW BOOK IS MUCH MORE OF WHAT I'VE COME TO EXPECT FROM MR. ADLER. ENTHUSIASTICALLY WRITTEN, MUCH MORE DEPTH OF MODEL COVERAGE, EXCELLANT PHOTOGRAPHS, ETC. I RECENTLY PURCHASED MY 1ST MERCEDES, A 1993 600 SEC. AFTER HAVING OWNED VARIOUS ENGLISH CARS, LOTUS, JENSEN ET AL. I NOW KNOW WHAT THE FUSS IS ALL ABOUT. A BEAUTIFUL CAR THAT WILL ACTUALLY GET YOU TO WHERE YOU WANT TO GO. THIS BOOK FROM MR. ADLER IS A GREAT WAY TO GAIN A SENSE OF WHAT MERCEDES BENZ IS ALL ABOUT FROM THE COMFORT OF YOUR HOME. THANK YOU MR. ADLER

4 comments about Riding the Roller Coaster: A History of the Chrysler Corporation (Great Lakes Books).

1. Books on the history of companies have never interested me much. When my friend told me he had finished writing his book on Chrysler, I cringed because I knew Charlie would expect me to read it. Poring through a boring company history was not something I looked forward to. But I figured I would bite the bullet and at least skim through it. My father and brother worked for Chrysler and my daughter is working there this summer as an interne. With the pathetic exception of a Ford Pinto, all the cars I have ever owned were Chryslers. So maybe by reading this book I would learn a something interesting about the company my family is associated with as laborers and the cars that I owned.

   Much to my surprise I found this history of Chrysler to be very interesting and entertaining. Riding the Roller Coaster brings to life the history of Chrysler by focusing on the key people who contributed to the company's development, including Walter P. Chrysler and Lee Iacocca. Charlie covers labor issues, gives enough details of technological developments for a novice to follow along, and discusses all the important points of Chrysler's complex history even including the Redstone missile that my father first worked on when he joined the company. Charlie's analysis of the key people at Chrysler is balanced but he does not shy away from making critical observations. In his chapter discussing the "merger" between Chrysler and Daimler, Charlie does not hold his punches.
   
   The roller coaster analogy is perfect. Reading through the ups and downs of Chrysler I reflected on how these changes affected my family and realized that we too, like other families of Chrysler workers, were riding this same roller coaster. This book helped put my experiences as a child of a Chrysler employee into perspective. I recall the times my dad was laid off or on strike and when my dad briefly moved us down to Louisiana so he could work at the Michaud plant where the Redstone missile production was transferred. Now I better understand these shifts in the fortunes of my family.

   I also enjoyed reading about the introduction of the various car models, the story to their creation, their special features, problems some of them faced, technological achievements incorporated in others, their marketing success or failure, etc. It was fun to reflect on all the Chrysler products my family has owned over the years. The two-toned black and pink 1956 Plymouth Belvedere with the awesome tailfins that was totaled in an accident soon after my dad bought it. This is the first car I can remember. This was one of Chrysler's "Forward Look" models. The last car my dad owned was a K-car Plymouth Reliant that seemed like it would last forever and played such an important role in Chrysler's recent history. As the owner of four Minivans, reading about their development, introduction, and modification was informative.

   But of all the Chrysler cars I can recall, the one I remember most particularly is the 1957 Dodge Coronet my dad owned with push button automatic transmission. Now I know that this was the Powerflite automatic transmission with pushbuttons on the dashboard introduced in 1956. I distinctly recall this car because when I was four or five I sat in my dad's car, innocently parked in our drive way, and continuously pushed the buttons until I succeeded in jamming them. My father had to call a tow truck, he was not pleased! Apparently the Chrysler engineers had not taken into account how fascinating the buttons were to a kid.

   All in all Riding the Roller Coaster does a very good job reviewing the history of Chrysler and I would recommend it to anyone interested in this company. Charlie is a good writer and he makes it a pleasure to turn the pages. Reading this book was a pleasant walk through my family's association with Chrysler as both workers and consumers. If you can find a better book on Chrysler--buy it.




2. This book is fine for someone who has no previous knowledge of the subject. However, for anyone who has read other materials on this topic, this book had nothing new to say, even though there was much that could be said, particularly of the post-Iacocca and post-DC merger eras.

   For my money, Moritz' and Seaman's "Going For Broke" remains the best book on the history of the old Chrysler Corp., even though that book is now 23 years old.




3. I really like old Chrysler and especially old Dodge cars and trucks and until I read this book I hadn't read the entire company story in one book before. There are other books about Walter Chrysler and the Dodge Bros. and Lee Iacocca and their cars but not everything told together in one big story before. This book starts at the very beginning of Walter Chrysler's career when he worked sweeping the floors at the Chicago & Great Western Railroad and how he was one of the early pioneers that saw the potential of the automobile. Eventually he went to work for Buick and learned the business so well he bought his own car company.

   This book also tells the curious history of the Dodge Bros. and how they worked with Henry Ford but then decided to build their own Dodge Bros. cars which Chrysler later bought out. The book covers the Great Depression and how the company managed to get through it when so many other companies failed. The author also tells how Chrysler contributed to WWII by building military equipment. I especially liked the chapters on the '50's and 60's which tells about how Chrysler needed to build dealerships in the suburbs and sun belt states to survive--I hadn't ever read that before--and how they got Virgil Exner to design their cars. I really liked the parts on Carl Kiekhaefer and NASCAR in the mid-'50s.

   I kind of get tired of reading about Lee Iacocca so I mostly skipped over that part and I'm not much interested in the later Chryslers except the Viper but I thought this was a really good book about the company. It's got some statistical tables and lots of illustrations. I met the author at my library where he spoke about his book and he was very friendly and signed my book.




4. In many ways the most interesting of the "Big Three" automobile manufacturers, the Chrysler Corporation has seen as many ups and downs as the evocative title of this volume suggests. Charles Hyde, a professor of history at Wayne State University, has produced a thorough, scholarly, yet highly readable book on a company that was the second largest producer of automobiles in North America at several points in its long history and was nearly out of business at others. The main thread of this fascinating story begins with the formation of a new automobile company by Walter P. Chrysler in 1925 and ends shortly after the merger of Chrysler and Daimler-Benz in 1998. However, Hyde has also given us detailed coverage of the developments that led up to the formation.
   
   This is primarily a business history with a focus on corporate management and the marketing of automobiles. It is also a study of Chrysler products and the technology that created them. Hyde is both an economic historian and an industrial archaeologist. His understanding of assembly line production and the architecture of automobile plants is second to none. He says in his preface that "The origins of this book go back to late 1980, when I took on the monumental task of documenting the sprawling Dodge Main factory complex in Hamtramck, Michigan, before its demolition."

   Hyde has filled an important need by writing the definitive history of the Chrysler Corporation. This is much more than a synthesis of existing scholarship. Most of his
   interpretation is based on original archival research. Among the many significant historical contributions is his coverage of Dodge Brothers, which became a key part of Chrysler in 1928. Also very impressive is Hyde's discussion of the Chrysler Airflow (1934-1937), a major advance in engineering but a failure in style and sales. He even devotes an entire chapter to Chrysler's amazingly effective shift to military production for World War II.

   The fascinating characters in this book give it a vitality lacking in most business histories. Hyde provides a new look at Walter P. Chrysler, one that sometimes differs from the image that this dynamic captain of industry tried to project in his autobiography. Those who need another fix of Lee Iacocca stories will not be disappointed. We also learn a great deal about such important but often overlooked figures as Carl Breer and Virgil Exner, who had so much to do
   with the form and function of Chrysler products.

   Riding the Roller Coaster should be required reading for anyone with an interest in the automobile industry. Serious scholars will welcome the new information and insights that Hyde delivers in every chapter. Those who simply love cars or want to understand the business strategies that produce them will also be pleased by this fine book.