8 Books to Gift Your Favorite Gearhead this Holiday Season
Your favorite gearhead eats, sleeps, and breathes cars, so why shouldn’t they read about them too? Here are some of Amazon’s top-selling books about cars that would make the perfect stocking stuffer this holiday season.
Everyone's Guide to Buying a Used Car and Car Maintenance
By Scotty Kilmer
Scotty Kilmer, a professional mechanic for the last 50 years and star of YouTube’s “The Scotty Kilmer Channel” for DIY car repair, has revised and updated his book: “Everyone’s Guide to Buying a Used Car and Car Maintenance.” He shows readers how to check out used cars for purchase and how to avoid the proverbial used automobile “lemon.” From the initial glance at the dealer through the road test and bartering stage, Kilmer shows how to evaluate a vehicle for purchase, and also provides more in-depth tips for experienced do-it-yourselfers.
By Tom Newton
“How Cars Work” is a completely illustrated primer describing the 250 most important car parts and how they work. This mini test book includes simple line drawings and clear language to describe all the automotive systems as well as a glossary, index, and a test after each chapter. “How Cars Work” provides the basic vocabulary and mechanical knowledge to help a reader talk intelligently with mechanics to understand shop manuals and diagnosis car problems.
The Long Haul: A Trucker's Tales of Life on the Road
By Finn Murphy
More than thirty years ago, Finn Murphy dropped out of college to become a long-haul trucker. Since then, he’s covered more than a million miles packing, loading, and hauling people’s belongings all over America. Known by his trucker handle as U-Turn, he spends his days, and many of his nights, in a 53-foot eighteen-wheeler he calls Cassidy.
In “The Long Haul,” Murphy offers a trucker’s-eye view of America on the move. Going far beyond the myth of the American road trip, he whisks readers down the I-95 Powerlane, across the Florida Everglades, in and out of the truck stops of the Midwest, and through the steep grades of the Rocky Mountains.
My Dad Had That Car: A Nostalgic Look at the American Automobile, 1920-1990
By Tad Burness
With more than 1,300 pages and 12,500 illustrations covering 70 years, this may be the most complete visual history of the American automobile ever published. Nowhere else are there so many collector, luxury, sporting and everyday cars assembled with fascinating information about original prices, engine sizes, horsepower, and other specifications. The pages are packed with genuine, factory-fresh photographs and drawings taken from contemporary advertisements, catalogs, and brochures.
The Build: Designing My Life of Choppers, Family, and Faith
by Paul Teutul Jr.
“The Build” reveals the "behind the scenes" story of the popular TV reality series “American Chopper” for the show's millions of fans. Author Paul Teutul, Jr., is one of the most creative builders of custom "chopper" motorcycles in the world. His talents were revealed to millions of TV viewers worldwide on “American Chopper,” as well as later on a spinoff series, “American Chopper Senior vs Junior.”
“The Build” gives the reader at Paul Jr.'s life behind the camera, which included conflict with his father and business mentor, Paul Sr. Using his own story of improbable success, as an illustration, Paul Jr. offers insights on how anyone can find and activate often hidden talents.
By Beverly Cleary
A reckless young mouse named Ralph makes friends with a boy in room 215 of the Mountain View Inn and discovers the joys of motorcycling. “The Mouse and the Motorcycle” is the perfect book for younger gearheads or those who are just young at heart.
Girls Auto Clinic Glove Box Guide
By Patrice Banks
A do-it-herself guide to auto maintenance, roadside emergencies, and the real scoop on how women can get honest car service at the garage, from engineer turned auto mechanic and award-winning entrepreneur Patrice Banks.
How to Build a Car: The Autobiography of the World's Greatest Formula 1 Designer
By Adrian Newey
“How to Build a Car” explores the story of Adrian's unrivaled 35-year career in Formula One through the prism of the cars he has designed, the drivers he has worked alongside and the races in which he's been involved.
From his early career in IndyCar racing and on to his unparalleled success in Formula One, the reader learns every detail of how a car actually works.
Adrian has designed for the likes of Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill, David Coulthard, Mika Hakkinen, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, always with a shark-like purity of purpose: to make the car go faster.
Leave a comment