A Tour of the 20th Century by Automobile

The triple zero in the current year continues to attract list makers: Fredric Winkowski and Frank D. Sullivan present the most representative car of each year, while Dennis Adler surveys the greatest cars of the 20th century.

Both books mix prototypes, military vehicles and racing cars with mass-produced autos, which is a bit like comparing an original drawing with a page in a comic book.

Adler’s opulent volume offers his own beautifully composed photographs of vintage cars, restored to their original splendor. It’s easy to see why many of the these vehicles have become synonymous with elegance, engineering and class.

Adler--who compiled his list after consulting with an expert panel of noted collectors and designers--offers a brief history of each model plus data on size, performance and price. He presents a top 10 (headed by the Model J Duesenberg) as well as his top 100 (listed alphabetically by marque).

However, the English language contains a finite number of superlatives that can be applied to an automobile, and after a certain number of “bests” and “mosts,” the text becomes repetitive. “The Art of the Automobile” is probably best enjoyed by looking over the exceptional photographs, and reading the text about the individual cars that strike the viewer’s fancy at that moment.

Curiously, not all of Adler’s great automobiles ran well. The 1929 Bentley 4 1/2 Liter often blew its engine in competition. As for the 1960 MGA Twin Cam, Adler concedes: “The engine was always quirky, and MG continually worked on refining it until production ended. They never quite succeeded.”

My first car was a 1960 MGA. It leaked oil, the connector to one of the spark plugs had a tendency to come off at inopportune moments, and the engine required constant tinkering by a more knowledgeable mechanic than I’ll ever be. Was it a great car? It was fun to drive on nice days, but I wasn’t heartbroken when I traded it in on a less attractive but more dependable VW Bug.

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Winkowski and Sullivan’s “100 Cars 100 Years” is more succinct and conversational and livelier. It includes such interesting features as a gatefold of “Radiator Mascots of the Classic Era”: Hispano-Suiza’s stork; the elegant maidens of Rolls-Royce, Isotta-Fraschini and Auburn; Packard’s Art Deco abstraction.

The book’s chronological organization makes it easy to follow the evolution of design and engineering concepts through the century.

Sullivan (he shares photo credits with Winkowski) writes as enthusiastically as Adler about the hand-crafted elegance of the “classic era,” praising the sleek tulipwood body of the 1923 Hispano-Suiza H-6B and the aerodynamic grace of the 1937 Adler Trumpf Stromlinie Coupe.

But the authors seem more at home with the pop culture vulgarity of a later era: “The 1956 Buick parked in the breezeway of your split-level home told a lot about you. Any savvy person could read the totemic symbols imprinted in your car’s brightwork. . . . Buick symbols echoed the times: jet-intake bumper guards, sweptwing hood ornament and gull-wing grille emblem all denoted your love of speed and power, both of which Buick could deliver.”

Surprisingly, only five cars are featured in both books: the 1934 Packard Model 1107, the 1938 Delage D8-120, the 1939-42 Packard Darrin, the 1947-49 Chrysler Town & Country and the 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air.

The chrome-edged fins, rocket-shaped hood ornaments and elaborate grille of the Bel Air contrast sharply with the understated curves of the Delage or the sophisticated elegance of the Packards. Sullivan explains that the Bel Air “was meant to be basic transportation, the low-price leader from GM.”

“But to the average Joe,” who would spend $1,800 to $3,500 for one, it was “a mini-Cadillac.” The authors call the ’57 Bel Air the most popular used car ever, though driving one would be like going for a ride in a Hawaiian shirt.

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Although the price of “Art of the Automobile” is more than twice that of “100 Years,” Adler’s book is “presented by Meguiar’s,” and a plug for Meguiar’s car-care products appears before the acknowledgments.

At a time when the boundaries between entertainment and advertising are breaking down with depressing speed, it’s regrettable that a respected publisher would turn a book into a billboard. If HarperCollins couldn’t make a reasonable profit on it at $45, it should have raised the price of the book by a buck or two and spared readers the ads.

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Charles Solomon can be reached at [email protected].