Encyclopedia of American Cars

This latest (and probably last) edition gives up very little to gain 6 more years of U.S. automotive history over the previous edition. All the Auto Editors of Consumers' Guide books are very well done, in case you are new to car books. I have dozens of them and never had a serious complaint that I can remember about any. The text is a well-written overview on each marquee. Not every car gets a photo, but there are an awful lot of them. The tables are arguably the most valuable part. They contain basic, essential info of models, production volume for each model (unless unavailable from manufacturer), wheelbase, weight, price, engine choices with displacement and horsepower. You may want more detail for a given car, but there are other resources for that and to have all those facts on every American car in one place is a great thing.The 1930-1980 version of this book was the first car book I ever owned, back in middle school. I pretty much wore that one out and replaced it with the 1930-1996 edition. Now that one is getting a bit frayed, so I bought the 1930-2002 edition used. As far as I can tell, this is the last edition to come out and is not currently in print (in 2019). Sadly, these days in the internet age find many fewer automotive reference books being produced.The book arrived in the estimated time and was in the condition described, which was fine.This is basically the same book as the last edition with 6 additional years of coverage. There are a few differences that I noticed. The page count is the same, but the book is just under an inch narrower (same height). Unlike the other two editions I had, there is no dust jacket. The cover itself now carries the color photos and description. Both those changes suit me fine. The dust jacket just gets in the way on a big reference book and being slightly more compact makes it easier to handle. The photos are the same size, just the margins are a little narrower.The text and photos are virtually the same. Every page or two has one car photo that is either a different car or a different photo of the same car. Kind of like they had to justify the new edition by having something different. Occasionally a page will have one less row of photos, but thankfully they seem to have deleted the least significant cars. I assume that is how they got 6 more years of history into the same number of pages.The photos are still small and black and white, but they are slightly lighter contrast and look better to me. The newer edition still has five 8-page color sections, which are completely revised. The photos are all different and larger, but there's less of them. The only section I find missing is the small part at the back of the book that gave yearly overall sales and ranking by brand. That was actually a neat section, too bad.This edition was printed in China, whereas the previous was Made in USA. Print quality doesn't seem to have suffered and as I said, the photos actually look better.

if you are looking for a complete book on american cars showing production numbers and a lot, and i mean a lot, of information this is a great book for car buffs, collectors and more.my copy was used but in great shape,if you are a l0ver of american classic cars id hunt down a copy

Authoritative, clear and yet the commentary is written as if the authors are speaking to a true automobile aficionado, which is its intended audience. The style is makes for an interesting read. It's not a "coffee table" book yet it deserves to be in your library or to be shared among friends.

THIS VERSION HAS REMOVED SOME VALUABLE INFORMATION PUBLISHED IN PREVIOUS VERSIONS BUT HAS INFO ON NEWER CARS, NOT THAT ANYBODY WHO CARES ABOUT CARS CARES ABOUT NEWER CARS. I RECOMMEND ALSO BUYING OLDER VERSIONS WHICH HAVE MORE COMPLETE INFO ON OLDER CARS AND OLDER BRANDS OF CARS WHICH ARE NO LONER IN PRODUCTION. ALSO YOU SHOULD MAKE NOTE THAT OLDER VERSIONS OF THIS BOOK ARE PRINTED ON VASTLY SUPERIOR PAPER WHICH PRODUCE BETTER QUALITY BOOKS. THE MAJORITY OF PICTURES IN PREVIOUS VERSIONS I'VE OWNED WERE TRULY BOOK QUALITY AND IN COLOR WHEREAS MOST OF THE PICTURES IN THIS BOOK (RE-PRINTS OF THE VERY SAME PICTURES) LOOK LIKE THEY BELONG IN A LOW-QUALITY BLACK & WHITE NEWSPAPER AD. AS ALWAYS, CONSUMER GUIDE IS NOT MADE UP OF CAR PEOPLE BUT RATER ANTI-CAR PEOPLE WHO HATE CARS SO THEIR OP-ED PORTIONS ARE TERRIBLY REPUTABLY BUT THEY HAVE GREAT INFO ON THINGS LIKE PRODUCTION NUMBERS, ADVERTISED CAR SPECS (AS OPPOSED TO ACTUAL SPECS), NEW CAR PRICES, WHICH MODELS AND MODEL LINES WERE OFFERED WHICH YEARS.AS A CAR EXPERT I'VE NOTICE MANY INACCURACIES IN THESE BOOKS THAT SEEM TO GET WORSE WITH EACH INCREASINGLY POLITICALLY CORRECT VERSION BUT LIKE I SAID THESE BOOKS ARE VALUABLE FOR THEIR HARD-FACT NUMBERS RATHER THAN THEIR OP-ED PORTIONS.ON A SIDE NOTE RELATED TO THE SELLER OF THE COPY I BOUGHT FROM THE GOODWILL OF SEATTLE: I BELIEVE THEY SAID IT WAS IN ''GOOD CONDITION'' BUT WHEN I GOT IT I FOUND THAT THIS BOOK WAS ACTUALLY IN NEAR-MINT CONDITION, LIKELY NEVER READ AND WITH A DUST COVER. THAT'S CERTAINLY BETTER THAN JUST 'GOOD'' CONDITION SO THEY GAVE ME A GOOD DEAL.

I like the fact that nothing from the previous edition was lost and this book is more current. Also the used book is as good a condition as discribed. My only disappointment is that an America icon the Jeep is not covered in either edition.

Great book of facts and production numbers. Must have if you like old cars.

This packs a whole lot of information into a heavy package. If you are into production numbers and specifications this is the reference work you want for American cars.

It is a good book about American Cars and this one is for a friend in Minnesota for his birthday and I would recommend it to anyone who likes cars.