Cuba’s Car Culture
Celebrating the Island’s Automotive Love Affair
By Tom Cotter and Bill Warner
The story of how Cuba came to be trapped in an automotive timewarp is a fascinating one. For decades, the island country had enjoyed a healthy tourism trade and American outpost status, and by the 1950s it had the highest per capita automotive ownership of any Latin American country. As such, its middle class ensured an interesting variety of vehicles plying the roads. When Cuba fell to communist rebels in 1959, however, so ended the inflow of new cars. Since then, trade embargos forced Cuba’s car enthusiasts to develop a unique and insular culture, one marked by great creativity, as evidenced by having to keep any particular car alive without the help of replacement parts! 
Authors Tom Cotter and Bill Warner (founder of the Amelia Island Concours) take readers on a whirlwind tour of all things automotive, beginning with Cuba’s pre-Castro automotive and racing history and bring us up to today’s lost collector cars, street racing and the struggle to keep decades-old cars on the road. The book is illustrated throughout with rare historical photos, as well as wonderful contemporary photos of Cuba’s current car scene.
$35 (£24.99)
www.quartoknows.com
Mercedes-Benz Supercars: From 1901 to Today
By Thomas Wirth
The crème-de-le-crème of Mercedes-Benz, is presented here in full glory through 285 images. Beginning in the pioneer days with the 35 HP model of 1901 through the top-rank sports cars of the 1920s and 1930s, the Gullwing 300 SL and the legendary “Uhlenhaut Coupe” of the 1950s, and the C 111, with its Wankel engine, of the late 1960s, the line goes on to the present-day SLS AMG. An exciting spectrum of 18 super sports cars is featured with text that is both entertaining and informative.
$39.99
www.schifferbooks.com
