Rob Reilly writes >
> I read that book in high school too. The title is "The Red Car" by Don
> Stanford, published in 1954 (I remember because the TF was the "new" model).
> It's what first got me interested in British cars. That "superior handling" on
> Colorado mountain roads is as compared to the other kid's '40's V-8 ("Eight
> tubs thumpin' under my hood and he beats me in a little kiddie car with a 4
> banger sewing machine motor?") Ford sedan.
I read it long before high school. The local mechanic was a bearded
French guy. He had some "special" tools he took out just to work on the
wrecked TC. They had the Bugatti emblem on them. The instructions he
gave the kid on how to drive the car were interesting. He basically told
the kid to redline it all the time. The hero's ride until he got the TC
was a pickup. I don't know how many of OFATP have seen a circa-1950 USA
pickup truck, but you can imagine the difference between that and a TC.
The mechanic calls his buddies, and next thing you know there is a road
race scheduled for the area. They give one portly guy a bump down in
class because of his handicap in the Le Mans start. The French guy
drives the TC in the race with the kid as riding mechanic. The kid saves
the day by holding a rear fender away from the tire as they drive the last
part of the race.
The kid initially admired the car for the "drop dead" look of the front end.
How is that for a book I read about 35 years ago? I was just coming out
of my submarine phase and hitting cars.
Don't forget:
The Fast Green Car (Morgan, SCCA racing)
Return to Racing (NASCAR) a sequel to The Fast Green Car
These were about the scion of a Russian-American trucking family named Tony
Fletcher who kept getting dragged into race cars as part of his job in
advertising.
The Red, Red, Roadster (ALFA, rallying) which was serialized in Boy's Life
The Green Helmet (Mille Miglia in British cars). Fiction. Based on
Hawthorne/Moss sort of guys.
What was the one about the fictitious French Le Mans car, the turbine-powered
Maller? It was hermetically-sealed and air-conditioned. This was in the
fifties, too, I think.
The last two were not kid's books, but I read 'em anyway.
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