Just got the 3 vol. book set of Porsche - Excellence Was Expected from Pelican's today. Really nice people to deal with.

Kind of pricey but Pelicans had the best price out there on the internet. They have a chapter or 2 on the history of the 914 which should prove interesting. If anyone is interested in the history of Porsche, this is the one to get. Even though its pricey , it's well worth the investment. If you have the $$$ to pour into your 914 , you ought to be able to come up with the $$$ for this to add to your collection.

Some of the info/pictures of the chassis of their race cars could give someone some good ideas if they are contemplating building up a semi-tube frame for their Teener.

Maybe your significant other can give you one for Christmas ???

I bought this one awhile ago...... junk.

In fact, I got the impression they were "ragging" on the 914.

Would definately NOT recommend this one:

QUOTE (ninefourteener @ Mar 14 2006, 12:22 PM)

I bought this one awhile ago...... junk. In fact, I got the impression they were "ragging" on the 914. Would definately NOT recommend this one:

That one is the latest in the long line of coffee table P-car books put out by the same publisher using factory photos.

It always seems the 914s they have in them are from England.

You can find them at Borders and Barnes and K on the sale tables.

ninefourteener , . . . . Can we assume that your are saying this about the " The Ultimate History of Porsche " book and not the Excellence Was Expected ???

Ludvigsen dedicates 2 chapters to the 914. He gives full credit to the car as a Porsche. The book is awesome, though the one I bought was just one (heavy) edition.

Graphics are so good, I am still tempted to scale up the photos and build myself a tube-frame version (instead of the backbone design) of the 904...

Awesome book.. too bad it ends with the launch of the 928 (and planned demise of the 911)..... would like to hear the "rest of the story"

I just finished the 3rd volume. It really was interesting. Even stuff I thought I wouldn't care much about like the Cayenne was absorbing. I thought his info on the 914 was very fair.

Dave

QUOTE (ninefourteener @ Mar 14 2006, 12:22 PM)

I bought this one awhile ago...... junk. In fact, I got the impression they were "ragging" on the 914. Would definately NOT recommend this one:

I rec'd that book for Christmas, though I didn't ask for it. (that's not a complaint, btw!)

You have the 1980s single volume edition. The new edition is 3 volumes and much more extensive. The Cap'n

oh.. I've been out to lunch.. so Ludvigsen DID publish more of the story after the first volume? I'll have to read that stuff.

Another GREAT read on how a car is developed is "All Corvettes are Red"...
all the things behind the scenes on the lifecycle of a cars concept and development in GM..

After reading that one, it's horrifying to imagine being one of the designers (you know, the artsy guys) at GM.. they can invest their SOUL into a design, working round the clock for 9 months, only to have a GM glance at it and say "That's shit"......

It's totally brutal..

Also, interesting to see how cars are put through all the environemental extremes.. the'll run a Corvette at idle all day long in the Mojave, but first put a brick wall around it so there is NO chance of the Slightest airbreeze helping to cool the engine.. just to see if it can take it... similar "cold start' torture somewhere up in NORTHERN Canada.....

I bought the recent 3-volume set, also from Amazon. Lots of good info. The set must weigh twice as much as the old single volume. One dissappointment to me was the lack of information concerning the aborted LMP project of 1999-2000. It is mentioned but only in passing. No photos, not even the few spy photos that were published when it did a few test runs. I guess Porsche didn't share much information with Ludvigsen concerning this car.

just recently I bought "der erfolgs typ 911 GT1" by ulrich upietz
there are 3 volumes in this series for the 3 types of GT1 build
I got the first and the last... the second wasn't available anymore

the tech info leave a bit to desired. the text mainly contains the history of the car and "behind the scenes" annekdotes
but the photo's are sooooo damn nice and tell lots more than the author could
the writer/photographer were basically hired by porsche from the early planning stages to follow the full course of the development of the GT1

the result is an awesome "in house" Weissach photo diary

the first volume shows how they build the first series of GT1 cars as tubeframed 993s
they used the 993 front end so they didn't need to do the crash tests demanded by the FIA

the third volume is about the full c/f monocoque "evo" series that won LeMans overall in '98

Can anyone point me to an excerpt from Excellence Was Expected? I'd like to get an idea of the writing style of the book. Some of the Porsche books I've read have been interesting as far as content, but lack an engaging writing style.

Two books I've recently enjoyed include Perry McCarthy's Flat Out, Flat Broke and The Gold-Plated Porsche by Stephan Wilkinson.

I'd love to hear some recommendations for other car/racing/Porsche books with an autobiographical or narrative style.

i got Excellence was expected for my highschool graduation..great set of books...

if you want a taste of the books but dont want the price tag, get a subscription to porsche excellence magazine, they take articles out of the book and publish them in the magazine..so its good stuff

A couple of years ago I read "The Unfair Advantage", which was a biography of Mark Donohue's time with Penske Racing. It included Trans-Am, Indy cars, Endurance, and Can-Am with of course the two dominant years with the Porsche 917/10 and 917/30. Maybe not a great piece of literature, but I really enjoyed it. I recommend it for a good automotive read.

I recently read and enjoyed two books by Steve Matchett who is a commentator on the Speed TV's Formula 1 broadcasts and a former Bennetton F! team mechanic. The titles were "Life in the Fast Lane" and I think "A Championship Season", both about life as an F1 mechanic. No Porsche content, but I enjoyed them.

I intend to read the two books mentioned above, both of which have received good reviews.

along with "The Mechanic's Tale" caught my eye as well. I added them to my Amazon wishlist, along with a couple from "The Last Open Road" series by Burt S. Levy.