The Triumph Bonneville Bible, by Peter Henshaw, Veloce Publishing, 160 pages, $59.99.
The Triumph Bonneville is a motorcycle icon.
There was a time when it brought all the elements that make a bike desirable together.
It was powerful, fast, beautifully styled with lots of chrome and it sounded great. In the view of many collectors, a 1969 Bonneville was the pinnacle of British motorcycling.
A motorcycle so noteworthy came out of a long process of development.
The Speed Twin was a revolutionary model that led to the Thunderbird, which then paved the way for the Bonneville. In 1959, with little fanfare, the T120 Bonneville rolled into showrooms on both sides of the Atlantic.
Henshaw chronicles the rise of this popular model, noting its successes both in sales and in performance as it become a huge seller throughout the 1960s. But it didn't stay on top and the increasingly better performing Japanese motorcycles left the British motorcycle industry in their dust. Henshaw follows the Bonneville story to its final days when on March 9, 1988 the last one was completed.
Filled with photographs and illustrations to complement his detailed account, Henshaw has done a great job at chronicling one of modern motorcycling most loved bikes.
Porsche 911: 50 Years, by Randy Leffingwell, Motorbooks, 256 pages, $55.
It's a car that looks like it is slipping through the wind even when it is standing still. The Porsche company has been crafting exquisite automobiles for decades. Randy Leffingwell traces the origins of this iconic vehicle back to the earliest designs. He follows the trail with a novelist's excitement while maintaining historical accuracy.
Through interviews, extensive photographs and illustrations, Leffingwell provides the complete story of the 900 series. He shows the scale models that follow the decision making in the design process, as well as engine drawings and specifications that help illustrate the detailed descriptions he includes of the creation of the powerful engine. From its introduction right up to the present day, with attention to both its consumer and racing models, all the details are brought to light.
Filled with colour photographs of every model this book will delight Porsche fans of any age.
