ISBN3833110597
BMW £19.99
weight 3.4kg
For several years we were able to look forward to regular new releases from German publishing house Konemann but then they ceased trading. The good news is that this leading producer of superb value reference books is back! The three titles offered here are all the result of the collaboration between ace photographer Rainer Schlegelmilch and respected German motoring journalists and historians Hartmut Lehbrink and Jochen von Osterroth.
We start with the history of BMW. If you are looking for a definitive volume on the subject, this isn't it, but it is a very good overview highlighting many of the most famous models of the Munich marque. By way of introduction there is a general history and then we are taken through the individual cars. 64 different models are highlighted, from the original Dixi to the X3 and 1-series. In each case top quality photographs are accompanied by well written text.

ISBN3833110562
Mercedes £19.99
weight 4.1kg
The history of Mercedes is rather longer than that of BMW, after all company founder Karl Benz held the first patent for a motorcar. Again there is a historical overview as an introduction (this alone is nearly 100 large format pages!) and then there are the specific models highlighted. The first of these is the 1886 Benz and the most recent is the 2004 CLS. As is common with many Konemann publications, the well written text is in German, English and French and this is one of the ways that they are able to produce such huge books at these incredible prices by drastically increasing the potential market.

ISBN3833110570
Ferrari £19.99
weight 3kg
The publishers obviously feel that there will be a bigger English speaking market for this last subject as the text is only in the one language. This means that the book is a little slimmer than the other volumes but it has just as much information in it. Most of the major production models are covered, along with many of the better known sports racing models and as with the two books above, the photography is superb throughout. We don't quite start at the beginning on this one, the first subject being the 212 Export and following through to the 612 Scaglietti. Whether it's BMW, Mercedes or Ferrari which interests you, these are great value and will make very useful library additions.

ISBN8879113178
Bizzarrini, Technician Devoted to Racing £29.99
weight 1.4kg by Winston Goodfellow
Giotto Bizzarrini has had a long career as an automotive engineer and along the way has designed some of the most emotive sports cars ever seen such as the Ferrari 250GTO and the Iso Grifo. This superbly readable and very well illustrated book tells the story of the man, his career and the machines that he has been responsible for. The carefully selected photographs include plenty of behind the scenes material and make for very interesting viewing. This will fill a very important gap in our library and, we expect, in many others too.

ISBN0810949725
Automobiles of the Chrome Age 1946 - 60 £29.95
weight 2.6kg by Michael Furman
The designs of the immediate post war era were some of the most flamboyant and innovative that have ever been seen and this lavish volume of superb studio photography highlights many of the greats. The majority of the subjects are American but the Europeans aren't ignored completely. The first car highlighted is the stunning Tatra T87 and the last is the ultimate expression of fins and chrome, the 1959 Cadillac. Along the way we see machinery from Chevrolet, Nash, Mercury, Jaguar, VW, Porsche, Rolls Royce and many, many more. Light on factual content this may be, but it's very heavy on style and beauty!

ISBN2847070699
ACO Le Mans Annual 2004 £30.00
weight 2kg by Moity & Teissedre
One of our must have annuals of the year may have been a little later arriving than usual this time around, but it has been well worth the wait. The format is similar to previous years, we start with a historical piece (this time looking at the 1924 race) before being introduced to all of the entrants from the latest race. There are then reports on the practice weekend and scrutineering before the hour-by-hour race report starts. The images used to illustrate the book are as spectacular as ever, though on quite a few the colour is a little less bold than we are used to, and there are of course plenty of statistics. Finally there is a brief round up of the LMES championship.

ISBN2883240728
Automobile Year 2004/2005 (#52) £35.00
weight 2.1kg Edited by Ian Norris
Automobile Year is another vital addition to our library each year and is by far the most broad review of the motor industry and motor sport. Production car news is separated into individual chapters for Europe, Asia and the US, as is the round up of all the best new concept cars. Special features look at the rebirth of the Bentley name under VW's ownership and at the increase in the number of foreign executives at the top of Japanese manufacturers. Historic pieces chart the rise of Formula 3 in the 1950s and there's a profile of Giotto Bizzarini. Then we get on to the sport, with round ups and results of the top single-seater, rally, sports-car and touring car championships. Can you afford to be without it?

ISBN3928540432
Porsche Sport 2004 £34.99
weight 1.9kg by Ulrich Upietz
If Automobile Year is the most varied of the annuals subject wise, then Porsche Sport must be the most narrow. That doesn't make it unattractive though, far from it. There are dozens of championships around the World in which Porsche GT3s are racing, from the various highly competitive national & regional Porsche Cup series, international sportscar series such as the ALMS, LMES and FIA GT Championship and the blue riband endurance events at Le Mans, Daytona, Sebring, Spa and the Nurburgring. Reports of all of the major series are included with plenty of vivid photography capturing the extremely colourful machinery and there are final classifications for most of the major series. One or two of these are incomplete as the book went to press before the series were finished, but it still makes a great read for Porsche and sport-racing fans. There are also a huge number of potential modelling subjects included. German & English text.

ISBN1844250938
The Rallying Imprezas £19.99
In the 1980s, very few people outside Japan had heard of Subaru, apart from maybe a few farmers who used their pick-up trucks. All this changed with a limited rally program in the late 1980s and by the early 1990s the Prodrive-built Legacy was showing some real potential. The replacement, the Impreza, was an overnight sensation and has subsequently carried several drivers to the WRC Championship, becoming a performance icon in its own right. This well written and illustrated book tells the story of the development of the cars and the people behind the successes. It makes for fascinating reading and is worth having for the McKlein photography alone!