Design and the Bristol Car.
My copy of the new book by John Hobbs the son of Dudley Hobbs the designer of virtually all the cars we hold dear to our hearts arrived yesterday.
Everything stopped, the book is utterly absorbing not just in respect of what John writes in respect of his fathers work at Bristol but also the reproduction of a number of fascinating and historical documents from the early years of Bristol Cars.
There is only one thing that jars and that is the inclusion of an analysis of Dudley Hobbs work by a young designer I have never heard of which is so far off the mark in terms of the 603 that it absolutely obvious he is too young to understand what he is looking at. He is obviously not sufficiently well grounded in post war automobile design, especially in England and as regards Bristol cars to recognise that the 603 was the most significant and important of the V8 engined cars the company ever produced.
That I read the book over the space of 24 hours speaks volumes of how interesting and absorbing it it is, i know also it is going to be a reference source in years to come.
We have been very fortunate in the last few years that some great books have been published about Bristol cars but this is one of the best, without Dudley Hobbs the cars we love and enjoy would have been very very different.
|