DieCast X covers the entire spectrum of automotive diecast from customizing to collecting. it takes an insider's look at the history behind popular diecast cars and trucks, as well as how each model has helped shape the automotive industry and motor sports

George Barris created some of the best-known, most iconic cars of the 20th century, including the original TV Batmobile, the Munsters Koach, Hirohata Merc, Ala Kart and countless other made-to-order vehicles for movies, TV and for the private use of his celebrity clients. This is the definitive collection of his work, with nearly 500 pages jam-packed with photos, design sketches and more.

Among the hardest core of American automotive enthusiasts there always exists a desire to press styling and performance a step beyond the showroom floor -- to truly craft an automobile of one's own. This photographic and cultural history examines the evolution of American custom cars from the 1930s to present, covering touchstone trends, influential builders (Barris, Roth, Coddington et al), custom shows, enthusiast magazines and regional styles. An expensive collection of rare period photography and exclusive modern shots help illustrate how Detroit informed the styling of customs (and vice versa), the explosion of the custom car scene after World War II and the factors that led to the custom's near-death in the 1960s and its resurgence in the '80s. But most of all, this chronicle is a showcase of the great cars and people who influenced the movement through the years.

I DRAW Cars is the ultimate tool for practicing the basics of car design, including proportion and perspective. We've designed the ultimate Automotive Design field guide by pairing commonly used industry reference materials with a ubiquitous and iconic sketchbook format. Contents include industry reference materials, commonly used perspective and proportions guides, step-by-step tutorials, and 100+ pages of templates to practice with.

People are as interesting in painting and customizing now, as they were when this material was first created, in the 1950s. Everyone wants to know how to do a flame job, or how to run a pair of pinstripes straight down the side of their car. In this book George Barris explains how he and brother Sam did their custom painting and early flame jobs in the 1950s. No one can tell this story as well as George Barris, a fine photographer and the man who built many of the cars shown in the book. This particular book, Volume 4, contains more than just the photos and words of George Barris. This volume contains first-person side-bars by legendary painters and builders like Dean Jeffries and Larry Watson, describing how they developed their talents and what it was like to customize cars in those days.

What type of drag car makes strong men shudder, women shriek, and kids cheer? A 200 mph, 7-second, 96-inch wheelbased AA/Fuel Altered, that's what! These supercharged, 2,000-horsepower cars from the bygone days of drag racing demanded the utmost respect , as did the racers who piloted them. Most contemporary Top Fuel and Funny Car drivers would quake at the thought of driving one of these short, ill-handling beasts. It took a rare (or slightly crazy) breed of drag racer to slide behind the wheel of one of these exciting nitro-burning drag cars. Author Steve Reyes has included more than 350 of his favorite pictures of his favorite class: Fuel Altereds. Never-before-heard stories bring the action right to you. Relive drag racing's glory days through photos of rarely seen cars, first-hand accounts and stories of racers and their cars.

Ford V8s, surplus wing tanks, weird fuels, treated tires, and anything-goes ingenuity created the California hot-rod culture on the dry lakes and salt flats in the 1930s. Author Robert Genat covers the hot rodding phenomenon including wildcatters on the salt flats and organized class racing of the Southern California Timing Association (1938) and up through the present day. Genat's insider view, illustrated with rare photographs (some never before published) of the SoCal scene in the 30s and 40s, puts the people and cars of the time and place into historical perspective and even includes the reopening of Edwards Air Force Base's flats to hot-rodders.

There wasn't always a class for these "funny-looking" cars. In the mid 1960s, many of drag racing's fastest drivers were outgrowing the Super Stock and Factory Experimental classes, building cars that stretched and eventually broke the rules. Promoters discovered they could pair up these altered-wheelbase, injected, blown machines in exhibition match races--and the spectators came running. Rivalries were born, the Funny Car class was created, and the cars kept getting faster and faster. Funny Car Fever is a humorous, heart-felt, first-hand account of the most exciting and memorable years of the Funny Car class. Steve Reyes followed these fiberglass-bodied, nitro burning machines and their drivers from the years leading up to the creation of the Funny Car class through its halcyon days. He's included over 350 of his favorite images and more than a few never-before-heard stories to bring the feeling of the class and the era home to you.