May 18, 2006
Rear View
Add these to your bookshelf
Kevin Clemens has been rather prolific over the past year. In addition to his usual columns for European Car magazine, and articles for other automotive publications such as Auto Aficionado, he has had three books published.
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The first chapter deals with VW's origins and the air-cooled models, then it's on to the Golf itself, with each chapter covering a chassis generation, the A1 (1974-84), the A2 (1984-92), and so on. Also mentioned are VW's other cars, such as the Scirocco, Dasher, Passat, and New Beetle, where there is crossover of engines or other components. The Jetta, essentially a Golf with a trunk instead of a hatchback, gets prominent attention. While the Golf is the big seller in Europe, the Jetta is the more popular body style in the U.S.
The book also covers the fortunes of VW as a company, boom and bust, and the decision makers at the top. There are loads of photos of the different models, cutaway drawings, and special editions to accent the text. Despite the necessity to include technical figures to keep the hard-core fans happy, the book is easy to read. Clemens is an engineer by training, but writes more like an interpreter between the jargon of an insider and that of the casual consumer.
I have read other automotive histories that seem written by someone who has little knowledge of their subject, but Clemens knows his VWs well. He has raced a VW Golf in the SCCA Improved Touring category and does much of his own work.
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As mentioned at the beginning of this article, two other books by Clemens were released in the past year. The first is titled Motor Oil for a Car Guy's Soul. It is a compilation of columns he wrote for European Car, and is full of the kind of talk car guys have in the garage.
The other book, Eat Free or Die, is a novel about an automotive magazine writer who gets caught up in a corporate takeover of the magazine he works for. There are cool old cars, murder and deception, and a beautiful woman. True entertainment for one who likes mysteries and autos.
River's Bend Press in Stillwater, Minnesota, is the publisher of Motor Oil and Eat Free or Die. Thirty Years of Volkswagen Golf and Rabbit is published by Iconografix of Hudson, Wisconsin. All of the above mentioned books are available from Amazon.com.
By the way, Kevin Clemens was the organizer of the Mayday! Adventure Drive mentioned in my previous column for the READER. He reports that all four cars finished the Lake Superior Circle Tour with no major problems. His Citroen 2CV did develop an oil leak along the way and it needed to be topped off at regular intervals, but the others survived the full lap of Lake Superior. There is talk of doing it all again next May.
VintageRally.net for more photos of the Tour.