"Automobile Year-1973/74"

“Automobile Year-1973/74” Edited by Jose Rosinski. 256 pp. 12 ⅜ in. x 9 ⅜ in. (Patrick Stephens Ltd., Bar Hill, Cambridge CB3 8EL. £7.95).

Here again, a little late but as welcome as ever, is the top motoring annual, from the Edita Lausanne offices in Switzerland. We are naturally concerned with the English edition, although the fine colour plates and big photographic coverage of last year’s cars and competition events will be appreciated in any edition. The coverage of the important International races and rallies is as before, and new cars of 1973, commencing with the Austin Allegro, have their own section.

As for the rest of this now-famous annual, Paul Frere discusses the driving of the best of the 1973 cars, which otherwise we enjoy from his pen only in one of the British weeklies; “dream cars” get the expected space, there is a short story I could have done without, Leonard Setright reviews technically the development of production cars, thereby making up for a weakening in the British weeklies of what was once an annual treat, and Edouard Seidler of L’Equipe contributes an informative discourse on the fierce International battlefield of the big car manufacturers.

Over and above the value of the article it contains, “Automobile Year” relies on its fine illustrations (totalling 411), on high quality paper, supported by top-class advertisements, for its appeal and will continue to be in demand—if anyone can still afford it.

W.B.