A Life Awheel The ‘auto’ biography of W de Forte Book Historic Cars & Motorbikes

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Verkäufer: vw-diy ✉️ (86.075) 99.9%, Artikelstandort: Tynemouth, Tyne & Wear, GB, Versand nach: DE, Artikelnummer: 256362836848 A Life Awheel The ‘auto’ biography of W de Forte Book Historic Cars & Motorbikes.
    Product Details
  • 288 Pages
  • Paperback
  • Colour
  • Published in 2016
A Life Awheel - The ‘auto’ biography of W de Forte
By Richard Skelton

Features

• The autobiography of the extraordinary motoring journalist
• A wonderful whimsical narrative, carrying us briskly through a century of motoring and motorcycling history
• The forthright opinions and considered reflections of a key journalistic figure and veritable motoring sage
• An engrossing, insightful book about the inestimable joy of motoring
• A discursive narrative woven around hundreds of humorous anecdotes which together carry the reader joyously back through time
• Historic motor cars and motorcycles, both iconic and everyday, are central to fascinating stories and period diary extracts
• Written with brio, and more than a dash of period journalistic argot. Jam-packed with fascinating historical information
• A brisk read; nostalgic, humorous, positive, and light – but with hidden depths to be appreciated by the knowledgeable automotive enthusiast and connoisseur
• A fun book about classic cars and motoring from a truly unique point of view
• A century of British life – in village, town, across England, and the world beyond – brought back to life through wonderful characters and places, and seen through the particular prism of a unique motoring life

Description

A veteran motoring journalist’s extraordinary life, told through delightfully eccentric stories and charming diary extract. This unique book is packed with fascinating stories about classic cars and motorcycles, set in a bygone world, and properly fixed in time.

Synopsis

Born in Shropshire soon after the end of the First World War, venerable motoring writer W de Forte has driven everything from his grandfather's first Daimler, to modern-day supercars … ridden everything from vertiginous Victorian penny farthings, to high velocity twenty-first century superbikes … travelled everywhere from the permafrost of the Arctic Circle to the baking sands of the Baja Peninsula … and met everyone from Tazio Nuvolari to Valentino Rossi.
W de Forte enjoyed an eventful career as a top-level journalist, spanning 75 years, during which time he tested many thousands of cars and reported on countless automotive events around the world. This made him uniquely qualified to comment on all aspects of classic and vintage motoring and motorcycling.
Relatively undimmed by age and ague, even in his mid-90s, de Forte had no plans to retire, but, in early 2011, a high-speed prang while testing a wayward Rudge Ulster at a racing circuit in Belgium brought him up with a jolt, both literally and metaphorically. After recuperating in hospital, he settled down to write his long-awaited and much requested autobiography.
This unique and insightful book is the result. Packed with fascinating stories about classic cars and motorcycles, A Life Awheel – the ‘Auto’ Biography of W de Forte is an account of an extraordinary motoring life, and the story of motoring in the 20th century.

Additional Information

Wilberforce de Forte was born shortly after the end of the First World War, in the village of Bales, Shropshire, where he still lives. He is the son of Gordon Bennett Cup car racer Basil de Forte, and the grandson of Sir Cecil de Forte, a gentleman farmer who owned the first car in the county.

As a young man, de Forte established himself as a successful independent motoring writer, working for a number of specialist automotive periodicals. During the Second World War, de Forte served with distinction throughout Europe in the Army Transport Corps, and he continued to write whenever his duties allowed.

Subsequently, de Forte travelled the world as a motoring journalist, and his outpourings continued unabated until a high speed prang while testing a wayward Rudge Ulster, in 2011, brought him up with a jolt.

Once back home in Bales, he removed himself to his study on a semi-permanent basis, wherein he started work on an autobiographical memoir, a work much requested over very many years, and now eagerly anticipated by friends and motoring historians alike.

This is a vividly nostalgic book about classic and vintage cars and motorcycles, and an important work of social history.

Reading W de Forte is the closest thing to a time machine for petrol-heads of all stripes.
Table of Contents A Life Awheel - Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 7
INTRODUCTION 8
CHAPTER ONE 11
HAPPY DAYS 11
GORDON BENNETT! (First published Classic Auto –September 2006) 14
EARLY DAYS 18
HALCYON DAYS 21
MODEL T FORD 24
AN INFURIATING INSTRUMENT 28
RELIABILITY TRIAL 30
CHAPTER TWO 36
PRE-WAR ERA 36
TWO WHEELS GOOD 38
THREE WHEELS NOT BETTER 41
INDIGNATION MEETING 42
DRIVING TEST 47
BY GEORGE (First published Motorcycle Review – February 1990) 48
THE FAR FIELD 50
INTO THE FOLD 54
THREE WHEELS ON MY WAGON (First published Motorcycle Review – April 1975) 55
CHAPTER THREE 59
WAR TWO 59
VINTAGE BENTLEY 65
BEATTIE 69
DRIVING BEATTIE 70
BENTLEY PEOPLE 71
BENTLEY MARK VI (First published Classic Auto – June 2008) 73
CHAPTER FOUR 77
TIME OF CHANGE 77
ONE OF BRITAIN’S FINE IDEAS 78
NUVOLARI 80
PRIDE COMES BEFORE A FALL 85
MINOR REFLECTIONS (First published The Auto – January 1959) 86
RILEY RMB (First published Classic Auto – March 2010) 90
WOODIES (First published Classic Auto – November 2008) 92
JAGUAR MARK FIVE (First published Classic Auto – September 2002) 95
ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER CLOUD (First published Classic Auto – January 2009) 98
CHAPTER FIVE 102
CITROEN TRACTION AVANT (First published Classic Auto – June 2007) 102
NASCAR ADVENTURE 106
TAKING STOCK 114
DREAMING SPIRES (Diary extract – 13 November 1957) 115
BENTLEY ANTICS (Diary extract – 24 April 1958) 118
CHAPTER SIX 120
WHITE HEAT 120
MINI 121
MINI COOPER 127
BMW IN PERIL 128
ALEX 131
JAGUAR E-TYPE (First published Classic Auto – July 2004) 132
BRISTOL 407 135
CORTINA REFLECTIONS (First published The Auto – October 1962) 137
A WHITE CHRISTMAS (Diary extract – 25 December 1962) 141
LESS IS MORE 145
DODGY GEEZERS (First published Classic Auto – April 2002) 146
CHAPTER SEVEN 150
MOTORING TYPES IN THE 1950S AND 1960S (First published Classic Auto – May 2004) 150
FORD CORTINA AND MORRIS 1100 RETROSPECTIVE 152
ALVIS REMINISCENCES (First published Classic Auto – March 2007) 156
MGB MATTERS (First published Classic Auto – April 2007) 159
A HOLIDAY ADVENTURE! (Diary extract – 26 June 1966) 162
LAMBORGHINI 166
BMW 2002 172
JAGUAR COMPACT SALOONS – SAVING THE BEST UNTIL LAST
(First published Classic Auto – June 2009) 176
CHAPTER EIGHT 180
HONDA CB750/4 FIRST IMPRESSIONS (First published Motorcycle Review – April 1970) 180
HONDA DREAMS 182
HONDA GL1000 – ON A WING AND A PLAYER
(First published Motorcycle Review – August 1975) 187
FIZZERS! 190
ABOUT JOHN 193
BMW MOTORRAD 193
CHAPTER NINE 200
HISTORY LESSON 200
TRIUMPH STAG 201
MATTERS RELIANT 205
VEHICULAR METAMORPHOSIS 214
PORSCHE 911 TURBO 215
CHAPTER TEN 222
OLD BILL 222
FAREWELL TINA: THE END OF AN ERA (First published The Auto – October 1982) 228
ANYONE FOR GOLF? (First published The Auto – April 1984) 231
ROVER RETROSPECTIVE (First published The Auto – October 1987) 232
SPEN 239
ALFA ROMEO ALFASUD (First published The Auto – December 1992) 240
ALGY’S ALFASUD 243
A MINI MUSTANG FOR THE MASSES (First published Classic Auto – January 2002) 246
CHAPTER ELEVEN 250
A LOST DECADE 250
MAZDA MX-5 PART ONE (Diary extract – 14 May 1990) 251
CITROEN 2CV (First published Classic Auto – August 1990 255
MAZDA MX-5 PART TWO (Diary extract – 7 September 1995) 260
JAGUAR XK120 (Submitted to The Auto – September 1999) 263
CHAPTER TWELVE 269
A NEW BEGINNING 269
MAZDA MX-5 PART THREE (Diary extract – 5 May 2005) 270
CLASSIC SCENE (First published Classic Auto – February 2007) 271
INDUSTRY TYPES 273
GOOD DRIVING (First published Classic Auto – September 2010) 276
MAZDA MX-5 PART FOUR (Diary extract – 15 May 2015) 279
FINAL THOUGHTS 280
INDEX 287
  • Condition: Neu
  • Language: English
  • Publisher: Veloce
  • Manufacturer: Veloce
  • Literature Type: Manual
  • Publisher's Number (SKU): V4844
  • Format: Paperback
  • Media Type: Paperback
  • Print: Colour
  • ISBN: 9781845848446

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