Edited by David Burges Wise
Revised and Updated by Lance Cole
Published by Chartwell Books
Copyright 2000 Quantum Publishing
Includes a 128 page "History of Motoring" that illuminates automobile industrial beginning and trends, and forerunners to the automobile, with lots of illustrations of each.
440+ pages that encompass an A-Z listing of automobile manufacturers
Either Burges or Cole is an unabashed Europhile, waxing nostalgic for virtually any car from the Old World, while dismissing as bland or milquetoast vehicles from North America that are no better or worse.
Mislabeled / misidentified automobiles - especially those indigenous to the US market. Worse, it seems whomever assembled the book pulled pictures of hot-rodded or customized American automobiles from other books or perhaps magazines or the internet, in many cases, versus the examples assembled and sold by the manufacturers.
Selected Quotes
"The Gordon Keeble was arguably ahead of its time"
Why? Its Bertone body, hiding an "iron lump" American V8, as they are referred to in the "History of Motoring" section? Besides, other cars had cloaked US V8 power in bodies designed and built elsewhere - and to better effect - "arguably".
Between them, Jem MARsh and Frank COStin contrived to build one of the prettiest sports cars of all time, the Marcos Volvo
Are you kidding? Really? Did the person who wrote that peruse any of the other pages of the book? Therein can be found beautiful sporting cars from Jaguar, Mercedes, Ferrari, and plenty of specialty makes, as well.
All-in-all, not a completely terrible book, if one enjoys perusing lots of pictures of brass-era and other cars. But the writer's and/or editor's opining detracts from the enjoyment, and one has to wonder if I ( certainly not an automotive historian on par with PJ and other members here ) can find errors throughout the book, how many obscure, limited-run cars are misidentified, or represented by incorrect photos or illustrations? And if the creators of this book cannot correctly research or represent automobiles built in the US, of what worth is their disparaging criticism of same?
The cover hints at what's to come. Lavish illustration of Aston Martin spanning entire dust jacket, tiny photo of a non-stock Mercury. 
Dietrich - really?
Vauxhalls "capture the feel of their times", while.....
....Oldsmobile is a mid-size mediocrty. I submit it is no more or less a representation of its time than the Vauxhall, above. Further, this was Oldsmobile's compact offering, not mid-size.
That is not a 1955 Chevrolet. And, once again, it's also not stock.
There is no Taurus in the top picture. And that Yaris is "remarkable"?
