The Complete Book of Collectible Cars: 70 Years of Blue Chip Auto Investments, 1930-2000

by Richard M. Langworth

Brand New Great Source for value for classic cars from 1930 - 2000

Genres: Reference

576 pages, Hardcover

First published November 17, 1984

About the author

Richard M. Langworth was an American author who was based in Moultonborough, New Hampshire, United States, and Eleuthera, Bahamas, who specialised in automotive history and Winston Churchill. He was editor of The Packard Cormorant from 1975 to 2001 and was a Trustee of the Packard Motorcar Foundation in Detroit, Michigan. His works have won awards from the Antique Automobile Club of America, Society of Automotive Historians, Old Cars Weekly, Packard Club and Graphic Arts Association of New Hampshire.
Langworth was also author or editor of A Connoisseur's Guide to the Books of Sir Winston Churchill, Churchill in His Own Words, Churchill By Himself, and nine other books about Churchill. Langworth founded the Churchill Study Unit (1968) and served as the president of its successors the International Churchill Society and the Churchill Centre (1988–1999) and chairman of its board of trustees (2000–2006). He was editor of the Churchill journal "Finest Hour" from 1982 to 2014 and editorial consultant to the National Churchill Museum (2011–2015). From 2014 to 2025, he was a Senior Fellow for the Churchill Project at Hillsdale College. In 1998, he was created a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Elizabeth II for his services to Anglo-American understanding and history.

Reviews

[carl theaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun book for the casual or fanatical car enthusiast.
Look up that car that you now regret selling when you were
in college, or that car your Grandfather is always telling
you about, or maybe that dream machine you want to buy some
day, if you win the lottery. (I did all of the above.)

The autos listed run from 1930-2000 and while there are
over 1,000 domestic and foreign cars included, they don't
list every one, for example, no 1964-1966 Ford Thunderbirds.
Well, as the editors mention in the introduction, one
person's treasure is another's just a used car.

Whether beauty or beast there's a paragraph or two on the
history of each car, often the story piqued my interest to
find out more, along with reasons why it is more or is less
likely to be in demand.

Sometimes a bit of humor is involved: "Roy Hurley of
Curtiss-Wright aircraft bought the car company as a tax
write-off, but quickly convinced himself he was
a car designer."

Other info provided is the number produced, basic
specifications: such as size, original sales price,
also engines available, current prices and projected
prices (remember this edition was published in 2000, so
have to take that into account).

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent reference book, with tons of statistics, very detailed information on every brand, of vehicle.