5 Books for Dads—and Anybody Else Who Loves Cars

Car and Driver

24-05-2025

With Mother's Day in the rearview mirror, it is time to prepare for the next parental holiday: Father's Day. (In case it's not already in your calendar, this landmark celebration is slated to occur this year on Sunday, June 15.) Typical gifts for the gearhead dad include driving gloves, tools, or cute car-shaped coolers. But all of these lovingly selected presents tend to pile up and require that you eventually get Dad something to store them in, like a tiny backyard shed.
Instead, this year, consider purchasing something else for the person who literally gave you life and helped you down whatever meandering path that ultimately led you to the questionable decision to read this article. As book columnist for Car and Driver, might I recommend a book? And before you ask, "Isn't a book a thing that also piles up and eventually belongs in a shed?" I will remind you that books can be purchased and viewed digitally now.
However, given the fact that most of the books highlighted below are extremely visual compendiums with gorgeous photography, you may want to consider buying the physical version. As a bonus, lifting some of these weighty tomes will help keep Dad's arms in shape, and muscle tone is a good predictor of future health.
Of course, these books aren't just for men who have sired and/or raised children. They are good for any car lover in your life, yourself included. Because we all know that the best kind of gift to give is one that you can also enjoy.
Rainer Schlegelmilch: Porsche Racing Moments
Courtesy of Taschen
Award-winning motorsport photographer Rainer Schlegelmilch started shooting racing in 1962 and has never stopped. His signature blurred-zooming technique really captures not just the effort and skill of drivers at famed races like Le Mans or in Formula 1, but also the beauty, fragility, and purposefulness of the cars themselves as they make their way around the circuit—or, occasionally, as they encounter difficulties and do not. One of his favorite marques to photograph is Porsche, and this book contains images from two key decades in the brand's racing history, from the 1960s to the 1980s. This means that it includes iconic cars like the 550, 718, 917, 962, and, of course, the 911. This collection was originally published by German art book publisher Taschen in 2023 as a $1250 limited edition. Now, due to popular demand, they have released an unlimited and more affordable version. And you know Dad is always after you to save more money.
Bring a Trailer's Top 90 of the '90s
BaT, $59.95
Bring a Trailer
Everyone's favorite online vintage car auction site, Bring a Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos), has found a niche among the automotive cognoscenti, providing a platform for buyers, sellers, and pedants of all stripes to ogle, worship, critique, and purchase or unload cars. And while the platform is an ever-surprising smorgasbord of vehicular history, the inventory on offer tends to favor emergent collectibles from the past 45 years. Since the site's staff has already released a book on its favorite 80 cars of the '80s, it's only natural that its next published project should be a similar, if 12.5 percent more car-y, one on the final decade of the 20th century, the '90s.
In typical BaT style, spreads and detailed info on pinnacle cars like the Ferrari F50, Lamborghini Diablo VT, and Vector M12 are included. But right alongside these are chapters on peak Japan classics like the A80 Toyota Supra, R33 Nissan Skyline GT-R, Mitsubishi 3000GT VR, Acura Integra Type R, and Subaru Impreza WRX 22B. Also, German greatness like the BMW E34 M5 and 850, Mercedes 190E Evo II and W124 500E, and the Audi S8 and RS2 Avant. And they don't shy away from the American experimental oddballs like the AM General Hummer, Ford F-150 SVT Lightning, Dodge Viper GTS, and Plymouth Prowler. If you can't find 10 or 50 cars you love in this book, you don't love cars.
The Million Dollar Car Detective
by Stayton Bonner
Blackstone
The Talbot-Lago T150-C SS Teardrop coupe is exemplary of the Art Deco and Streamline Moderne exuberance of the premier French coachbuilders in the pre–World War II era. So, when one went missing from the factory warehouse of an aging industrialist in 2001, it was not only a crucial loss for the classic-car world, but a significant seven-figure loss for the owner. Unfortunately, the car was not recovered before its tycoon custodian passed away. But in 2015, a private eye named Joe Ford took on the case, hoping to earn a reward that would help save his ill daughter's sight. Ford had made a name for himself in the world of stolen classic cars with his involvement in the case of a missing eight-figure 1954 Ferrari 375 Plus. His quest for the Talbot took a full decade and grew to incorporate the FBI, Interpol, and a global crime ring. Stayton Bonner, a former senior editor at Rolling Stone, began tracking the story in the late 2010s for a story he published in Esquire. His new book catches us up on the details of the theft and delves into the murky world of chop shops, crooked restoration outfits, international money laundering, and betrayal that plagues even the most elite corners of the classic-car hobby, landing near something resembling the truth of what occurred.
The Drive Across Canada
by Mark Richardson
Dundurn
The Trans-Canada Highway is among the lengthiest roads in the world, spanning nearly 4800 miles in its run across the globe's second-largest nation, from St. John, Newfoundland, in the east to Victoria, British Columbia, in the west. Along the way, it crosses great lakes, seemingly endless plains, and towering mountains. Driving it is something of a rite of passage for Canadian gearheads, much like the various cross-country routes available to Americans. In this book of personal, cultural, and national history, veteran Toronto Star automotive journalist Mark Richardson takes us on a literal trip across his country, following a drive he made traversing the full length of the Trans-Canada Highway in 2023. Along the way he relates tales of the settler colonialists who first traversed a similar path in the early 20th century, the political and cultural infighting that challenged the creation of a roadway that would link Canadians to their culturally similar or different/diffident cohorts in other provinces, and the distinct engineering challenges of such a mammoth undertaking. On his personal journey, he also passes through a series of disasters—a hurricane in Newfoundland, massive forest fires in British Columbia—that remind us that our dominion over the natural world neither starts nor ends with roads.
Ferrari in America: Luigi Chinetti and the North American Racing Team
by Michael T. Lynch
David Bull Publishing
The names Chinetti and NART are synonymous with each other, and both are synonymous with the rise of the Ferrari in the Americas. Chinetti was, of course, the initial—and only—importer of Ferrari cars to America during the brand's establishment in the post–World War II era. As a means of enhancing the marque's appeal, he started a local Ferrari racing team. It became an important and ever-present component in international automotive competitions throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. If "Race on Sunday, sell on Monday" was an American automotive canard, it worked for Chinetti. This book tells the stories of the brand's ascent in what became its largest market, and the scores of boldface names who became intrigued admirers and/or customers. These include movie stars like Ginger Rogers, Paul Newman, and Zsa Zsa Gabor; musicians like Miles Davis; race car drivers like Zora Arkus-Duntov, Mario Andretti, and Phil Hill; and even failed dictators like Benito Mussolini. A rollicking story of intrigue, dynastic and fiscal shenanigans, and wins and losses on and off the track, all revolving around a notable and . . . colorful automotive personality, and his acolytes.
Brett Berk
Contributing Editor
Brett Berk (he/him) is a former preschool teacher and early childhood center director who spent a decade as a youth and family researcher and now covers the topics of kids and the auto industry for publications including CNN, the New York Times, Popular Mechanics and more. He has published a parenting book, The Gay Uncle's Guide to Parenting, and since 2008 has driven and reviewed thousands of cars for Car and Driver and Road & Track, where he is contributing editor. He has also written for Architectural Digest, Billboard, ELLE Decor, Esquire, GQ, Travel + Leisure and Vanity Fair. Read full bio