‘My Dad Had That Car’ is a much bigger but not necessarily better book

(EXPANDED FROM 1/10/2022)

Now that we’re once again hitting the peak of gift-giving season, let’s take a look at one of the more popular automotive books. My Dad Had That Car ranks among the top-15 books in three Amazon.com categories: classic cars, automotive history and automotive pictorial books.

That makes a certain amount of sense because this book may offer the most recently published overview of American cars. What’s more, the title promises a nostalgic romp through 70 years with almost 12,500 illustrations. And the title even mentions dad! How could you go wrong with such a gift?

The book has rated fairly well by Amazon customers, with 76 percent giving it five out of five stars. So nostalgia clearly sells. However, a few reviewers were rightly disappointed with the quality of the book, which we’ll discuss in a moment. But first some background.

The Car Spotter’s Bible survives the death of its author

My Dad Had That Car is a significantly updated and expanded version of Tad Burness’s American Car Spotter’s Bible (2005). Whereas the previous book covered 1940 to 1980, the new one goes backward an extra 20 years and forward another decade.

Burness is listed as the author with commentary by Matt Stone. This is presumably because the book was published in 2017, five years after Burness died (Strohl, 2012).

Whether you prefer the Car Spotter’s Bible or My Dad Had That Car may partly depend on which categorization system you prefer. I find the Car Spotter’s Bible to be more useful as a quick reference because it is organized in a simple way — alphabetically by brand and year.

In contrast, My Dad Had That Car is organized by era and brand. Thus, if I want to find a 1980 Buick LeSabre, I first have to find the right section — the 1966-1980 era — and then look up the brand and nameplate. This is on page 691. But I then if I want to look up the 1981 LeSabre, that’s in the next section on page 1,085. This strikes me as too convoluted for a reference book.

No more color pictures and glossy pages

Another big difference between the two books is the type of print. The Car Spotter’s Bible is paperback but has color images on glossy white paper. In contrast, My Dad Had That Car is hard-backed but uses thin, newsprint-like paper and black ink. As a result, the images tend to be muddy and some of the text is harder to read. Because of this, casually leafing through the new book is a much less enjoyable experience than doing so with the old one.

That said, I get why the format was changed so much. My Dad Had That Car stretches 1,366 pages — far more than the 790-page Car Spotter’s Bible. The page layout for both books is the same — collages of images taken from brochures and ads. Captions offer production information as well as prices and engine choices. The layout is unsophisticated but packs in a lot of information.

Also see ‘J. Kelly Flory Jr.’s American Cars series is pricey but valuable‘

The book is broken up into four eras. Matt Stone wrote a one-page overview for each one. For example, in the section that focuses on the years 1966-80, he discusses muscle cars, government regulations and evolving powertrain technology. The narrative is fine as far as it goes, but there’s not enough there there to function as a go-to reference (see third quote below).

I have not found any factual errors in either book, but I also haven’t looked very hard. Mainly I use the Car Spotter’s Bible to identify a specific make, model and year of car that isn’t adequately addressed in one of the Standard catalogs.

Was the name and format change a good move?

The new title was presumably chosen to better appeal to younger readers. I think it is dorky but the book’s strong sales suggest that this was a good move.

If they ever decide to come out with a new edition, I suspect that it would work better by reverting to the old format, with color images on thicker, glossy paper. That might only be possible if the book is divided into two volumes — perhaps one for dads and one for granddads. Or perhaps the book should stick to vehicles from 1945 onward. Sometimes simpler is better.

At the very least, this book would be easier to use if the page edges had a visual device similar to a phone book that included the section, page number, brand and nameplate. That might require a revised page layout, but it would be worth it. And if they can’t switch to glossy paper, how about at least using a thicker newsprint stock? The pages are so thin that they are hard to turn.

All in all, I’m glad that this book survived Burness’s death, but that doesn’t change the fact that I find the previous edition more useful and enjoyable. Here is a particularly good example of how more isn’t necessarily better.

My Dad Had That Car: A Nostalgic Look at the American Automobile, 1920-1990

• Burness, Tad; 2017
• Hachette Book Group, New York, NY

“I find it interesting that these wonderful books, first published in 1970s, grew out of Mr. Burness’s own scrapbooks which he assembled to share with his friends at car club meetings. These imaginative books have been out of print for more than a decade, and now — combined into one even more massive volume and wearing a new name — it’s back! I hope you missed this storehouse of information and charming presentations as much as I have.” (p. vii)

“The table of contents and chapter openers will help you zero in on the specific make or model you may initially be most interested in, but the fun way to enjoy this amazing material is to start at the beginning with Ace, produced from 1920-22 in Ypsilanti, Michigan, then slowly browse through page by page, year by year, make by model, and I promise you that nearly every page will surprise and delight you.” (p. vii)

“As the 1970s progressed, American cars got incrementally better, via higher-tech ignition systems, more precise engine management ‘brains,’ increased development of fuel injection and turbos, and also less intrusive emissions and fuel economy measures. Big block V-8s — those 426 Hemis, 460 Lincolns, and 455 and 500 cubic inch GM engines — were done, but the increased focus on greater efficiency and performance, plus new attention being paid to the ways cars ride, handle, and stop, meant better days were ahead.” (p. 643)

OTHER REVIEWS:

Goodreads |Amazon

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RE:SOURCES

• Burness, Tad; 2005. American Car Spotter’s Bible: 1940-1980. KP Books, Iola, WI.
• Strohl, Daniel; 2012. “Spotter’s guides author Tad Burness Dies.” Hemmings Posted Dec. 11.

This review was originally posted on Aug. 21, 2020 and expanded on Jan. 10, 2022 and Dec. 2, 2024.