Classic Car Coffee Table Books

While many types of technical and text-heavy books can easily be viewed and enjoyed on a computer or Kindle screen, larger books that are heavily illustrated and intended more for display than intense reading are often better received when they appear in what is known as “coffee table format.” Coffee table books are especially well-suited to classic car themes because they are so visually oriented. Coffee table books dedicated to classic cars don’t have to be very portable since they usually live in living rooms or similar areas where your guests sit to be entertained, but they do have to be interesting and informative. This means they are usually large books that are used for display and are intended to entertain, alleviate boredom and inspire conversation. This means a classic car coffee table book will almost always have a colorful eye-catching cover and many full-color illustrated pages inside. Featuring photographs and illustrations accompanied by short captions and small blocks of text, a coffee table book can be an entertaining and informative light read for anyone who picks one up.

Most enthusiasts familiar with Original Parts Group Inc. know that they can purchase dozens of different and highly useful technical books, factory literature reprints, bulletins, how-to guides and manuals from the OPGI catalogs or website, but far fewer are aware that OPGI also offers many entertaining coffee table-style books. The technical guides, manuals and catalogs are in a different category than coffee table books as they are not as dependent on full-color photography and don’t require large page sizes to convey dramatic images. A classic car coffee table book filled with large photos allows the viewer’s eye to move around within the boundaries of each highly detailed image. This makes most good classic car oriented coffee table books a fun experience and one you can learn a lot from too.

The classic car coffee table books available from OPGI cover a wide range of popular GM models, and individual listings of these valuable tomes can be found in the “Books” section of all OPGI Restoration Parts Catalogs. This makes it easy to find the books covering the make and models of the GM vehicles you are most interested in. It also makes it very easy to discover what you might have been missing in the way of coffee table books on your favorite subjects. You can find the complete book listings inside the nine different OPGI Restoration Parts Catalogs and on the OPGI website too, but for a quick take, we’ve gathered a few of the standout coffee table books for your perusal here:

• Chevy SS: The Super Sport Story – 348 pages with over 300 color photos covering the legendary SS model Chevrolets.
• El Camino by Chevrolet – 112 pages packed with info on the 1959-1988 El Camino.
• Chevrolet by the Numbers – 250 pages filled with 220 great Chevy photos.
• Kirban’s Hurst Wheel & Memorabilia Collection – 96 pages of Hurst wheel history.
• Hemmings Motor News Illustrated Collector-Car Encyclopedia – 288 color pages of collector car history and development.
• Hurst Equipped – Factory Special Muscle Cars, Speed Parts & Legendary Race Cars – 160 pages of interviews, research and insight on the Hurst legend. Hard cover.
• Cadillac: The Tailfin Years – 128 pages of historic info on Cadillac’s from 1948 to 1964.
• Cadillac Performance Portfolio’s – Three different volumes containing hundreds of pages documenting the Cadillac story: (1948-1958), (1959-1966), (1967-1978).
• Buick Muscle Portfolio 1963-1973 – 140 pages of tests, specs and model introductions.
• 1963-78 Buick Riviera Performance Portfolio – 140 pages dedicated to all things Riviera.
• The Collector’s Guide to GTO – 128 pages of essential GTO information.
• Glory Days – Author Jim Wangers tells the Pontiac story in 309 pages.
• GTO: Pontiac’s Great One – 336 pages of serious GTO photos, stats, drawings and more. Hard cover.
• Pontiac’s Greatest Decade 1959-69: The Wide Track Era – 160 pages covering Pontiac’s Wide Track cars.
• Pontiac Dream Cars, Show Cars & Prototypes 1928-1998 Photo Album – 112 pages filled with unique photos of important Pontiac vehicles.
• Grand Prix – Pontiac’s Luxury Performance Car – Everything you need to know in 128 pages.