SPEEDtv.com Reviewed: 365 Cars You Must Drive
Written by: Gregg Leary Charlotte, NC – 10/31/2006

“365 Cars You Must Drive” is a fun book … from cover to cover … from the Foreword by Dan Gurney to Acknowledgments. The cover asks the question, “The most sublime, weird and outrageous cars from the past 120 years … how many have you driven?” The Ford GT on the cover is on my wish list. The 1953 Buick Skylark on the spine and I were born in the same year. But in 53 years, I’ve driven very few of the cars detailed here.

In Matt Stone’s introduction, he talked about creating a “before you die” book. If a doctor declared you had only a month to live it would make for a very short book. Stone irreverently gives you a year … so instead of a daily vitamin you get your daily vehicle to drive. The book includes “the good, the bad and the ugly,” arranged alphabetically by marquee … from A-Z … Acura to Zimmer.

The Aerocar was one of the most unusual vehicles ever conceived.
A brief description of the vehicle and a photograph or two is only the beginning. Stats for each vehicle include engine, horsepower, 0-60 mph time, top speed, price new and value now. The fun begins with six tidbits about each vehicle:

1. Claim to Fame
2. Soundtrack
3. Perfect Passenger
4. Did you Know?
5. Behind the Wheel
6. The Perfect Drive

Let’s take 1951’s Aerocar. A photograph of “The Flying Automobile” in flight is paired with an image of the car with the trailer towing the wings and fuselage.

The Stats:
Engine: 4 cylinder Lycoming 0-320 aircraft
Horsepower: 143
0-60 MPH: About 600 feet of runway
Top Speed: 67 MPH (ground), 110 MPH (air)
Price New: $10,000
Value Now: Willing buyer, willing seller

The Six Tidbits: (See List Above)

1. The thing actually flew.
2. “Come Fly with Me” by Frank Sinatra
3. Anybody but D. B. Cooper
4. The Autocar required THREE licenses: standard driver’s license, a license to tow a trailer, and an FAA private pilot’s license.
5. As far as we know, none of the original prototypes are in running condition. So you’ll need to build one yourself.
6. Road? Did you say road?

Great Guano, Batman! I’d love to drive the George Barris Batmobile.

Cars range from the Alfa Romeo BAT to the George Barris Batmobile. (I always thought it was made from a 1957 Chevy. The book sets me straight … it began as a 1955 Lincoln Futura). Barris also designed the Munster Koach and Grandpa’s coffin bodied Drag-u-la. He put the numbers and lettered “Little #######” on James Dean’s Porsche 550 Spyder.

The Ferrari 250 GTO is on MY Top Ten list.
AMC gets two entries in the “Ugly” category … the Gremlin that looks like a tennis shoe and the Pacer which starred in “Wayne’s World.” Sadly, I’ve driven these two. Why couldn’t I have driven the Ferrari 250 GTO and the McLaren F1 instead? All four are in the book. I guess I just picked the wrong two … and my budget was about a million dollars short of the McLaren’s sticker price and $10 million shy of the Ferrari’s value.

“365 Cars You Must Drive” is the trivia fanatic’s dream. Read the book and mine these gems …

“Disco Volante” means “flying saucer.” (As in the 1952 Alfa Romeo.)

The Aerocar never made it past the prototype stage … but 3,878 Amphicars were built and sold for around $3,000. It could go 75 MPH on land and 7-8 MPH in the water.

Hans Herrmann placed third at the Carrera Panamericana in 1954 driving a Porsche 550 Spyder … ahead of 73 cars that had larger engines. That’s why Porsche still uses “Carrera” on some of its models.

OK, so which car company had the most entries in the book?
1. General Motors had 50 … 19 Chevy, 9 Cadillac, 6 Pontiac, 6 Olds, 6 Buick, 3 GM, 1 GMC
2. Ford had 36 … 31 Ford, 5 Mercury
3. Chrysler had 21 … 9 Dodge, 7 Chrysler, 5 Plymouth
4. Ferrari …13
5. BMW … 11, Mercedes …11
7. Porsche …9, Alfa-Romeo …9

My Top Ten List (I’ll bet Jay Leno has most of these in his collection. Hey Jay, do you need someone to “burn the carbon” out of these babies? )

1. Shelby Cobra 427
2. McLaren F1
3. Ford GT
4. Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda Convertible
5. Dodge Viper SRT-10
6. Ferrari 250 GTO
7. Ferrari Enzo
8. Lamborghini Countach
9. Plymouth Superbird
10. Porsche 550 Spyder

My “Perfect Passenger” list would depend on which car I was driving but would include Jay Leno, David Letterman, Dan Gurney, James Dean, Mario Andretti, Richard Petty, Ashley Force, Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman and Michael Jordan.

“365 Cars You Must Drive” is a truly unique and fun experience. It deserves a prime spot on your library shelves … or enjoy it one car at a time in your bathroom library. It rates four out of five lug nuts.