Death Drive

Stephen Bayley is an author, critic, columnist, consultant, broadcaster, curator and founding director of the influential Design Museum. Over the past 40 years his writing has changed the way the world thinks about design. Tom Wolfe on Stephen Bayley: "I don’t know anybody with more interesting observations about style, taste and contemporary design".What the critics said about the first edition:"Reading this book, one quickly gets accustomed to superb writing. Words cascade forth in perfect pitch and harmony on page after glorious page." — Gerard DeGroot, The Times"Death Drive is a must for petrol-heads. The range of cultural cross-reference and automotive detail is positively epicurean." — Jay Merrick, The Independent"Akin to Kenneth Anger’s Hollywood Babylon, Death Drive is an autoerotic Babylon that never ends well." — Ray Edgar, The Age, 3 June 2016"Albert Camus once remarked that there’s 'nothing more absurd than to die in a car accident'. That was before his car hit a tree at 80mph. Death Drive – a compendium of stories about famous people killed stupidly in cars – oozes absurdity. Stephen Bayley recounts delightfully grotesque tales about celebrities done in by trees, by lamp posts, or by nonentities in ancient Chevys. A design masterpiece, this book combines exquisite prose with stylish presentation – the cars are described more lovingly than the people who perished in them. Like a Bugatti, Death Drive recalls a time when books and cars were beautiful." — The Times, Books of the Year, 26 November 2016

"This is not a book for those who are only interested in cars. It is a compelling, sometimes uncomfortable journey through our fascination with speed, status and mortality. Death Drive reads like a cross between cultural history, essay and tragedy and leaves you with a slightly disruptive realization: perhaps the way we look at cars says more about ourselves than we want to admit." - NL Magazine

• 6 Foreword 10 Death Drive 30 Isadora Duncan 40 Jean Bugatti 50 Nathanael West 60 General George S Patton 70 James Dean 80 Jackson Pollock 90 Dennis Brain 96 Mike Hawthorn 106 Albert Camus 118 Eddie Cochran 126 Prince Aly Khan 134 Ernie Kovacs 142 Porfirio Rubirosa 152 Giuseppe Farina 162 Tara Browne 170 Jayne Mansfield 182 Marc Bolan 192 Mike Hailwood 202 Princess Grace of Monaco 212 Aldo Rossi 218 Ayrton Senna 226 Princess Diana 232 Helmut Newton 240 The Age of Combustion 252 Index 254 Credits