Graham Robson – författare

The complete story of the front-wheel-drive Saab 96 made the brand into a rally icon in the 1960s. Superstar driving from Erik Carlsson, his wife Pat Moss-Carlsson and - later - from Stig Blomqvist, all brought real publicity and admiration for a car that always lacked the sheer straight-line performance of its rivals.Saabs like this, however, never wanted for strength, or for amazing handling and traction, and they succeeded in events as diverse as the Monte Carlo, Britain''s RAC rally, special stage events in every Scandinavian country, and the rough-and-tough Spa-Sofia-Liege Marathon.The big change came in 1967, when the 96 became the V4, looking almost the same as before, but with a new and more powerful four-stroke Ford-Germany V4 engine. Works cars continued to be competitive in carefully chosen events for many years, and it was only the arrival of much more specialised rivals that made them outdated. Saab, though, was not finished with rallying, as the V4''s successors, the much larger and more powerful 99 and 99 Turbo types, proved. More than any other car of its era, the 96 and V4 models proved that front-wheel-drive allied to true superstar driving could produce victory where no-one expected it.

Relating the story of Triumph cars is complex enough, but to include all the earlier events which persuaded Siegfried Bettman to begin car manufacture in 1923 is even more so.The two authors, however - both of them experts in all things Triumph, the cars, and the political events surrounding them - have assembled and presented an enthralling story of the way the car-making side of the business came to prosper, was then afflicted by financial problems, and then rescued from oblivion by Standard in 1944.Thereafter, Triumph once again became a prominent marque, eventually dominated Standard, and (from the 1960s onwards) became an important cast member in the melodramatic events which involved Leyland, BMC and eventually British Leyland. This, however, is not merely a turbulent trawl through the historical record, for both authors were also successful in locating the important characters whose efforts made it possible for Triumph to excite the world. Along the way, the career of cars as famous as the Glorias and Dolomites of the 1930s, the Heralds, Spitfires and TRs of the post-war years, and the headline-grabbing exploits in racing and rallying build up a story which no fictional writer could have created.