Fabulous Fins of the Fifties

First off, most of the photos in this book are excellent. There are gorgeous pictures of some of the most beautiful cars America has ever produced. Kudos for that. The problem is that the books seems to have an identity crisis. It claims to be a book of the fabulous fins of the Fifties and does feature some of the great finned cars of the decade. If that is the focus of the book, then why include pictures of fin-less cars? And why omit some finned wonders like the '59 Olds with its taillight holding fins or the '59 Pontiac with its double fins holding parking lights? And the '59 Plymouth? The '58 Continental? Some great fins were omitted in favor of some questionable entries. If the book is intended as a survey of general autos of the Fifties, what about the exclusion of some beauties like the '55-'56 Buicks, all the Mercury models, the '58 Ford, and more. Again, this may be nitpicking. I loved the book as a pictorial of some of the best of the Fifties to be thumbed through but in falls short when one reads the text and wonders at what was included and what was not. Still, it's a great addition to any collection of coffee table books about the greatest decade of cars.

The fine point of fins, by car make, are covered in this excellent book. The only problem with reading it and gazing upon all those gorgeous photos and artwork is that it will make up want to run out and buy each and every one of them. My favorites are the Chryslers, Dodges and espesically the DeSotos. Another reason to buy the book is that it's cheaper than building (or renting) a twenty-car garage. Enjoy!