What’s the first serious car book you bought? Still have?

Ordering a book in grade school to have it delivered a month later doesn't count - 

What's the first real car book you bought? (Below - car buddy suggested it)

Still have it? (Yes, close to 40 years now)  

Plans with all your books? (I'm sure my kids will drop them off Goodwill or fill a recycling bin)

I loved that Z car comparison picture - thought it was cool.  

How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive by John Muir. The early one, spiral bound, first edition. Way back in the 80s. 

What's the first real car book you bought? (It may have been that same book you're showing) You left out the bit about how quirky the author dressed, which is visible is several of the pics...

Still have it? (Yes, also around 40 years now)  

Plans with all your books? (haven't decided, either sell them here, ebay, LocostUSA, or just Goodwill)

The first serious car design book(s) I bought were the Carroll Smith series.

Top of the heap though, for seriously technical, is Race Car Vehicle Dynamics, by Milliken.

I have about 30 design books but no car...

Hmm - from memory, How to make your Vw Handle, How to keep your VW alive, and Corky Bell's maximum boost.  Probably some others mixed in there.

I used this one to help pick the first car I purchased for being what I wanted (my second car). I still have the car and the book.

The 1972 "Motor" service manual.  Still have it.

Hot Rod Road from scholastic in about grade 5.  I would really like to find it again, because I have no idea at all what a Deusenburg was until at least 15 years later.

I still remember a misprint that took me quite a while to science out, because I didn't know what a "high compression heap" was for a Model A.

"Tune to Win" by Carroll Smith. Lent it to a friend and lost track of it. 

Chilton manual for my first car, 1994 Cavalier. Chucked it not long after I got rid of it.

As an enthusiast, Paul Frere's Sports Car and Competition Driving. it's a later edition from the 1990s.

Ford: The Dust and the Glory by Leo Levine received as a gift in 1968.

Ken Purdy's Book of Automobiles by, well, Ken Purdy, originally published by Playboy Press.  An entertaining collection of short stories and essays about our favorite subject.  Purchased around 1973.  Recommended if you can find a copy.

Both remain on my bookshelf to this day.  The paperback from Playboy Press is in sad condition but gets a revisit on occasion.

1965 " Volkswagon Technical Manual" by Henry Elfrink

Still have it.  Cover destroyed.  The edges of all the pages are black from being handled by greasy hands.

So many more books after that.  A mini library.

I have that one and I think it may well have been my first, although since I bought it in ~ 1999 when I already owned a Miata, it seemed a bit dated (lots of discussion of semi-trailing arm rear suspensions, as I recall).

Here it is on the shelf, next to some other car-related books (not all of the ones I own, a bunch are scattered elsewhere in the house).

How To Make Your Car Handle and Tune to Win pretty much at the same time back in the late 70s IIRC. Still got them plus many others.

I got this for my 16th birthday:

If we're not counting shop manuals, Bolt On Performance was probably the first, followed by Make Your Car Handle from the OP... couldn't find it tonight, but I still have it.  And these were probably around the same time...  

I think my first car book was Bondurant's.

This should give you an idea as this is only one of four shelves.

Tune/Engineer/Plan to win are fantastic. I didn't buy them, but was given digital copies that I keep.

I don't remember......

Edit: It may have been "World Rallying 1" by Hugh Bishop and Martin Holmes.

I have the older version of "How To Make Your Car Handle" that has Peter Gregg's Brumos Porsche on the cover. It looks like a lot of us have very similar libraries. 

I bought a copy of "The Shelby American Guide" back around 1983. I've read it cover to cover a bunch of times and still refer back to it occasionally. 

Does this count? 

I bought this from the local Shucks circa 1998 or so to try and keep my 1986 Bronco II running. It was the first vehicle I bought after learning to drive.

The Bronco II is long gone but the manual is still sitting on a shelf in my parents garage. 

The SECOND (semi) serious car book that I ever bought was a spiral bound copy of John Muir's How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive: A Step by Step Guide for the Complete Idiot, which remains one of the greatest books written about anything ever. It should be a Must Read for everyone, even if they don't care about Volkswagens. 
 

I got a $39.99 set of Craftsman tools and this book and headed off to college in my '73 MG Midget.  What I lacked in skill, I made up for with over confidence.

I still have the book and tools.  Sadly, all that remains of the car are additional skills it forced me to acquire.

In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :

I checked this book out from the public library when I was a car crazed kid in middle school and didn't even own a car yet.  I read it cover to cover several times throughout multiple check-outs and loved it!  It really started my excitement for not only owning my first car, but actually doing the work on it myself as well.  I was never able to find a beetle in my area that worked out to own, but the seed of DIY car repairs and upkeep was planted.

Probably the Miata Enthusiast's Manual. That kept me busy for a while, then things got out of hand. Allan Staniforth has written some good ones, I find myself recommending them fairly often. 

I do have a copy of the John Muir VW book on my shelf because someone left a bunch of books on the sidewalk a few years ago and I snagged it. I don't have a VW but enjoy reading it. I do wish I still had David Vizard's 'how to rebuild your SMALL BLOCK CHEVY'. Again don't need it but it was my bible in high school. Built my 327 from parts with that book.