This week’s book review delves deep into the world of traditional hot rods, and more specifically into the details about the most popular builders of these cars today. We’ll admit to being mildly ignorant of the culture, but we’re always awed by the sheer craftsmanship that goes into these machines. This book tells the stories behind their creators.

Old School Customs: Top Traditional Custom Car Builders by Alan Mayes takes an in-depth look at 14 of the highest profile custom car builders in the country and the names range from guys we’re familiar with to guys we’ve never heard of before. All of them are craftsmen and all have stories to tell about why they specialize in a certain look or genre of car.

Reading about guys like Gene Winfield and Bill Hines provides a great base of knowledge and some good perspective about where the builders of today take their hints and inspiration from. There’s lots of good photography and if you are someone who counts old school customs as your favorite type of car, we’d say that you’d want this book.

For the hardcore muscle car guy, drag racer, or restoration freak, we’re thinking that this is a pass, simply because its focus will probably fall outside your areas of interest. If you keep a wide open automotive mind and are a student of history, both ancient and recent, score this book and learn the dirt on the guys who are doing things today that will place them in the same category as the legendary builders of the past as time goes on.

This book is available for sale through motorbooks.com and other online book sellers as well as your local bookstore.