Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile: Coachbuilding

Nick Georgano was born in London in February 1932. He began his career as a motoring writer at the age of 7 when he prepared a truck catalogue which was typed out by his long-suffering mother. He was 16 when he first attempted to write an 'encyclopedia'. On coming down from Oxford in 1956 he became a preparatory schoolmaster during which time he helped his friend Ralph Doyle to revise his The World's Automobiles . Nick completed this after Ralph's death in 1961, an invaluable apprenticeship for editing the Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, first published in 1968. On the strength of this he abandoned the schoolroom for the typewriter and has since edited or written 31 titles including The Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles (editor), The Encyclopedia of Motor Sport (editor), A History of Transport (editor), History of Sports Cars, History of the London Taxicab, Early Days on the Road (with Lord Montagu of Beaulieu), The American Automobile - a Centenary, The Art of the American Automobile, Britain's Motor Industry - The First 100 Years (editor). For the latter and for The Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars he was awarded the Montagu Trophy of the Guild of Motoring Writers. He was Head Librarian at the National Motor Museum from 1976 to 1981. He is a member of the National Motor Museum Advisory Council and Trustee of the Michael Sedgwick Memorial Trust and the Horseless Carriage Foundation, California.

• Dedication Alphabetical List of Colour Illustrations Alphabetical List of Original Manufacturers' Promotional Images Foreword Acknowledgements Introduction Terms and Abbreviations Used History of Coachbuilding Early Days From World War I to the Depression The Years Before World War II After World War II Colour Illustrations Alphabetical List of Makes Supplementary List Glossary Contributors to the Encyclopedia

"Of all the crafts and trades involved in constructing the first motor cars, the coachbuilder was far and away the oldest....engineers might divert their spirits of invention to the car, but when it came to cladding the chassis with a body, it was on the skills and tradition of the coachbuilder that they depended". From the Foreword by Brian Sewell