Glory Days of Dodge Profiled in New Book

LONDON - July 20, 2009: Dodge Challenger & Plymouth Barracuda –

Chrysler's Potent Pony Cars, a brand new book by Dodge specialist Peter Grist is an in-depth look at the highly collectable and much sought after cars that captured the imagination in the 1960s and 1970s when they featured as stars of both the big screen and drag strip. A Dodge Challenger R/T was famously used in Vanishing Point - the 1971 action-road movie starring Barry Newman.

Published by Veloce at £29.99 ($59.95 USA) in hardcover, and written in Peter's easy to follow and unpretentious style, this new book follows a chronological journey through the development of pony cars from the 1960 Valiant onwards. Fascinating design concepts and evolution are incorporated, featuring all sub-series and models. The book boasts 375 mainly colour pictures, including fresh new photos of original vehicles and rarely seen archive pictures and period adverts.

Along with the Ford Mustang, the Plymouth Barracuda was often referred to by the colloquial name "pony car", and although the Mustang went on to outsell the 'Slippery Fish' it was the first incarnation of the Barracuda that was released first on 1 April 1964, beating the Mustang to the dealerships by two clear weeks.

Peter has been writing about American automobiles for over 15 years, during that time writing for the Chrysler Corp Club UK, high street magazines, web-sites, his first books on Dodge performance cars, and the biography of American auto designer, Virgil Exner, also published by Veloce. Peter has owned a succession of American-built cars, including a 1955 Buick, a 1959 DeSoto, 1967 Coronet, a Shelby Charger, Jeep Cherokee and an R/T Neon; he currently owns three Dodge vehicles.

This 196-page book is available now from bookshops or from www.veloce.co.uk.

Dodge Challenger & Plymouth Barracuda – Chrysler's Potent Pony Cars By Peter Grist Available now UK & USA ISBN 978-1-845841-05-8 UPC 6-36847-04105-2 £29.99 UK / $59.95 USA

SPECIFICATION Hardback. 196 pages. 250mm tall x 207mm. 375 pictures, many in colour.

MORE INFORMATION View sample pages and sample text on the publisher's website - http://www.veloce.co.uk