Holiday gifts for gearheads, Part 1

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With photos from the summer still not downloaded to the computer, the holiday season has pounced upon us. To try to make it run a little easier this year, here’s the first batch of gift ideas for the gearhead in your life. This one centers on books and DVDs, but subsequent posts will feature gadgets and other ideas. Keep an eye out. The prices given here are list prices -- a little Net surfing would be worthwhile.

BOOKS

‘McQueen’s Machines,’ by Matt Stone
Steve McQueen was a total gearhead, collecting everything from motorbikes to planes, and plenty of exotic cars in between. With pictures from the family archive, Stone brings a fresh insight to one of the big screen’s icons by showing him as a man with an automotive passion, and someone who could easily have been a professional racer. Here are machines he has owned, raced or driven in films.
($26.95, Motorbooks)

‘Legendary Motorcycles,’ by Basem Wasef; foreword by Jay Leno
With the Captain America chopper in ‘Easy Rider’ and T.E. Lawrence’s Brough Superior SS100, bikes ridden by Elvis and those by race legend Kenny Roberts, this book focuses on the actual motorcycles that have entered modern mythology. It’s not just the machines -- the stories behind them also fascinate.
($34.95, Motorbooks)

‘Speed, Style and Beauty,’ by Winston S. Goodfellow and Beverly Rae Kimes
Spread over 240 pages and 160 photographs is this homage to some of the most beautiful cars ever designed. They come from Ralph Lauren’s collection and include Bugatti, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin and even a Ford ‘Woody.’ This is all about the automobile as an objet d’art.
($60, MFA Publications)

DVDs

‘Rendezvous’
Shot in real time (in 1978), through Paris, early morning, with a camera attached to a Ferrari 275 GTB sports car driven by an unidentified racing driver -- and no edits -- this is some of the most nail-biting, teeth-clenching car footage ever. Even if it does last just nine minutes. The police sirens can be heard fading into the background.
($29.95, Sprit Level Studios)

‘Ronin’
Of course, ‘Bullitt’ has one of the all-time classic car chases, but this 1998 film, starring Robert De Niro, has another. No computer effects, just fast-moving metal.
($14.98, MGM)

‘Talladega Nights -- The Ballad of Ricky Bobby’
Cars and jokes. What else is there in life?
($19.94, Sony Pictures)

‘Le Mans’
At the risk of giving the McQueen estate a merrier-than-usual Christmas, this is one of the few motor-sport films that feel utterly convincing. Perhaps that’s because McQueen actually raced at Le Mans. And some of the machinery is just beautiful.
($14.99, Paramount)

‘Dust to Glory’
One for the off-road fans. An in-depth documentary on the grueling and crazy Baja 1000 desert race.
($24.95, MGM)

-- Colin Ryan