NONFICTION - April 2, 1995

DASHBOARDS by David Holland, photos by Colin Turner et al. (Phaidon Press: $39.95.) Studying a dashboard is like examining a set of good maps. It heightens the sense of wander. When all the instruments are alive, jiggling and swinging, it means the car is moving, on its way somewhere. No matter where.

David Holland presents us with 52 memorable dashboards representing 70 years of motoring. It’s a veritable Baedeker’s of automobile information displayed before drivers’ eyes. Holland offers ample justification for each choice. The history of instrumentation is as well-documented here as engines and bodywork are in other works. This is a thoughtful collection, most of it photographed by Colin Turner, a master of light and view camera.

What is shown and explained here comes from family sedans and race cars, grand tourers and land speeders. Purpose--and the personalities of the builders--dictated contents and appearances of these surfaces. Some instrument panels are spare. Others seem fireplace mantle-like in their austere elegance. Still others are highly stylized, almost Mannerist, and some impart to us such esoterica as “Rear Charger temperature.” Beg pardon?

Each of the dashboards is elegantly displayed, swept billboard-like across two pages. Another two pages provide a concise contextual text. Generally, two more photographs of each car serve as scene setters or as identifiers to jog the memories of enthusiasts.

For lovers of travel books more than of travel, this is a delightful companion. For lovers of driving, this is the stuff of a longer armchair journey through a small portion of automotive history.