Book Review: Excess All Areas by Richard Heseltine

I was delighted to receive Richard Heseltine's new book "Excess All Areas" in the mail the other day from Performance Publishing in the UK. Given the current situation with Covid-19 and its affect on logistics, it took awhile but was worth the wait. 

The book covers a subject very dear to me, the 1970's era of kit cars, specials, and one-offs from the UK. It was a particularly vibrant time in the history of this niche. While many of the features were expected, such as the iconic Nova, the book is filled with many lesser known models including some I was unaware of or knew very little about. I was also pleased to see some of my favorite obscurities like the Status Minipower and Concept Centaur. I thought the selections were very well reasoned and captured the audacious spirit of those days quite effectively.

Having a bit more knowledge on this subject than the average Yankee, I will say there were some minor factual inaccuracies in the book, but as a researcher of such things myself, I know how difficult a task it can be to sort through the varying accounts, contemporary puff pieces, rumor and innuendo that surround this cottage industry. Such things are not unique to the UK scene either. One of the most storied US kit car producers, FiberFab, was steeped in love triangles, dubious finances, and even murder... 

I would have liked to see the inclusion of more color pictures and restored examples of the featured cars. However, period press materials were often distributed in black and white, so its understandable. These are all minor quibbles though. Overall, the book is excellent and I was not disappointed. 

I simply love the fact that this book was published, I think it's a great subject that deserves more attention. "Excess All Areas" is a very well researched and written compendium of adventurous and whimsical cars born in the sheds and garages of 1970's England. I highly recommend it to any fans of kit cars! 

You can get a copy of it for your library here