Books by Matthew Vale

A comprehensive history of the Aston Martin company from the early days to 2021. Aston Martin holds a special place in the British motor industry - producing a world-beating range of cars. Of great interest to all motoring enthusiasts, particularly those interested in British luxury cars. Covers the racing activities in the 1930s; glory days in the 1950s winning le Mans; David Brown era including the James Bond cars. Superbly illustrated with 329 colour photos

A comprehensive history of the iconic British GT car, this book looks at the Elite's place in Lotus' past. Interviews with ex-factory staff and current owners define the car's place in the classic car scene of today. Illustrated with colour photos and period advertising material, providing essential reading for the Lotus Elite enthusiast.

Explores the design development and production of the Lotus Europa, Lotus's first mid-engined road car. It covers the Renault-powered Series 1 and 2 cars, the Lotus Twin Cam-engined versions, and the Type 47 racing models.

This book tells the story of Alvis and its cars, aero engines and military vehicles. Starting with the formation of the company in 1919, it traces the company's products through the 1920s and 1930s, and through its wartime exploits to its eventual takeover by Rover. The book covers: the early four-cylinder cars; the amazing six-cylinder cars; early ventures into armoured car and aero engine production; the post WWII four- and six-cylinder cars; the Leonides post-World War II aero engines and finally, the post-World War II military vehicles.

If you are interested in buying a Lotus Elan or Plus 2 this book will give you the background information and technical details to ensure you purchase the car you want. Written by an author with experience of restoring classic Lotuses, the book will give you the knowledge you need to identify and assess any potential purchase.

Reliant produced a range of sports cars from the 1960s to the 1990s which complemented thir well-established three-wheeled cars.  Starting with a design for Israel's Autocars in 1961, Reliant went on to produce many successful cars, including the Sabre, a raw two-seat sports car; the Scimitar GT, a solid GT car; the Scimitar GTE, a market-defining sporting estate car; and the SS1, a small two-seat sports car.  Reliant Sabre, Scimitar and SS1- An Enthusiast's Guide explores the history, design and development of the Reliant sports cars.  Beginning with the Autocars Sabra, the Sabre, Scimitar, Scimitar GTE and SS1 are each explored in depth.  This book includes full technical specifications for eveyr major model owner's experiences and advice for buying and owning.

TVR 1946-1982 - The Trevor Wilkinson and Martin Lilley Years describes the complete story of the early days of TVR from Trevor Wilkinson establishing the company in 1946 through to the Martin Lilley years, which came to an end in 1982. The design and development of these classic British sports cars, with their defining characteristics of tubular backbone chassis and glass fibre bodywork, are described in detail.  Illustrated with over 200 colour and black and white photographs the book covers all the early years, including the Sports Saloon, the Jomar, the Open Sports, TVR's first true production car the Grantura from 1958, Griffith models with their remarkable 289 cu in Ford V8 motors, the Vixen and Tuscan range of the late 1960s, the M Series models launched in 1972 and finally, the Tasmin range introduced in 1980.  

Associated Motor Cycles (AMC) produced some of the most iconic British bikes of the 1940s and 1950s. Illustrated with over 200 photographs, this book looks at the history and development of the single and twin-cylinder ranges; the racing bikes; technical details of all major models, and owning and riding AJS and Matchless bikes today.

Lotus introduced the Type 75 Elite in 1974. Being a full four-seater coupe with an opening glass tailgate, it was designed to carry a family in comfort while retaining Lotus' trademark, excellent road holding and handling. The Elite gave rise to two derivatives, the Eclat and the Excel. This book looks at the history of these unusual Lotus models.

The Lotus Elan was Lotus' definitive roadster. It replaced the elegant but expensive Lotus Elite and was the first car to employ the innovative Lotus steel backbone chassis. The original Elan was produced as a two-seat, open-top sportscar and hardtop coupe from 1962 - 1973. This title deals with this topic.

With technical specifications and over 150 colour photographs, this book includes the history of Dolomites' ancestors, and a guide to buying and owning these iconic saloons. It shows the range of quality sporting saloons that started with the Triumph 1300 and was in production from 1965-80.