It’s been a long time coming, Gordon Murray’s One Formula – 50 Years of Car Design book. But then he has a lot to say and to recall.
Two years ago, the great and groundbreaking designer began the unenviable task of recounting his career, and the mammoth two-volume, boxed effort, a collaboration with Philip Porter of Porter Press, was finally revealed last week.
A full review will follow in a future issue of Classic & Sports Car magazine; any work that’s taken two years to write and compile is not something to cursorily flick through and offer up a snap judgement on, after all.
It’s not cheap, either, starting at £225 for the ‘standard’ first edition, rising to a super-special £2500 Unique Edition that also includes a small model of the IGM T1 – the first car Murray built – and much more, including a unique sketch by the man himself.
Splitting the difference is a £750 limited-edition version, 100 of which will be made, hand-bound and accompanied a pair of blueprint posters.
What remains consistent between the three are the 948 pages and more than 1200 illustrations inside it. Considerable numbers, not unlike the prices. So prolific is Murray’s career that he had to be reminded of one or two cars and ideas during the book-writing process.
(l-r) The book is available in three versions. None are cheap; Murray and his collaborator Philip Porter
