Miles C. Collier's The Archaeological Automobile, at Amelia Island Concours 2021

"The ultimate guide to understanding, using, loving and living with historical automobiles" to be released this fall

At the Amelia Island Concours media breakfast on Saturday morning, Miles C. Collier joined Concours founder Bill Warner to discuss Collier’s new book, The Archaeological Automobile, to be published by Collier AutoMedia and released this fall.

The hour-long event was hosted by Donald Osborne in a room filled with reporters. Bill Warner joined the event to discuss his own new book, The Other Side of the Fence: Six Decades of Motorsport Photography, which was published in April by Collier AutoMedia.

As Osborne interviewed both authors, Collier expanded on the approach of his book, which uses “’an archaeological mindset’ to interpret the automobile as a cultural artifact” through a series of examples and themes that the book will cover. He explained that the focus starts with the automobile itself, letting the car, its history, and other factors in context guide its restoration strategies.

After an engaging back-and-forth with both authors, the floor was opened to questions from the press. When asked about the new book’s place in the body of knowledge about the restoration of significant automobiles, Collier said that he hopes and believes that he’s produced a book that will be evergreen in terms of taking historic cars beyond the arena of “hobby” and more into conservation, preservation, and legacy.

The presentation piqued interest in the book itself and built anticipation for its release a few months from now. For more, see The Archaeological Automobile web site.