RESTOMODS: THE NEW WORLD ORDER OF HANDCRAFTED CARS

After an action-packed year that never seemed to end, I found myself staring at my luggage, debating whether I should pack Restomods: The New World Order of Handcrafted Cars from ACC Art Books and knock out one last review to close out 2025 in Taipei or leave it for 2026. 

On the one hand, a quick flip through the stunning imagery planted the seed. What better way to decompress than gazing at the world’s finest restomods with an ice-cold Taiwan Beer® in hand? 

On the other hand, the tome is impressive, weighing in at a scale-tipping 6.4 pounds. Enough to potentially trigger the dreaded check-in counter luggage shuffle. 

Guess which door this gearhead chose? You guessed right. I lugged this bad boy halfway around the world, and I am very glad I did. 

Just in time to make LACar's Top Book Picks for 2025, author Bill Schwartz has assembled cars from 50 builders spanning the globe. 

These visionaries, or heretics depending on how much of a purist you are, take classic cars and pour thousands of hours of labor and hundreds of thousands of dollars (sometimes over a million dollars) into them, giving them a second lease on life. 

The term “restomod,” a portmanteau of restoration and modification, applies perfectly to the bespoke rolling eye candy throughout Schwartz’s book. 

If you instead believe cars should be restored to their original, numbers-matching condition, take heart. OEMs like Jaguar and Bentley have caught on to the movement and are featured with their continuation editions of iconic machines such as the Jaguar E-Type and the Bentley Six. 

If you are not saddled with such originalist limitations, then stand back, close your eyes, and imagine the greatest cars of yesteryear brought back faster, sharper, and more luxurious than ever. 

Schwartz has curated a veritable smorgasbord of restomod goodness, moving effortlessly from coupes to trucks, American muscle to Italian speed, and powertrains that run the gamut from naturally aspirated to turbocharged to fully electrified. 

Porsche fans will absolutely love this book. 

The original restomod trailblazer RUF is featured alongside venerable builder Rennsport. 

Your P-car fascination will be thoroughly satisfied by the likes of Singer, Canepa, Gunther Werks, Hedonic Machines, and my personal favorite, Rod Emory and his legendary 356 Outlaws. 

No Porsche is left untouched. 

Nardone modernizes the 928, while Kaege electrifies the 911 Turbo. As polarizing as an electric 911 may be, few builders divide opinion quite like RWB founder Akira Nakai, famous for smoking while cutting into 911s to create his signature RAUH-Welt widebody aesthetic that looks ripped straight from a video game. 

Schwartz features no fewer than 13 Porsche restomod builders, including Tuthill, whose stunning GT One tribute to 1990s sports car racing graces the cover. 

For enthusiasts who prefer the road less traveled, Schwartz dedicates another 13 chapters to off-road builders from around the world. Bronco, FJ, Land Cruiser, and Defender restomods appear from sought-after names like Gateway Bronco, ICON, The FJ Company, and others. 

As if that wasn’t enough of a stocking stuffer, there’s much more. Twenty-nine additional builders are featured, covering nearly every Shelby variant imaginable, including Cobra, Mustang, and Daytona Coupe, alongside Alfas, a Ferrari GTO, the RML Short Wheelbase inspired by the 1959 Ferrari 250 SWB, the aforementioned Jaguar E-Type, the finned D-Type, and much more. 

A standout is the Kimera Automobili Evo 38 Ultima Evoluzione, which is a full stop on the page, equal parts beauty and implied Group B brutality captured through exceptional photography. 

The imagery is paired with Schwartz’s insightful and entertaining writing. He has clearly done the homework, and lines like “Beware, this TWR is a T-rex hiding in fox fur,” written about the TWR Supercat, make the book as enjoyable to read as it is to browse. 

I could go on, but Taipei calls. If you love cars, you know the legends of the past can quickly fade to rust, car meet mishaps, or the staggering cost of keeping a half-century-old machine alive. 

My hat is off to every builder featured in Restomods: The New World Order of Handcrafted Cars for not only preserving these automotive icons, but for giving them new superpowers and securing their place in the hearts and minds of future generations.