I’m presently reading the Ian Fleming James Bond novel “You Only LIve Twice” and found a car related trivia mistake. The story takes place in early 1960’s Japan. The car Bond is driving is first referred to as a “Toyopet”, later it is a “Topoyet”. Toyopet is the right name I think, later to be just “Toyota”. The other name is a typo. Not saying this is important or interesting fact, other than editing mistakes like this are pretty rare in widely sold popular books of the 1960’s. With this info, you might could win a bar bet at least.
You can search out the two versions of the car name if you like, here
And, while editing/proofreading is definitely much worse of late than it was in the '60s, the fact remains that there have always been editing/proofreading errors in books. As evidence of that, there is an edition of The Bible–published in the 1700s–that transforms The Parable of The Vineyard into “The Parable of the Vinegar”! However, there have been lots of other biblical misprints over a period of hundreds of years. Take a look at this:
And, to keep this on an automotive footing, as I mentioned in another recent post, one book that I read recently referred to the Hillman Minx as “a luxury car”. While not a typo, that misinformation reveals a colossal failure on the part of the author to do some research before writing.
And, in the book that I am currently reading (Fordlandia, the story of Henry Ford’s failed rubber plantations in Brazil), the author clearly doesn’t know the difference between a thread and a tread, as he repeatedly makes reference to Firestone’s “Non Skid tire thread”.
Even if the author was too dim to know the difference between a thread and a tread, the book’s editors should have understood the difference and should have corrected the recurring mistake.
Agree! Poor research is often blatant to an informed reader. Ken Follett, a respected British author, wrote a book called “Whiteout”, set in the Rocky Mountain region during a blizzard.
The villain, driving a Cadillac Eldorado escapes in a hurry from a forest cabin, "throwing snow and gravel from his spinning REAR TIRES. The car is a front drive vehicle!
…and when the actual owner of a vehicle is so misinformed, it can get even more problematic:
Circa 1967, I was hoofing it to the supermarket right after a very heavy snowstorm. As I walked, I encountered a woman with a new Toronado, and she was throwing traction grit underneath the rear wheels. Trying to be helpful, I politely told her that she should be putting that grit under the front wheels.
Well, apparently she didn’t like my advice, and she snarled at me, “The front wheels are turning just fine sonny. It’s the rear wheels that won’t move!”.
All Toyotas originally imported into the USA were Toyopets. The were almost called “Toyolets!” until a linguist explained the fine points of the English language to them!
Once established the product line line was made up of the Corona and the Crown. The Crown is still sold in Asia and a corporate car or limo .The Corolla came much later. .
A friend had a mid 1960s Toyopet ‘Crown’. Nice car but I would much prefer the Toyota 2000 GT movie car. I have only seen one on the street in 1969 or 1970 and have lusted for one ever since.
Road & Track actually tested this car and were very impressed; sort of a shrunken Jaguar E type. Unfortunately they stated you had to fit the car since it was built for small Asian framed drivers and the average US driver would have difficulty fitting in one.
A novel I read was set in rural Northwestern PA, Name and title forgotten. The author had a high speed chase set on snow and ice covered roads withe the tires 'squealing" on the ice.
On the inside the author mentioned he lived om Maryland’s Eastern shore but visited his grandparents regularly growing up. I guess it must always been in the summer.
In Colorado I’d notice a squeaking sound sometimes when driving on fresh snow, esp if it was really cold, but never any squealing tires when driving on ice … lol .
I’m told Tom Clancy employed a full time “fact checker” since his books were loaded with military and technical details. Always enjoyed the books.
Having been raised in Europe the first 13 years of my life I often find errors and inconsistencies in books written by Americans about WW II and the postwar years.
On comedy programs like Hogan’s Heroes, however, errors are quite excusable!
My wife has an English degree in addition to her medical education and I’m not allowed any spelling mistakes, even on a grocery list!
So on the one hand, the guy finds $50, but it might cost $200 - $300 to get his car out of impound. And he’s going to have find a way to get over to the impound yard, in the first place
I have read that about Tom Clancy. I drove my future ex wife nuts while watching movies at home. I would constantly point out errors in weapons, uniforms, and historical facts. One was the 1979 remake of ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’. The “WW1” Germans were using WW2 British Enfield Mk IV rifles complete with the little “tent stake” bayonets. In Westerns I would point out that it was supposed to be 1881 and they were using model 1892 Winchesters. I can’t help it I have been studying military and other history since I began reading.
