Karl Ludvigsen, one of the greatest ever writers on motoring subjects and our distinguished guest on this week’s Autocar Meets podcast has had many careers. Car-obsessed from his earliest years, he trained in the US as an engineer and designer in the immediate post-war years, beginning a parallel career as a motoring writer and editor almost immediately.
As he explains in a fascinating hour’s chat with Steve Cropley, he progressed rapidly into big company management positions, moved to Europe, and was the director of Ford of Europe in charge of model development through the first “fast Ford” era, leading the creation of the Ford Escort RS1600i, among other distinguished road and racing models.
More recently, Ludvigsen has worked non-stop on expanding his collection of distinguished, detailed and brilliantly researched motoring books, writing on subjects as diverse as the life and times of the engineer Reid Railton (the Adrian Newey of his age), the post-war history of the VW Beetle that led to its restoration in production with Allied assistance, the creation and racing history of the Britain’s remarkable BMW V16 grand prix racer, and an extraordinary history of the rise of V12 engines from the earliest to the latest.
Some will call Ludvigsen’s latest offering, “Power Unleashed”, a remarkable three-volume work following the trailblazers who boosted engine power with supercharging and turbocharging, his crowning achievement, but Ludvigsen would not be among them. Of course, he is intensely proud of the work, but even in his early 90s he has pressing plans for more books, including a biography of Harry Mundy, the consummate engine designer and Autocar journalist who he knew very well. For Ludvigsen, there is never enough time.
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