Michael T. Lynch

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Michael T. Lynch bigraphy, stories - Historians

Michael T. Lynch : biography

October 25, 1938 –

Michael T. Lynch (born October 25, 1938) is an American consultant, writer and automotive historian, specializing in historic racing and sporting automobiles.

Lynch became known in the 1970s for his work on the history of Ferrari. One of his earliest industry awards came when one of his stories won the Ferrari Club of America’s Warren Fitzgerald "Article of the Year" Award for a piece published in Prancing Horse, the club magazine. He is a Contributing Editor to Cavallino – The Journal of Ferrari History and a regular contributor to Forza, another Ferrari-specific publication. Over the years, Lynch’s area of expertise has grown to encompass the entire history of motor racing as well as the stylists, engineers, executives and race drivers associated with the classic marques. He is also extremely knowledgeable about the upper end of the collector car market.

In 1998, Lynch co-authored the book, American Sports Car Racing in the 1950s (ISBN 0760303673), with William Edgar and Ron Parravano. The book has won numerous awards including the Dean Batchelor Award from the Motor Press Guild. The book also received a History Award at the International Automotive Media Conference in Las Vegas and is considered the definitive work on the period. Lynch’s periodical work has received recognition including the Society of Automotive Historians’ James Valentine Award for Excellence in Historical Research.

Lynch’s byline has appeared in domestic periodicals including Road & Track, Automobile Magazine, Sports Car International, Cavallino, Forza and Vintage Motorsport among others. Foreign publications using his work include Auto Classique (France), Das Auto (Germany), and Car Graphic [Japan). Lynch has also provided commentary for the Behind the Headlights series broadcast on Speed TV. Online, his work can be seen at VeloceToday.com, a site specializing in vintage Italian and French cars.

Lynch is a Researcher at the Revs Program at Stanford University, which is devoted to the study of the automobile and society. He is also a member of the 24B (racing cars) Certification Committee of the Antique Automobile Club of America. He serves as the Executive Director of the Board of the Automotive Preservation and Heritage Foundation which is presently negotiating to build an automotive museum in Monterey, California.

Lynch has served as an announcer at many prestigious Concours d’Elegance including the Art of the Car Concours, the Avila Beach Concours d’Elegance, the Carmel-by-the-Sea Concours on the Avenue, Concorso Italiano, the Desert Classic Concours, the Marin Sonoma Concours, the Palo Alto Concours d’Elegance, the Porsche Race Car Classic, the Porsche Rennsport Reunion, The Quail Motorcycle Gathering and the San Luis Obispo Concours d’Elegance. His work has also appeared in many of these events’ programs as well as those of the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and the Quail, A Motorsports Gathering. Other event programs featuring his work include the Monterey Historic Automobile Races, the Rolex Monterey Historic Reunion, the Rolex Vintage Festival at Lime Rock Park, the Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival, and the Wine Country Classic. He also consults to automotive events and collectors on subjects as varied as event planning and automobile provenance.

Lynch holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Humanities and an M.B.A. from Harvard University and a Master’s of Science in Electronic Commerce from National University, San Diego.

Category:1938 births Category:American male writers Category:Living people Category:Harvard Business School alumni Category:People from Cleveland, Ohio Category:People from San Francisco, California Category:Motoring writers Category:Historians of motorsport