Old Tractors and the Men Who Love Them? Hope he used the right lubricant—a seized big end is eye-watering!
These covers are cringe worthy is retrospect, but I wonder if they contributed to the success of the book at the time. When I was epublishing a couple of years ago, scouting around for ideas about book cover design, I found one writer who'd been derided for the lurid colours and kitschy artwork she used. Taking the criticism to heart, she paid out for tasteful illustrations from a professional artist—her sales crashed, so she returned to the style she used before and they crept back up—some people like stuff because it is rubbish!