Separately these things would be a minor annoyance, however together they make reading this book a task. But wait a minute. It does trace the history of toy motor vehicles and provide some guidance and information for anyone who may already be an avid collector as well as those seeking to collect. We read about dates and manufacturers and materials and manufacturing techniques and occasionally an unusual detail this or that vehicle may have. Wheels sort of just prattles on, which is fine if you are an antique toy car geek, which I suspect the authors are.
Romance is replaced with pure information.
The book is full of descriptions of scale-model cars and trucks but not enough illustrations of the vast catalog of vehicles to which they refer. That is not to say that photos are in short supply. There are quite a few, but their captions are occasionally incorrect and in one case missing entirely. The photos are technically very nice and adequately illustrate each vehicle but have been cut out of their original backgrounds and have been given annoying and obviously fake shadows beneath each wheel. It's a shame that Wheels presents itself as a Rolls Royce when its really just a Lada with some nice coach work.