The American Auto: Over 100 Years

It's a hugely significant story that goes back five generations. It began in the 1880s, when America s fledgling auto industry was debating whether to go with steam, electricity, or gasoline power. A relatively standardized design soon emerged: a front-mounted internal-combustion engine driving the rear wheels. The rest is history, and it is thoroughly related in The American Auto: Over 100 Years, from the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide.Told in a big, bold picture-caption style, The American Auto: Over 100 Years chronicles the evolution of the automobile from its infancy to the sophisticated vehicles we desire and drive today. Logging more than 700 pages, The American Auto: Over 100 Years features up to eight photos on every page, plus insightful, expert commentary. Timelines and annual sales figures add to the book s lively mix. Read about: Henry Ford, the towering figure in U.S. auto history, who pioneered affordable, dependable transportation made on another of his inventions, the assembly line. Alfred Sloan, who staged an automobile revolution in 1921, sketching the blueprint for General Motors. Every major epoch in U.S. automotive history, including the bruising, competitive decade of the 1930s, Detroit in wartime, the postwar seller s market, small cars, muscle cars, the government interventions of the 1970s, and the constant redefinition of the auto industry in the 21st century, including the still-controversial bailouts.The American Auto: Over 100 Years illustrates every major nameplate and model in American automotive history and details every important trend, success and failure of an industry that helped define a nation and influenced the history of manufacturing, design, and commerce the world over. For car-lovers, historians, and students of design, The American Auto: Over 100 Years is an indispensable chronicle. Read more