Author : Lawrence R. Gustin
Publisher : Buick Gallery and Research Center
Page : 271 pages
File Size : 23,88 MB
Release : 2011
Category : Buick automobile
ISBN : 9781468001181
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Author : Lawrence R. Gustin
Publisher : Alfred P. Sloan Museum
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 19,86 MB
Release : 2006
Category : Buick automobile
ISBN : 9780978626907
The first biography of David Buick, an enigmatic figure in automotive history.
Author : Lawrence R. Gustin
Publisher : University of Michigan Press
Page : 305 pages
File Size : 16,84 MB
Release : 2012-10-16
Category : Transportation
ISBN : 0472029363
Praise for the first edition: "A fascinating book [and] a sympathetic look at the man who glued General Motors together and in the process made Flint one of the great industrial centers of America." ---Detroit Free Press "It is refreshing to report that Billy Durant is one of the best researched books dealing with an automotive giant." ---Antique Automobile "Billy Durant fills in a masterly way the only important void remaining concerning the work of the motorcar pioneers." ---Richard Crabb, author of Birth of a Giant: The Men and Incidents That Gave America the Motorcar What explains Billy Durant's powerful influence on the auto industry during its early days? And why, given Durant's impact, has he been nearly forgotten for decades? In search of answers to these questions, Lawrence Gustin interviewed Durant's widow, who provided a wealth of previously unpublished autobiographical notes, letters, and personal papers. Gustin also interviewed two of Durant's personal secretaries and others who had known and worked with the man who created General Motors. The result is the amazing account of the mastermind behind what would become, as the twentieth century progressed, the world's largest company.
Author : Michael W.R. Davis
Publisher : Arcadia Publishing
Page : 130 pages
File Size : 25,89 MB
Release : 2012-08-06
Category : History
ISBN : 1625171668
The Chevrolet car and truck business traces its roots back to Michigan’s lumber industry in the middle of the 19th century. Lumber mills gave way to carriage and wagon manufacturing and the claim, before motorcars burst on the scene, that Flint was the “vehicle capital of the world.” This is the story of how those wagon makers quickly converted to producing automobiles, overtaking automotive pioneer and archrival Ford in sales, and building the Chevrolet brand into the global powerhouse entity it is today. This volume traces the first half (1911–1960) of Chevrolet’s 100-year history in photographic detail and provides an unparalleled spotter guide for long-forgotten (or never-known) Chevrolet cars and trucks.
Author : David Newhardt
Publisher : Motorbooks International
Page : 243 pages
File Size : 37,27 MB
Release : 2013-05-19
Category : Transportation
ISBN : 0760344213
Just what is a Muscle Car? Road Test magazine asked in June 1967. The answer: Exactly what the name implies. It is a product of the American car industry adhering to the hot rodders philosophy of taking a small car and putting a BIG engine in it. . . . The Muscle Car is Charles Atlas kicking sand in the face of the 98 horsepower weakling. Unconcerned with such trivial details as comfort and handling, the vintage American muscle car was built for straight-line speed and quickly became the ride of choice for power-hungry racers and serious gearheads. In a country where performance was measured in brute force, a quarter mile at a time, the muscle car was the perfect machine. In the intervening years, these down-and-dirty, high-performing beauties have earned their place in the automotive pantheon. As prized by collectors and aficionados as they are by denizens of garages and drag strips, classic muscle cars now fetch upwards of a million dollars at auctions and feature in any story of Americas automotive glory days. The icons of muscle car artincluding Camaro and Chevelle SS, the Hemi and 440-6 Cuda, Challenger, Roadrunner, Super Bee, GTX, Super Bird, Daytona Charger, Super Cobra Jet and Boss Mustang, Talladega Torino, Buick GSX and W30 Oldsmobile 442, and AMX Javelinare all here, on full display in this lavishly illustrated volume, each described in a detailed essay followed by a gallery of portraits and special gatefold presentations that capture the art of the muscle car at its finest.
Author : Terry B. Dunham
Publisher : Automobile Quarterly Publications
Page : 496 pages
File Size : 16,55 MB
Release : 1987
Category : Transportation
ISBN :
Author : David Temple
Publisher : CarTech Inc
Page : 210 pages
File Size : 14,74 MB
Release : 2015-01-15
Category : Transportation
ISBN : 1613251599
In an age of unbridled American enthusiasm and towering industrial might, the GM Motorama was a dazzling and elegant show that was unlike any automotive event before it or since. General Motors staged extravagant and elaborate Motorama shows that rivaled some fashion shows. It showcased some of the most revolutionary and innovative prototype and dream cars ever built. And it captured the imagination of the car-buying public from 1950 to 1961. Motorama expert and experienced author David Temple has comprehensively researched the show, the cars, and the personalities to create a fascinating new story with many new photos of these magnificent cars. Because television was in its infancy, GM's President Alfred Sloan believed that the Motorama was the most effective way to market GM products and design prowess. Legendary stylist Harley Earl led a talented group of designers and engineers to dream up, style, and develop some of the most remarkable prototype cars of all time. While current production Buick, Chevy, Cadillac, and Pontiac cars were showcased, the bold, radical, awe-inspiring prototype and dream cars stole the show. These included the GM Le Sabre, replete with aerospace design and an aluminum engine; the fiberglass-bodied Corvette dream car, which went into production after overwhelmingly positive response; and the jet engine-powered Firebird. Temple goes into fascinating detail on the body, frame, engine, drivetrain, and all the special features of each model. He has also retraced the ownership histories of some of these cars. Within the pages of this volume, you get to relive this glorious era of automotive history and revisit the advanced show cars that inspired so many new models. This book features fascinating period photography of Motorama cars at the show, in development, and at different locales. No other automotive show rivaled the Motorama for stunning productions and awe-inspiring cars, which makes this a must-have book.
Author : David W Temple
Publisher : CarTech Inc
Page : 193 pages
File Size : 18,2 MB
Release : 2016-05-16
Category : Transportation
ISBN : 161325234X
At 6-foot, 3-inches tall, Harley Earl was an imposing figure, but his true stature lies in his towering talent for automotive design and styling. Over his 50-year career, he created as well as collaborated on the most innovative, bold, technologically advanced cars made by General Motors. As a titan of American auto design, the cars he helped create are still celebrated today. And as an enduring legacy, he inspired a generation of engineers, designers, and stylists. Veteran automotive historian David W. Temple has researched and unearthed the complete story of Harley Earl’s cars, his notable design achievements, and many accolades. Working as a coachbuilder at his father's Earl Automotive Works in Hollywood, California, the young Earl learned his trade. After styling the 1927 LaSalle for GM president Alfred P. Sloan, Earl rose to prominence and ran the newly created department of Art and Color. Automobile design stagnated during the Depression and World War II, but the number of his contributions to the automotive world in the 1950s is staggering. When the jet age hit, he fully embraced aviation design and infused it into GM cars. The Buick Y-Job and GM Le Sabre featured many firsts in automotive design and hardware. The Y-Job's fender extensions trailing over the doors, disappearing headlamps, flush door handles, a metal cover over the convertible top were a few innovations. When General Motors needed to show off its cars and technology, Harley Earl-designed cars were the stars of the Motorama show that toured the country from 1949 to 1961. He led the team that created the 1953 Corvette, and this iconic American sports car is still going strong today. He was involved in the creation of the 1955-1957 Chevy Bel Air, otherwise known as the Tri-Five Chevy. Harley Earl's drive toward bold and innovative design spurred American car design during the mid-twentieth century. His distinctive designs defined the 1950s finned cars and set American automotive design on the path it has followed into the modern era. With this in-depth examination, you learn the inside story of these remarkable cars and the man behind them. It’s an essential addition to any automotive library.
Author : Charles R. Morris
Publisher : PublicAffairs
Page : 477 pages
File Size : 14,78 MB
Release : 2017-03-07
Category : History
ISBN : 1610395352
The Great Crash of 1929 profoundly disrupted the United States' confident march toward becoming the world's superpower. The breakneck growth of 1920s America -- with its boom in automobiles, electricity, credit lines, radio, and movies -- certainly presaged a serious recession by the decade's end, but not a depression. The totality of the collapse shocked the nation, and its duration scarred generations to come. In this lucid and fast-paced account of the cataclysm, award-winning writer Charles R. Morris pulls together the intricate threads of policy, ideology, international hatreds, and sheer individual cantankerousness that finally pushed the world economy over the brink and into a depression. While Morris anchors his narrative in the United States, he also fully investigates the poisonous political atmosphere of postwar Europe to reveal how treacherous the environment of the global economy was. It took heroic financial mismanagement, a glut-induced global collapse in agricultural prices, and a self-inflicted crash in world trade to cause the Great Depression. Deeply researched and vividly told, A Rabble of Dead Money anatomizes history's greatest economic catastrophe -- while noting the uncanny echoes for the present.
Author : Axel Madsen
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated
Page : 322 pages
File Size : 14,22 MB
Release : 1999
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN :
The roller-coaster life of the flamboyant creator of General Motors William C. Durant did big things the big way: he overreached, but, until his final failure, he picked up the pieces time after time to confound his competitors. From a turbulent childhood in the small town of Flint, Michigan, to his phenomenal success in creating General Motors, Durant's meteoric career easily rivals the success stories of modern legends like Ted Turner, Rupert Murdoch, and Bill Gates. With his trademark smile and personal charisma, Durant assembled General Motors in a few short years, buying companies at the rate of one every thirty days. Durant's deal-making artistry even tempted Henry Ford, and had Durant upped his acquisition price Ford would be a division of GM today. Durant's story illuminates the conflict between innovation and control of innovation -of the uneasy alliances struck again and again between inventors and their sources of capital. His years of heady success building General Motors were marked by epic struggles with bankers. But he depended on only a few sources of big money to finance his exploding business, and pitted himself against forces he underestimated or refused to consider. Gambling on a run on GM stock, he was finally forced into a buyout that ousted him from his role in the GM empire. Into the dramatic tale of this early twentieth-century mogul come the fascinating automotive pioneers -Henry Ford, David Buick, Charles Nash, Albert Champion, Louis Chevrolet, and Alfred P. Sloan. On Wall Street, J. P. Morgan turned down Durant's request for a loan while Pierre du Pont invested in Durant's expansion. Tracing the fortunes of a man and his era, The Deal Maker is a fast-paced, rousing tale of Durant's dizzying success and ultimate failure.
