Car manufacturers - USA: books - history and models

American Independent Automakers - AMC to Willys 1945 to 1960

This illustrated book examines the efforts of American car manufacturers outside the "Big Three" - including Kaiser-Frazer, Willys, Packard, Studebaker, Tucker, Nash, and Hudson - to stay competitive after World War II. These independent makers were first to launch all-new models in hopes of gaining market share and securing their future.

Alongside them, many small-scale designers - such as Cunningham, Fitch, Darrin, and Williams - sought to create the ideal American sports car. Others focused on compact and economical vehicles, like Davis, Allstate, Playboy, Crosley, and King Midget, but none achieved long-term success.
The book also covers unusual concepts such as steam-powered cars, microcars, three-wheelers, and flying cars, all aiming to capture postwar consumer interest.

Using period brochures, factory photos, and over 90 new colour images of restored vehicles - many previously unpublished - the book provides detailed captions and background text. It highlights each brand's innovations, distinctive design features, and the reasons they ultimately failed. This volume offers a comprehensive overview of a creative and ambitious period in American automotive history.

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Lost Car Legends: From Allstate to Zimmer - Notable Cars and Stories of America's Long-Shuttered Independent Auto Makers

An entertaining look at over 40 shuttered independent automakers from the past 75 years. From Allstate to Zimmer, noted automotive historian Pat Foster covers an incredible array of makers and their cars... and what variety there was!
There were tiny cars, electric cars, retro cars, luxury cars, commuter cars, sports cars. There were well-established companies with thousands of employees to sham companies with nothing but a good story.

Automakers covered include Allstate, Argonaut, AMC, Autoette, Avanti, Bricklin, Checker Motors, Citicar, Commutacar, Colt, Cord Automobile Company, Crosley Motors, Dale, Davis Motorcar Company, Excalibur, Fascination, Frazer, Freeway, Glassic, Henry J, Hudson, International Harvestor, Kaiser, King Midget, Markette, Mobs, Muntz Jet, Nash Motors, Packard, Playboy, Powell, Quantum, Rambler, Shay, Shelby, Stuart, Studebaker, Trivan, Tucker, Willys, Woodhill Wildfire, and Zimmer.

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Automobile Manufacturers of Cleveland and Ohio, 1864-1942

This comprehensive look at the heyday of automobile manufacturing in Ohio chronicles the region's early prominence in an industry that was inventing itself. More than 550 Ohio manufacturers are covered, from Abbott to Zent.
There are familiar marques, such as Jordan, Baker, Peerless, and White of Cleveland, along with Packard, Stutz, Crosley and Willys. Less well-known and forgotten automotive ventures, such Auto-Bug, Darling and Ben-Hur, are documented, although many never got beyond the concept stage.
Attention is given to the various ancillary industries, services and organizations which nurtured, developed with and, in many cases, survived the decline of Cleveland's automotive industry.

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The Indianapolis Automobile Industry - A History, 1893-1939

In 1893, Indianapolis carriage maker Charles Black created a rudimentary car - perhaps the first designed and built in America. Within 15 years, Indianapolis was a major automobile industry center rivaling Detroit, and known for quality manufacturing and innovation - the aluminum engine, disc brakes, aerodynamics, superchargers, and the rear view mirror were first developed there.
When the Indianapolis Motor Speedway opened in 1909, hometown manufacturers Marmon, Stutz and Duesenberg dominated the track. The author covers their histories, along with less well known contributors to the industry, including National, American, Premier, Marion, Cole, Empire, LaFayette, Knight-Lyons and Hassler.

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Chaparral: Can-Am Racing Cars from Texas

Few sports-racing cars have captured the imagination as did the Chaparrals. The menacing white machines from Texas oil country cut a swathe through American sports car racing in the 1960s, and even won at the Nürburgring and Brands Hatch.
Created by Jim Hall and Hap Sharp - and ultimately with the help of GM and Chevrolet - the Chaparrals pioneered such innovations in racing as the wing for aerodynamic down force and the automatic transmission.

Great photos from the author, Stanley Rosenthall, and Max Le Grand show the exotic Chaparrals at rest and in action. Photographs include the first front-engine cars, the 2, 2C, 2E and 2G sports-racers, the 2D and 2F endurance racecars, and the wildest of all, the 2H and 2J - the first car to use a fan to generate suction down force.
The book is a rare treat for fans of the exciting and popular Can-Am racing series.

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The Dual-Ghia

This is the story of one man's obsession with a concept car that made his dream of building cars a reality. But as they say, beware of what you wish for. Dreams are often fleeting.

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The Lexington Automobile - A Complete History

Lexington, a smaller marque that twice won the famous hill climb at Pikes Peak, produced its first car in 1909 in its namesake city of Lexington, Kentucky. Although little has heretofore been written about the Lexington, and no company financial records survive, the manufacturer's story is fascinating and unique.
Lexington, for example, was a leader in the use of color in magazine advertising and factory literature, and the company used advertisements to support contemporary issues like women's suffrage.
Paralleling manufacturing trends of today, Lexington relocated to Connersville, Indiana, in 1910, with promised municipal perks such as new, advanced facilities, free water, and no local taxes for five years.

From incorporation to financial insolvency in 1926, this is the first book to offer the complete story of the Lexington Motor Company as well as the related Howard and Ansted cars.
Detailing company history within the context of the American industrial revolution, it follows the upstart manufacturer from initial choice of property, factory design and name selection, through relocation, World War I, ventures into auto racing, and finally a takeover by Auburn in 1927.

It also offers detailed automotive specifications and options, and includes information on surviving Lexingtons. This comprehensive text includes over 240 photographs depicting the communities, cars and people associated with the Lexington.

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The Marvelous Mechanical Designs of Harry A. Miller

Harry A. Miller designed racing cars that were among the finest of the golden age of American auto racing for nearly two decades. What are less well known are Miller's passenger cars, and boat and aircraft engine designs, some of them extremely successful, some of them bizarre.

This book portrays Miller's racing cars of the glorious roaring twenties along with his speedboat and aircraft engines - even his design for a high-speed combat vehicle engine. Seen are his advanced Miller-Fords of 1935 and the radical Gulf-Miller cars of 1938-1941.
An exciting collection of photos of the work of one of America's mechanical geniuses, along with commentary on Miller's work by highly regarded auto racing historian Gordon Eliot White.

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Charles Clifton of Pierce-Arrow - A Sure Hand and a Fine Automobile

As head of Pierce-Arrow in its formative years, Colonel Charles Clifton played a significant role in the development of a venerated automobile manufacturer. Roundly respected in his time, Clifton was a force in automobile trade associations for nearly a quarter century but slipped into undeserved obscurity after his death in 1928.

This biography covers Charles Clifton's role in the earliest conflicts and achievements of the American automobile industry and the growth of the Pierce-Arrow company, using industry publications and periodicals of the time as well as recollections of his associates and contemporaries.
It details his wider importance in shaping the industry itself, especially his role in the controversies surrounding the Selden patent and the patent cross-licensing agreement between auto manufacturers. The impact of World War I on the industry and Clifton's activities responding to the vast operational changes the war brought about conclude the book.

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