Car Crazy: The Battle for Supremacy between Ford and Olds and the Dawn of the Automobile Age

by G. Wayne Miller Narrated by Don Hagen

Overview

In Car Crazy, G. Wayne Miller, author of Toy Wars: The Epic Struggle Between G.I. Joe, Barbie, and the Companies That Make Them and Men and Speed: A Wild Ride through NASCAR's Breakout Season, takes listeners back to the wild and wooly years of the early automobile era-from 1893, when the first U.S.-built auto was introduced, through 1908, when General Motors was founded and Ford's Model T went on the market. The motorcar was new, paved roads few, and devotees of this exciting and unregulated technology battled with citizens who thought the car a dangerous scourge of the wealthy which was shattering a more peaceful way of life. As the machine transformed American culture for better and worse, early corporate battles for survival and market share transform the economic landscape. Among the pioneering competitors are: Ransom E. Olds, founder of Olds Motor Works, inventor of the assembly line (Henry Ford copied him), and creator of a new company called REO; Frederic L Smith, cutthroat businessman who became CEO of Olds Motor Works after Olds was ousted in a corporate power play; William C. "Billy" Durant of Buick Motor Company (who would soon create General Motors), and genius inventor Henry Ford. The fiercest fight pits Henry Ford against Frederic Smith of Olds. Olds was the early winner in the race for dominance, but now the Olds empire is in trouble, its once-industry leading market share shrinking, its cash dwindling. Ford is just revving up. But this is Ford's third attempt at a successful auto company-and if this one fails, quite possibly his last. So Smith fights Ford with the weapons he knows best: lawyers, blackmail, intimidation, and a vicious advertising smear campaign that ultimately backfires. Increasingly desperate, in need of dazzling PR that will help lure customers to his showrooms, Smith stages the most outrageous stunt of the era: the first car race across the continental United States, with two of his Olds cars. The race pits the dashing writer Percy Megargel, a wealthy New Yorker, against Everyman mechanic Dwight B. Huss, a sturdy Midwesterner-men who share a passion for adventure and the new machine. Covered breathlessly by the press and witnessed by thousands in the communities they pass through, Megargel and Huss encounter marvel, mishap, conflict, and danger on their wild 3,500-mile race from Manhattan to Portland, Oregon, most of it through regions lacking paved roads-or any roads at all...Meanwhile, the Ford/Smith battle develops in the newspapers and courtroom dramas. Its outcome will shape the American car industry for a century to come. Car Crazy is an exciting story of popular culture, business, and sport at the dawn of the twentieth century, filled with compelling, larger-than-life characters, each an American original.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

“A chronicle of the frantic, ultracompetitive, and heroic early days of automobile manufacturing... Buoyant and charming…Capturing the energy and ambition of a time when optimism in the American spirit was unparalleled, Miller also shows that despite the car's profound effect on American culture, it was not the modern panacea some predicted. A must for car lovers and plenty of interesting material to keep other curious readers flipping pages.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Does the best job of teaching you everything about the 1st decade of American car-making (1900 – 1910) that I think we are ever likely to get. If you want to learn how the Ford, Olds, Reo, Chevrolet, Buick and GM got started, this book is indispensable. It's really that good.” —Jesse Bowers, Just a Car Guy

"Should fan your enthusiasm for automobile history." —Examiner.com

"This is a story rich with corporate war, courtroom drama, world-record racing, and larger-than-life characters—in particular Henry Ford, who was not just a mechanical and business genius, but one of America's original speed demons.” —Jack Roush, founder and CEO of Roush Fenway Racing, the NASCAR team

“Wayne Miller's Men and Speed, about the historic NASCAR season when Dale Earnhardt died, is a sports classic. In Car Crazy, he takes us back to the birth of auto racing when Henry Ford, Barney Oldfield, and other greats risked life and limb—their own and spectators'—in pursuit of money and glory. Some things never change. A must-read for all sports fans.” —Bill Reynolds, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Success Is a Choice with Rick Pitino, coauthor of Basketball Junkie with Chris Herren, and author of Fall River Dreams

"With the combination of his historian's eye and a unique, cinematic-style approach to storytelling, Wayne Miller has written an exciting page-turner. With a rag-tag cast of underdogs, death-defying spectacles and thrilling courtroom drama, Car Crazy is a must-read book that explores the against-all-odds survival of the American automotive industry in its infancy." —Danny Strong, Emmy-winning screenwriter of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Parts 1 and 2, and Lee Daniels' The Butler

“The dawn of the auto age brought with it conflict, controversy, fear and excitement as ably illustrated in G. Wayne Miller's book… Simultaneously tracking several threads of the story of early automobiles, Miller reveals business and legal battles, engineering and mechanical innovations, endurance races over destructive terrain, and the social impact of the car… Several of the people who comprise these threads of Miller's history would make likely movie subjects… [a] lively book with implied lessons about our own time.” —Providence Journal

"Absolutely extraordinary... Get this book! It is very, very readable. Fascinating." —LLewellyn King, host of PBS' White House Chronicle

"Fascinating... It was a time of off-the-wall characters, eager-to-corner markets and run competitors off the road. We meet the ruthless Frederic Smith, the CEO of Olds Motor Works, and, of course, Ford." —Newport Mercury

“Engrossing and well-written, Miller's study of the cultural impact of the automobile is also a testament to the elements of the vehicle that car enthusiasts find endearing. This work will attract fans of motor sports as well as entrepreneurs and anyone interested in the power of technology to enact social change.” —Library Journal

Library Journal

10/01/2015
Miller (Toy Wars; King of Hearts) looks at the impact on tradition, national infrastructure, legal precedent, and cultural change affected by the introduction of the automobile into America's landscape, detailing the battle for brand recognition and sales dominance that existed between car manufacturers such as Ford and Oldsmobile in the early 1900s. Contrasting car makers that embraced the freedom and power of the car against those that saw elegance and ease of use as an opportunity to profit greatly, Miller demonstrates the impact the burgeoning industry had on American society and laws. Offering engaging asides, the author shows how the cultural divide between those who were auto aficionados and others who were not led to antagonism, occasional violent outbursts, and ultimately a redefinition of societal norms and legal standing. VERDICT Engrossing and well-written, Miller's study of the cultural impact of the automobile is also a testament to the elements of the vehicle that car enthusiasts find endearing. This work will attract fans of motor sports as well as entrepreneurs and anyone interested in the power of technology to enact social change.—Elizabeth Zeitz, Otterbein Univ. Lib., Westerville, OH

Kirkus Reviews

2015-09-03
A chronicle of the frantic, ultracompetitive, and heroic early days of automobile manufacturing. The turn of the 20th century witnessed some of the most profound technological advances in human history. Chief among them was the development of the automobile as a mass-produced consumer product. Beginning with the first commercial enterprise founded by brothers Charles and J. Frank Duryea in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1893, Americans quickly grew infatuated, skeptical, and outright hostile to this novel contraption. In his buoyant and charming narrative, Miller (Drowned: A Different Kind of Zombie Tale, 2015, etc.) sets the foundation for the American century by charting the intense competition, rivalries, successes, and failures of the early automotive industry. The author profiles many of the titans and personalities of the era such as Henry Ford, Oldsmobile founder Ransom Olds and his famed Curved Dash, General Motors creator William C. Durant, driver Barney Oldfield, and others. Aside from the industrial upheaval caused by auto manufacturing, Miller also highlights the drastic social changes it caused. Catering to young adventurers and the wealthy elite, mostly from urban centers, the automobile inspired enthusiast groups like the League of American Wheelmen all across the country. Not all reactions were positive. Rural communities, dependent on horses, viewed the new mode of transportation as a direct affront to their way of life and threatened to sabotage cross-country racers passing through their towns. From cottage industry to mass-production assembly lines, the development of the automobile represents a quintessentially American story of industrial capitalism and the fiercely driven personalities that carved their fortunes and legacies out of seemingly nothing. Capturing the energy and ambition of a time when optimism in the American spirit was unparalleled, Miller also shows that despite the car's profound effect on American culture, it was not the modern panacea some predicted. A must for car lovers and plenty of interesting material to keep other curious readers flipping pages.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170405541
Publisher:	Ascent Audio
Publication date:	12/01/2015
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos