Table of Contents
Introduction xi
1 When Henry Met Sallie: Car Wars and Culture Clashes at the Dawn of America's Automotive Age 1
2 Zora, Zora, Zora: A Bolshevik Boy Escapes the Nazis and Saves the Great American Sports Car 31
3 The 1959 Cadillacs: Style, Status, and the Race for the Biggest Tail Fins Ever 57
4 Volkswagen's Beetle and Microbus: The Long and Winding Road from Hitler to the Hippies 81
5 The Chevy Corvair Makes Ralph Nader Famous, Lawyers Ubiquitous, and (Eventually) George W. Bush President of the United States 111
6 Turning a "Librarian" into a "Sexpot": The Youth Boom, the Sixties, and the Making of the Mustang 141
7 The Brief But Glorious Reign of John Z. DeLorean and the Pontiac GTO 163
8 Ohio Gozaimasu: Godzilla, Mr. Thunder, and How a Little Japanese Car Became America's Big Ichiban 191
9 The Chrysler Minivans: Baby Boomers Become Soccer Moms and a, um, Driving Force in American Politics 219
10 The BMW 3 Series: The Rise of the Yuppies and the Road to Arugula 241
11 The Jeep: From War to Suburbia, or How to Look Like You're Going Rock Climbing When You're Really Going to Nordstrom 265
12 The Ford F-Series: Cowboys, Country Music, and Red-Meat Wheels for Red-State Americans 289
13 An Innovative Car (the Prius), Its Insufferable Drivers (the Pious), and the Advent of a New Era 313
Afterword 341
Acknowledgments 347
Notes 349
Selected Bibliography 373
Index 377