This is a collection of the best automotive writing to date, captures the joys of the automobile, the historical circumstances of its creation, and the major events, people, and cars involved.
The thrills and spills of car ownership. The storm breaks / Stephen King (Christine) ; What's a poor Volvo to do alone in the big city? / Warren Weith (Car and driver) ; A fiend goes foreign / Jane R. Bade (Motor trend) ; Come and see the wheel thing / David Morley (The age) ; What car shall I buy? and other cars our readers choose / Martin Bunn (Popular science monthly) ; Benefits conferred by the automobile / H.L. Barber (Story of the automobile) ; For women drivers only! / Jane Mitchell Clark (Motor trend) ; The last three months / William F. Nolan (Road & track) --^
Developing a vehicle and developing an industry. Slump and be happy / Ken Purdy (Ken W. Purdy's wonderful world of the automobile) ; Jeep CJ-7 Laredo : stone age technology in a microchip world / Steve Smith (Car and driver) ; Auto of the air / Henry Keck (Motor trend) ; New anger-powered cars may revolutionize the way we drive / anonymous (The onion) ; The real story behind the new Ford car / Edwin Ketchum (Popular science monthly) ; Bugatti type 57SC Atlantic coupe / David E. Davis Jr. (Automobile) ; Our most cherished possession / James Dalton (MoToR) ; PMD unplugged : the old broken-down piece of meat edition / Peter M. De Lorenzo (The autoextremist) ; A message from our chairman / Ted West (Road & track) ; Future of the automobile / Arthur Brisbane (Popular mechanics) ; What's a good name worth? / Alfred P. Sloan Jr. (MoTor) ; Noise, vibration, and harshness : the big three American auto companies / Jamie Kitman (Automobile) --^
Dream cars and dream trips. Excerpt from part 2 / Jack Kerouac (On the road) ; A Ferrari among friends / Jean Lindamood (Automobile) ; Old Caddy, big muddy / Peter Egan (Road & track) ; A private letter to Henry the Second / Steve Smith (Car and driver) ; It all boils down to this / Tom McCahill (The modern sports car) ; Relief at seventy / Gordon Baxter (Car and driver) -- The racing bug bites fast. 1971 : the race that shook the world / Brock Yates (Cannonball!) ; Lady driver / Chris McCall (Car and driver) ; There goes Tokyo / Scott R. Lear (Grassroots motorsports) ; Connecting highway / Joe Oldham (Muscle car confidential) ; An endurance run in truth was this / Anonymous (Popular mechanics) ; Zora's detour to Tours / Zora Arkus-Duntov (Road & track) ; Rick Hendrick changes the game / Peter Golenbock and Humpy Wheeler (Growing up NASCAR) ; Phil Hill / Robert Daley (The cruel sport) -- Law makers, law enforcers, and safety-- or lack thereof. Another day, another convertible--^
& another hotel full of cops / Hunter S. Thompson (Fear and loathing in Las Vegas) ; Safety measure : who needs them? / Jeremy Clarkson (Clarkson on cars) ; Winter driving made easy / P.J. O'Rourke (Car and driver) ; Auto theft is big business / J. Edgar Hoover (Motor trend) ; Frontline / Rowan Atkinson (CAR magazine) ; The driver's zoo / Margaret O. Hyde (Driving today & tomorrow) ; Driven to distraction / Jay Leno (Popular mechanics) ; It ain't summer, so drive accordingly / Jim Kenzie (Wheels.ca) ; Traffic court : the diary of an alleged perpetrator / Patrick Bedard (Car and driver) ; Speed limits waste life / L.J.K. Setright (The independent).