Paul Ingrassia - Engines of Change: A History of the American Dream in Fifteen Cars

There are many people who played critical roles in bringing Engines of Change to life, more than I can thank by name in the space allotted here. Im especially indebted to my very capable editor at Simon & Schuster, Ben Loehnen, and to his assistant, Sammy Perlmutter, for their interest in this book, as well as their guidance, help, and friendship. My agents Andrew Wylie and Scott Moyers (who has since left the Wylie Agency for Penguin Press) were incredibly supportive and resourceful. I have the highest regard for them both.

I gratefully acknowledge the help of many people who know and love automobiles. Among them are Hal Sperlich, Paul Lienert, Csaba Cera, Joe White, Jean Jennings, Bob Casey, Bob Lutz, Jerry Burton, Jerry Palmer, Jim Fitzpatrick, Carsten Jacobsen, Jack Harned, Larry Kinsel, Bud Liebler, Soichiro Irimajiri, Shin Tanaka, Bill Hoglund, Arv Mueller, Doug Scott, Steve Harris, and Steve Miller. Miles Collier was generous with access to the marvelous Collier Museum and Library. Mark Patrick, the Collier librarian, provided invaluable support. The wonderful people at the Detroit Public Librarys National Automotive History CollectionGina Tecos, Barbara Thompson, Patrice Merritt, Paige Plant, and otherswent beyond the call of duty to help me. I received generous help from knowledgeable public relations staffers at several car companies and advertising agencies: Tom Wilkinson at General Motors, Joe Tetherow at Toyota, Gualberto Ranieri at Chrysler, Ed Miller at Honda, Bill Collins at Ford, and Pat Sloan at DDB Worldwide. The Benson Ford Research Center at the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit provided access to its marvelous archives. Three of my close colleagues at Reuters who travel mostly by subway, Steve Adler, Stuart Karle, and Jean Tait, at least pretended to enjoy my favorite automotive anecdotes.

Several close friends provided ideas, encouragement, and hospitality on my research travels: Logan and Edrie Robinson, Keld and Jytte Scharling, Claus and Helga Hansen, Joe McMillan, and Gary and Leslie Miller. I was very fortunate to have had wonderful interviews with two key figures who, sadly, passed away during the course of my research. One was Don Frey, one of the fathers of the Ford Mustang, and the other was Chuck Jordan, who designed the 1959 Cadillacs with the tallest tail fins ever. Im sure they are cruising in their favorite cars somewhere above the clouds.

Finally there is my family: wife Susie; sons Adam, Charlie, and Daniel; grandson Jasper; brother Larry and sister-in-law Vicki; and Uncle Tony Ingrassia, the first journalist in the family.

The hardest part about writing this book wasnt deciding what cars to include. It was deciding what cars to leave out. My selections will disappoint some people, especially fans of iconic automobiles not included.

But this book isnt intended to be about great cars, fast cars, or famous cars, although it contains some of each. Instead its about the automobiles that have influenced how we live and think as Americans. The cars in this book either changed American society or uniquely captured the spirit of their time. By those criteria most cars, even those regarded as automotive icons, fall short.

Among them is the Chrysler Airflow, built from 1934 to 1937. It pioneered the use of streamline design in automobiles. But the Airflow was a commercial flop, and it is impossible to cite any broad impact that the car had on American life. The only two preWorld War II cars in this book are the Ford Model T and the LaSalle. Other important prewar cars existed, of course, but the pace of cultural and societal change in America accelerated only after the war.

Ed Coles 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air remains a classic car to this day, thanks to its beautiful and proportioned lines, art deco colors, and peppy small block V8 engine. It was an important automobile, but that isnt enough. The 57 Chevy didnt have the cultural impact of the tail-finned Cadillacs.

As for the Ford Thunderbird, Robert McNamaras decision to add a backseat enhanced the cars commercial success. In 1964 the Bird inspired a hit song, Fun, Fun, Fun by the Beach Boys. But the Thunderbird abandoned the American sports car arena to the Corvette, which uniquely reflected Americas renewed zest for life after the twenty-five-year trauma of Depression and war.

The Chevy Camaro is a favorite of boy racers and grown-up racers, but it began life as a belated, and slightly desperate, response to Fords success with the Mustang. The AMC Gremlin was a closer call, to my mind, because its ungainly ineptitude captured the feelings, frustrations, and failures of America in the 1970s.

Besides that, during the course of my research I ran across a couple of Gremlin stories I loved. One came from comedian Jon Stewart. He told me his first car was a 1975 Gremlin. He put a bag of limestone in the backseat to help provide traction on wet roads, and some of the limestone started spilling out of the bag. On the day of his high-school graduation, Stewart put his cat in the car to take it to the vet. The cat mistook the limestone for kitty litter. The smell probably outlived the poor cat.

The other story occurred at a display of classic cars at Greenfield Village near Detroit, where a man from Ohio displayed his Gremlin alongside beautifully restored Corvettes, Edsels, and bat-wing 1959 Chevy Impalas. But the lowly Gremlin drew a steady stream of admirers, including one middle-aged woman who revealed a piece of her family lore: that she had been conceived in the backseat of a Gremlin. Her parents must have been particularly lithe.

So why not the Gremlin? The lasting legacy of the 1970s was the beginning of the American revival that occurred in the 1980s, a story best captured by Hondas success in Ohio. Honda didnt start making cars there until 1982. But the planning began in the mid-1970s, and the motorcycle factory that was the precursor to the auto-assembly plant in Marysville launched production in 1979.

The 1986 Ford Taurus revolutionized American automotive styling with its sleek, curvy lines. But its hard to point to an impact the car had beyond that. The Toyota Camry has been a best-selling car for a couple of decades. But commercial success doesnt equate to cultural impact. One of my friends suggested including his high-school car, the Dodge Dart, which was ubiquitous in the 1970s. Obviously he had a deprived childhood.

I selected the fifteen cars here because each one left an enormous imprint on American life. In some cases their impact was palpable. The Model T Ford made America a mobile society and helped develop the American middle class. Other carsthe Volkswagen Microbus and the Chrysler minivans, among othershad a mostly symbolic impact. But symbols are part of the social glue that keeps a large and diverse nation together.

During the course of my research and writing, several friends have asked which car in this book is my personal favorite. Its a tough choice, and the best I can do is narrow it down to two.

One is the Ford Mustang. Im a baby boomer who loved the car from the minute it appeared, and it symbolizes America in so many ways. Mustang clubs exist in most countries around the world. The cars champion was Lee Iacocca, the son of immigrants, and a man whose success embodies the American dream. And forty years after the first Mustang appeared, the latest version of the car was developed by another son of immigrants, Vietnamese-American Hau Thai-Tang. His personal story is as compelling as the car itself.

Thai-Tang saw his first Mustang at a USO show for the American army in Saigon in 1971, when he was five. Four years later Saigon was about to fall to the Vietcong. Young Haus father had fought in the South Vietnamese army and his mother had worked for an American bank, which made the family a likely target for reeducation.