Wheels of Change: From Zero to 600 M.P.H: The Amazing Story of California and the Automobile Book

The making of California s dynamic car culture California is often seen as the land of freeways and bumper-to-bumper traffic, but the story of the state s long, enthusiastic involvement with the car has not been told. In Wheels of Change, historian Kevin Nelson brings to life the personalities that have helped shape this story, from engineering wizards to rebels without a cause to gearheads and salt-flat racers, and traces the narrative of a car culture unlike any other. Nelson begins with the car s initial glory days in California: the glamour Barney Oldfield brought to the early days of racing, the adventure and romance that Hollywood piled on, and the hot rods, drag racers, and custom cars that defined the postwar years. He points to designers like Harley Earl, the distinctive automobile stylist and designer of the Corvette, and the innovations developed by the design studios that dot Southern California today. And he documents the influence of the aircraft industry and shows how the early embrace of European sports cars and other imports changed the automobile in America forever. It is not possible to think of California without the influence of cars, nor can anyone imagine how the modern automobile would have developed without California. Always with his eye on the road, Nelson takes the reader on this ride without missing a detail or personality in the California car world. Collectors and enthusiasts will see this book as a treasure; and for everyone else it is a suspenseful tour of more than a century in a land where cars have created unimagined possibilities.Read More