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