The business of speed
Subtitle: the hot rod industry in America, 1915-1990
By: David N. Lucsko.
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Baltimore
Language: eng
Number of pages: 343
ISBN-13: 9780801889905
Subjects: Hot rods -- United States -- History -- 20th century
Description: "David N. Lucsko provides the first scholarly history of America's hot rod business." "Lucsko examines the evolution of performance tuning through the lens of the $34 billion speed equipment industry that supports it. As early as 1910, dozens of small shops across the United States designed, manufactured, and sold add-on parts to consumers eager to employ new technologies as they tinkered with their cars. Operating for much of the twentieth century in the shadow of the Big Three automobile manufacturers - General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler - these businesses grew at an impressive rate, supplying young and old hot rodders with thousands of performance-boosting gadgets." "Lucsko supplies a rich and heretofore untold account of the culture and technology of the high-performance automotive aftermarket in the United States, thus offering a fresh perspective on the history of the automobile in America."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Faster flivvers, 1915-1927; title: Westward ho, 1928-1942; title: From hot rods to hot rodding, 1945-1955; title: The California hot rod industry, 1945-1955; title: OEM muscle, 1955-1970; title: Bolt-on power, 1955-1970; title: SEMA, 1960-1978; title: Ink-happy do-gooders, 1960-1978; title: This dreadful conspiracy, 1966-1984; title: The best of times, the worst of times, 1970-1990.