Title: Orphan Babies
Subtitle: America's Forgotten Economy Cars, Volume 1 1887 - 1927
Description: VOLUME 1 OF ORPHAN BABIES, America's Forgotten Economy Cars is the first encyclopedia solely dedicated to America's small cars built between 1887 and 1927. It is also the engaging story of Bobby, a thirteen-year-old Iowa boy who stumbles onto a treasure trove of rusting relics in and around a tumbledown garage. Bobby's curiosity and love of old cars quickly puts him at odds with the mysterious owner, a local recluse known to the kids as Crazy Zeke. It was during the sultry summer days of 1969, between his  seventh and eight years of formal education, that Bobby encountered the crusty old curmudgeon and his family of automotive oddities. In spite of the awkward introduction, the unlikely pair grew to understand and respect one another. They formed a partnership around a single goal: To restore Zeke's little American Austin coupe before summer's end. Meanwhile, Zeke schooled the youngster about his little cars. He lifted hoods and opened doors. He spoke of his deteriorating relics with a pride and passion usually reserved for tales of a parent's children. Bobby learned valuable lessons about cars--and life. Some of the tattered and torn vehicles engulfed in the weeds behind Zeke's garage looked more like big toys than little cars. Zeke called them cyclecars. A cyclecar was more than a motorcycle but less than an automobile. It was bare-bones, basic transportation--wheels, body and motor--about 36 inches wide. It looked something like a larger automobile that had been squeezed through a keyhole. The cyclecar idea was introduced in 1909 when a Frenchman named Maurice Barbeau built a long and slender car that resembled a canoe on four wheels. The combination of low price, low maintenance costs and simplicity made for an instant sensation. Between 1913 and 1915, approximately 200 cyclecar brands emerged in the United States. Nearly all were introduced by inventive entrepreneurs with dreams of becoming wealthy auto barons. The streets were crawling with Crickets and Dudly Bugs, Imps and Vixens, Eagles and Falcons, and many other makes. Without a doubt, ORPHAN BABIES contains more photographs and information about American-made cyclecars than any single book ever published. A PARTIAL LISTING OF CARS COVERED IN ORPHAN BABIES, VOLUME 1, 1887-1927: American Junior Red Bug; American Peugeot; Argo Motorvique; Auto Cyclecar; Autoette; Autogo; Autoped; Automatic Electric; Baby Dispatch Car; Baby Moose; Bicar; Bradford; Briggs & Stratton Red Bug/Flyer; BrownieKar; Brush; B.Z.T.; C.A.C.; California; Cameron; Car-Nation; Cavalier; Ceco; Chautauqua; Cleveland; Coey Bear; Coey Junior; Comet; Continental; Cotay; Crest; Cricket; Crosley Electric Buckboard; Crusader; Cub; Culver Racer; Cycleplane; Dayton; DeCross Cycar; Dile; Dodo; Dudly Bug; Duryea GEM; Eagle; Economycar; Elbert; Essex; Euclid; Falcon; Flagler; Ford Cyclecar; Ford Model N; Ford Model T; Ford Quadricycle; Frederickson; Fujioka; Gadabout; Galloway Joyland; General Motors "Mosquito"; Grant; Gray; Greyhound; Hanover; Holsman; Hoosier Scout; Hupmobile; IHC Auto Buggy; Imp; Imp II; Jeffrey; Keeton; Lane; La Vigne; Liberty: Lincoln Highway Roadster; Little; Little Detroit Speedster; Locomobile; Malcolm; Marathon Six; Marr; Martin Scootmobile; McEwin; Mercury Cyclecar; Merz; Metz; Michaelson; Morrison Electric; Motokart; Motorette; Moxiemobile; Curved Dash Oldsmobile; Orient Buckboard; Overland; O-We-Go; Pioneer; Princess; Puritan; Rayfield Cyclecar; R-C-H; Real; Rex; Ritz; Saginaw; Saginaw Speedster; Salvador; Saxon; Scripps-Booth Rocket; Sears Motor Car; Sheldon; Sheridan Commercial Car; Smith Flyer; Smith Motor Wheel; Smith Baby Comet Racer; Spacke; Standard Cyclecar; Star; Steco; Stevens; Stout Cyclecar; Tribune; Trumbull; Twin City; Twombly; Vixen; Ward; Whippet; Wichita Falls; Wing Midget; Woods Mobilette; Zip.
Subjects: Cyclecar, Crosley, antique car, small car, economy car, baby car
Places: Manson Iowa, Des Moines, Detroit
Time periods: 1887-1927