Great Cars of the Great Plains [Hardcover]

Curtis H. McConnell (Author), Curt McConnell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1995

Remember these slogans? "Built for Country Roads, Built for Country Loads!"-The Patriot Truck of Nebraska. "They Are Big and Long and Brown and Strong!"-The Luverne, from Minnesota. "No Road Too Rough, No Hill Too Tough!"-Kansas's Great Smith automobile. "Spaulding Cars First Because Spaulding Cars Last!"-Iowa's entry. "Nature Provides a Great Deal-But to Enjoy It, You Need a Moon!"-Moon Motors of Missouri. For a few years these cars were the pride of their communities and vied with dozens of other makers for a share of the burgeoning auto business. Between the development of the first automobiles in the 1890s and the shock of the Depression in the 1930s, there was a florescence of automobile manufacture throughout the United States as bicycle makers, carriage makers, and machinists tried their hands at making cars. Many produced only a few specimens before being rapidly "shaken out"-bankrupt, or turning their attention solely to repair work or parts manufacture. But many others struggled on, making cars, trucks, and other motorized vehicles for many years before abandoning their efforts. The stories of these firms are an under-appreciated thread in the history of American automobiles, and they are fascinating glimpses into the business, labor, and social history of the communities where the firms were based. In this book McConnell devotes a full chapter each to five early car makers from the upper midwestern states (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, and Nebraska). These firms produced for different market segments, and their activities reveal varying approaches to production and sales problems. The result is a volume that appeals to a broad audience interested in early automobiles,and one which will also interest historians of the communities and states involved, and business and industrial historians. "The things that make the auto industry so fascinating and interesting can be found in Great Cars of the Great Plains. In a simpler time, people with a passion for automobiles built unique vehicles focused on their customer needs-not a bad formula for success today. A great read!"-Robert A. Lutz, President, Chrysler Corporation. Curt McConnell is a Lincoln-based journalist and newspaper editor. On the same topic he has written "The Cars of Nebraska, " Horseless Carriage Gazette (1987).

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA- Prior to World War I, before Detroit became the center of the automobile industry, entrepreneurial types teamed with inventive craftsmen in widely scattered towns across the Midwest and began manufacturing vehicles independently. Teens will be drawn to the stories of these autos and trucks in this well-researched and well-written account of five of these early companies. As a bonus, they'll get a lively essay on the personalities of the enterprising founders, the social history of the communities involved, the development of advertising and sales techniques, and the reasons for the companies' demise. Photographs and line drawings are included. Recommended for car buffs and libraries supporting a curriculum dealing with the history of American business and industry.
Patricia Q. Noonan, Prince William Public Library, Manassas, VA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

We forget that in the salad days of the U.S. automotive industry there were far more companies than exist today, most of them coming to horseless-carriage making from horse-drawn carriage making, and certainly not all were located in Detroit--cars "were made everywhere." Copious research and a love for his subject stand behind McConnell's thorough, lively history of five auto companies that operated out of the Midwest in the early years of the century: Luverne of Minnesota, Moon of Missouri, Patriot of Nebraska, Smith of Kansas, and Spaulding of Iowa. This attractively illustrated volume is a sprightly read as the author analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of each company and the car it produced and each manufacturer's target consumer, advertising and sales tactics, and reasons for eventual disappearance from the marketplace. A book that will thrill car fanciers. Brad Hooper

Product Details

• Hardcover: 267 pages
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press; First edition. edition (March 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803231636
• ISBN-13: 978-0803231634
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,328,886 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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