Coast To Coast In A Brush Runabout 1908

Account of a transcontinental automobile trip in 1908 (the 17th officially recorded) by Florence M. Trinkle and her husband Fred A. Trinkle, a Denver, Colo. mechanic and automobile dealer (agent for Brush Runabout). Includes information on the Brush Runabout, including period advertisements.

In the first years of the twentieth century, motoring across the vast expanses west of the Mississippi was at the very least an adventure and at most an audacious stunt. As more motorists ventured forth, such travel became a curiosity and, within a few decades, commonplace. For aspiring western travelers, automobiles formed an integral part of their search for new experiences and destinations—and like explorers and thrill seekers from earlier ages, these adventurers kept records of their experiences. The scores of articles, pamphlets, and books they published, collected for the first time in Motoring West, create a vibrant picture of the American West in the age of automotive ascendancy, as viewed from behind the wheel. Documenting the very beginning of Americans’ love affair with the automobile, the pieces in this volume—the first of a planned multivolume series—offer a panorama of motoring travelers’ visions of the burgeoning West in the first decade of the twentieth century. Historian Peter J. Blodgett’s sources range from forgotten archives to company brochures to magazines such as Harper’s Monthly, Sunset, and Outing. Under headlines touting adventures in “touring,” “land cruising,” and “camping out with an automobile,” voices from motoring’s early days instruct, inform, and entertain. They chart routes through “wild landscapes,” explain the finer points of driving coast to coast in a Franklin, and occasionally prescribe “touring outfits.” Blodgett’s engaging introductions to the volume and each piece couch the writers’ commentaries within their time. As reports of the region’s challenges and pleasures stirred interest and spurred travel, the burgeoning flow of traffic would eventually and forever alter the western landscape and the westering motorist’s experience. The dispatches in Motoring West illustrate not only how the automobile opened the American West before 1909 to more and more travelers, but also how the West began to change with their arrival.

This comprehensive reference guide reviews the literature concerning the impact of the automobile on American social, economic, and political history. Covering the complete history of the automobile to date, twelve chapters of bibliographic essays describe the important works in a series of related topics and provide broad thematic contexts. This work includes general histories of the automobile, the industry it spawned and labor-management relations, as well as biographies of famous automotive personalities. Focusing on books concerned with various social aspects, chapters discuss such issues as the car's influence on family life, youth, women, the elderly, minorities, literature, and leisure and recreation. Berger has also included works that investigate the government's role in aiding and regulating the automobile, with sections on roads and highways, safety, and pollution. The guide concludes with an overview of reference works and periodicals in the field and a description of selected research collections. The Automobile in American History and Culture provides a resource with which to examine the entire field and its structure. Popular culture scholars and enthusiasts involved in automotive research will appreciate the extensive scope of this reference. Cross-referenced throughout, it will serve as a valuable research tool.

McConnell cuts through the fiction, legends, and industry-produced propaganda that have long surrounded the first transcontinental automobile trips as he relates long-lost personal accounts by pioneering travelers. 140 illustrations.

A collection of trivia about automobiles and the men behind them.