Bøger af Alan Naldrett

Detroit had a lot of competition to become THE Motor City. Ten years prior, Cleveland would undoubtedly have won the crown, with its many car and car parts makers in the city.Even before then, the East Coast of the U.S. were the first states with car companies--including steam and electric cars. Detroit had the first auto show and many other factors-Ransom Olds, Henry Ford, and the Milwaukee Junction-that helped it become the Motor City.

Many automobile innovations taken for granted by drivers, such as the steering wheel, power brakes, and even fiberglass bodies, were started by car companies no longer in business. There are far more companies that failed than there are surviving car companies around the world today. Hudson, Packard, Pierce-Arrow, REO, Oldsmobile, and many others, invented many automotive options that are now standard equipment today. Learn about the hundreds of car companies that once existed around America!

It is unimaginable to picture whole cities burning, much less whole counties, but that was the case in 1871, and then remarkably, ten years later again in 1881. The whole Michigan Thumb suffered two disastrous fires. The Thumb Fire of 1881 brought the American Red Cross to the first major disaster they brought relief to. The combination of the two fires marked the end of the lumber industry in the Thumb and the clearing of the land for agriculture. But that was the only benefit, as each fire brought over 200 dead, tens of thousands homeless, and thousands suffering burns, inhalation, smoke blindness, and more from the fires.

Detroit might have the most diverse range of mayors of any big city. Detroit's mayors include Charles Bowles, who it only took seven months for the voters to recall after he started his term (he had ties to gangsters and the Ku Klux Klan), to Hazen Pingree and Frank Murphy, considered two of the best big-city mayors ever.This history of Detroit's mayors includes the history of the city as well. Read about early industries of the city including shipping, stove-making, and bootlegging. Mayors of Detroit included a furrier, an optician, a meat marketer, tobacco and beer dealers, malt makers, shoemakers, milliners, automakers, lawyers, bankers, engineers, and candy story owners. Meet mayors like Coleman Young, who told criminals to "Hit 8 Mile," the city's boundary, and Dave Bing, all-star basketball player. Read the text messages that were the beginning of the end for Kwame Kilpatrick and find out why Mayor J. Couzens got himself kicked off the streetcars. Learn about Detroit life in the early days-baseball games at the Riverfront Park, picnicing on Belle Isle, and reading books like this one from the Detroit Public Library! These and many other city tales await you-turn the page!

Independent Car Companies of the USA is a state by state history of American car companies. Chock full of stories, information, charts and vintage pictures, Independent Car Companies of the USA is a valuable resource for researchers, car enthusiasts, and historians.