Disclosure: I’m not a big car nut.
Sure, I learned during my years on the farm to change the oil, keep an eye on the gauges and how to use starter fluid into cold diesel engines.
But if someone talked about a Gremlin, I’d relate to the little monsters in the Steven Spielberg film, not AMC’s subcompact. And for years Mack would have been associated with a high-school buddy and not the semi tractor-trailer model.
Despite my rising but still-lukewarm appreciation for automobiles, I found “The Big Book of Car Culture” (320 pages, Motorbooks, $24.95) to be an immensely entertaining read. Subtitled “The Armchair Guide to Automotive Americana,” the book is lavishly illustrated with old photos, postcards and vintage advertisements — all in rich color. Each “chapter” is a concisely written two to four pages. Subject matters range from flamboyant roadside businesses (anyone remember “The Thing”?) to the seemingly mundane such as windshields, road-striping and odometers.
Jim Hinckley and Jon G. Robinson’s text achieves a balance of historical research and clear-headed analysis. In the chapter about interstate highways, they write:
While much has been written about the effect the interstate highway has had on mom-and-pop businesses, communities and American society as a whole, few travelers today want to truly relive the imagined glory days of the two-lane highway. In all honesty, this is the best of times, for we can take advantage of all the interstate has to offer and have the luxury of enjoying the non-generic past in small doses.
And their take on the 1969 film “Easy Rider” is the most thoughtful I’ve read. If nothing else, it will challenge the perception of it being just a druggy motorcycle movie.
The book contains the expected salutes to the Corvette, the ’57 Chevy, the ’65 Mustang and the GTO. But it also devotes some appreciation to so-square-they’re-cool models such as the Pacer and the Edsel. And you’d never think there’d be a chapter devoted to ice-cream trucks, but there it is.
“The Big Book of Car Culture” isn’t just for car nuts. For Route 66ers, it includes chapters about Wigwam Motels, Cadillac Ranch, The Big Texan Steak Ranch, the “Route 66” television series, and a slew of other images from the Mother Road.
For historic road fans, the book contains entries on U.S. 1, U.S. 101, U.S. 99, U.S. 12, the New Jersey Turnpike, Dixie Highway, Lincoln Highway and the Alcan Highway.
Recommended.