Automotive Industry of America
Automotive Industry of America (Collectible First Edition)
The Definitive Industrial History of Detroit’s Golden Era, Assembly Line Supremacy, and Corporate Warfare
The Definitive Industrial History of Detroit’s Golden Era, Assembly Line Supremacy, and Corporate Warfare
Bibliographic Specifications
- Title: Automotive Industry of America
- Author / Editor: Compiled by Prestige Publications Editorial Board
- Publisher: Prestige Publications Inc, Southfield, Michigan
- Publication Date: 1979 (January 1)
- ISBN-10: None Issued / B0010GWILW (Amazon ASIN)
- Edition Details: First Edition, First Impression. Limited industrial registry printing.
- Binding: Hardcover with original publisher's heavy premium cloth boards, housed in the original illustrated dust jacket under a protective archive cellophane wrapper.
- Physical Format: Quarto Format (4to), comprehensively detailed with historic black-and-white factory floor photographs, original patent schematics, corporate timeline logs, and industrial production data charts.
- Language: English
Official Condition Report
-
The Book: Very Good (VG)
- Exterior / Boards: The original publisher's heavy industrial cloth boards are clean, firm, and uniform across all edges. The spine is completely straight, robust, tightly bound, and remains structurally undamaged with clear lettering.
- Interior: Exceptionally well-preserved. The interior text blocks, historical company rosters, and technical data plates are clean, crisp, clear, and fully intact. Free from previous owner names, corporate library ink stamps, highlighting, or dealer pencil notations.
- Protection: This specialized industrial chronicle has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far, now beautifully preserved in a professional, removable archival cellophane sleeve. [1, 2]
-
The Dust Jacket: Used – Very Good (VG)
- Condition: The original illustrated dust jacket is complete and unclipped. It exhibits some typical, limited signs of vintage storage-related edge wear, light surface rubbing, and small stress lines along the head and tail of the spine. It is free from large chips or deep tears and presents beautifully behind its protective archival cellophane cover.
Synopsis & Historical Value
Published in 1979 by Prestige Publications in Southfield, Michigan—the absolute heartland of American automotive power—Automotive Industry of America is a masterfully compiled, authoritative historical survey of the corporate empires that built the modern world. Moving far beyond simple vehicle catalogs, this volume traces the epic evolution of the automotive sector from backyard tinkerers and early carriage-shop experiments to the massive, high-volume transnational conglomerates of the late 20th century. The text delivers a deep-dive evaluation of foundational milestones: from Henry Ford’s pioneering assembly lines and early alternative material research (including his legendary 1940s "Soybean/Hemp Body Car" prototype) to General Motors' high-stakes boardroom platform sharing and the jet-age styling revolutions. Documenting the brutal corporate battles, post-war manufacturing booms, and economic milestones that transformed the American landscape, this out-of-print 1979 first edition serves as an essential primary-source reference archive for industrial archaeologists, business historians, and dedicated motoring bibliophiles.
Published in 1979 by Prestige Publications in Southfield, Michigan—the absolute heartland of American automotive power—Automotive Industry of America is a masterfully compiled, authoritative historical survey of the corporate empires that built the modern world. Moving far beyond simple vehicle catalogs, this volume traces the epic evolution of the automotive sector from backyard tinkerers and early carriage-shop experiments to the massive, high-volume transnational conglomerates of the late 20th century. The text delivers a deep-dive evaluation of foundational milestones: from Henry Ford’s pioneering assembly lines and early alternative material research (including his legendary 1940s "Soybean/Hemp Body Car" prototype) to General Motors' high-stakes boardroom platform sharing and the jet-age styling revolutions. Documenting the brutal corporate battles, post-war manufacturing booms, and economic milestones that transformed the American landscape, this out-of-print 1979 first edition serves as an essential primary-source reference archive for industrial archaeologists, business historians, and dedicated motoring bibliophiles.
Author Profile: Prestige Publications
Prestige Publications Inc was a highly specialized Michigan-based industrial publishing house and research collective active during the mid-to-late 20th century. Situated within the shadow of Detroit's "Big Three" world headquarters, the group gained unprecedented access to internal corporate archives, factory production logs, and veteran engineering personnel records. Renowned within industrial heritage circles for their uncompromising technical fidelity, thorough statistical verification, and exhaustive mapping of manufacturing lineages, their localized corporate monographs remain highly prized gold standards across academic research libraries and private transport history collections globally.
Prestige Publications Inc was a highly specialized Michigan-based industrial publishing house and research collective active during the mid-to-late 20th century. Situated within the shadow of Detroit's "Big Three" world headquarters, the group gained unprecedented access to internal corporate archives, factory production logs, and veteran engineering personnel records. Renowned within industrial heritage circles for their uncompromising technical fidelity, thorough statistical verification, and exhaustive mapping of manufacturing lineages, their localized corporate monographs remain highly prized gold standards across academic research libraries and private transport history collections globally.
automotive industry of america 1979, rare prestige publications southfield, vintage detroit automotive history, collectible american motor car corporations, classic manufacturing engineering first edition, timeless collectible books, antiquarian motoring books south africa #
