Car Stories Archives - Women & Cars

An SAH Car Story.

Posted on March 21, 2026March 21, 2026by Chris Lezotte

We all have a car story. As the newly elected president of the Society of Automotive Historians, I was asked to share mine. Here’s what I wrote:

Over the past 50+ years, newly elected SAH presidents have used the opportunity of the SAH Journal ‘President’s Perspective’ to introduce themselves to the SAH membership. As I looked over past Journal issues in preparation for this task, I was, frankly, very much overwhelmed by the wealth of automotive knowledge and experience shared by past presidents over the years. I am honored and somewhat intimidated to follow such a respected and accomplished group of automotive historians.

*My freshly washed 1970 VW Beetle. At $2293 out the door, its only options were a radio and crank sunroof.*

As for my own automotive history, I was born in Detroit. My maternal grandfather was one of thousands of Polish immigrants who came to this country in the early twentieth century for employment in the auto factories; he spent the most of his life working on the line at the Dodge Main Plant in Hamtramck. My mother, as was the practice of immigrant families at the time, never learned to drive. Consequently, when my father died unexpectedly when I was nine, we were without a car until my brother turned 16 four years later. We went through a series of sibling-shared automobiles; I learned to drive on a used 1960 Corvair [three-on-the-floor] followed by a 1964 Tempest [three-on-the-tree]. My instructors were my oldest brother, a Detroit police officer, who patiently accompanied me as I ground gears driving around a local high school parking lot, and my brother-in-law, who let me practice shifting on his Falcon family station wagon. On my twenty-first birthday I purchased my first car, a brand new 1970 Volkswagen Beetle, the vehicle of choice for financially strapped Wayne State University commuters like me. That red Bug began a lifelong love affair with German automobiles, which have included two Beetles, two Audis, a Scirocco, a Rabbit, a GTI, and two Golf Rs.

*A much younger me pictured on the right, shooting a commercial for the Buick Regal in 1982.*

Thus, unlike my predecessors, I came to the SAH by a rather unconventional route. I did not grow up with an interest in cars; I do not have an encyclopedic knowledge of automobiles; I do not have a background in the history of anything, much less automotive history. My interest in the automobile, in fact, came simply by chance. When I entered graduate school after a career in advertising, while enrolled in a class titled ‘Gender, Technology, and Pop Culture,’ I discovered that the subject of women and cars had not received much attention in scholarship. As I was looking for my academic ‘niche,’ I decided that my Motor City upbringing, coupled with my experience writing car commercials, could serve as the foundation for this new direction. I started writing and publishing journal articles and attending academic conferences to receive feedback on my work. It was at one of these conferences, put on by the Popular Culture Association, that I met Carla Lesh, who suggested I join the Society of Automotive Historians. The rest, as they say, is [automotive] history.

*My PhD dissertation committee, after my successful defense of “Have You Heard the One About the Woman Driver: Chicks, Muscle, Pickups, and the Reimagining of the Woman Behind the Wheel”*

As I met more people in the SAH, at conferences and through my local Leland Chapter, I decided I wanted to become more involved in the organization. Once again, Carla served as an impetus, convincing me to run for the board. Although it took me two tries to succeed, once elected I quickly took on whatever was asked of me. Painfully shy, I preferred to work behind the scenes, chairing the Awards Committee, Brick and Mortar Working Group, and serving on the Brigham Awards Panel. After conducting research at the IMRRC and presenting at Watkins Glen, I also became involved in Argetsinger Symposium planning. When asked to run for Vice President, I initially refused, believing I did not have the temperament nor automotive provenance to serve. However, after persistence from a few longtime members [you know who you are], I decided to give it a shot, which eventually led to my election as SAH president. So here I am.

Now that I am in office, I am fortunate to have fellow officers and a board of directors eager to take on the formidable task of moving the SAH forward – perhaps kicking and screaming – into the twenty-first century. As a team we endeavor to make the SAH more accessible, to provide timely communications, and to encourage member participation. In addition, our hope is to expand the SAH’s reach, to welcome those – much like me – outside the traditional confines of ‘automotive historian.’

*In my role as Awards Chair, presenting at the SAH annual banquet*

Since taking office in October, a monthly newsletter has been instituted, and an Executive Committee has been formed to address pressing SAH issues. Future objectives for the organization include restructuring the publications committee to accommodate new media as well as to develop a timely and attainable publication schedule, establishing a finance committee to oversee the organization’s financial health, planning, and accountability, and to begin the transition of SAH publications to digital. In addition to the Awards Banquet and Hershey in the fall, there are also plans in the works to co-sponsor a seminar in conjunction with the Studebaker National Museum 2026 Concours d’Elegance at Copshaholm weekend this summer.

As I begin my term, I want to express my appreciation to the membership for entrusting me with the leadership of this organization. And lest I forget, thank you especially to Carla Lesh, as well as all the others who have supported and encouraged me to become a part of the Society of Automotive Historians.

Car Culture Car Stories Women & Car Advertising

Ladies and Buicks

Posted on February 28, 2026March 6, 2026by Chris Lezotte

Curbside Classic promotes itself as collector of automotive stories. Relying on contributions from its subscribers, the online publication assembles donated photographs of classic cars to construct “a living time capsule of collective knowledge, experiences, and history.”

Woman in blue pictured with 1955 Buick Roadster 4-door sedan
[Curbside Classics photo]

A Curbside Classics story that recently caught my eye was titled ‘Ladies and Buicks: 1950s Style.’ It included a number of photos of well-dressed suburban women posed next to their Roadmasters, Rivieras, Centurys, and Special Deluxe Tourback sedans. As one who worked on the Buick account during the mid-eighties, with the assignment to reconfigure the Regal into the ‘women’s car,’ I was intrigued by how – 30 years earlier – women had claimed the ‘doctor’s car’ as their own.

During the 1950s, Buick’s primary market was the aspiring middle and upper-middle class American consumer. Positioned in the General Motors lineup just one rung below the luxurious Cadillac, Buick was an attractive choice for professionals, managers, and business owners. Symbolizing success without ostentation, Buick appealed to doctors, lawyers, executives, and mid-level corporate managers.

Lady and dog in grey and white with matching 1954 Buick Riviera 2-door hardtop
[Curbside Classics photo]

While Buick advertising most often centered on the male breadwinner, it increasingly acknowledged women as influential decision makers in the home, particularly where budgets were concerned. The move to the suburbs in the post war era resulted in the increased presence of women behind the wheel. Consequently, automakers promoted automotive features they believed were important to women drivers, such as automatic transmissions, power steering, and power brakes. These features were often framed as making the car easier and more comfortable for the woman driver. Advertising marketed toward men, on the other hand, was more likely to emphasize power and performance.

The ladies pictured alongside their Buicks in the Curbside Classic story are fashionably dressed, often in outfits that complement the car. The relationship between automobiles and fashion in these photographs is not just a coincidence; during the 1950s, women’s fashion was an important influence on automotive design. As Richard Martin argues, “Not only were the ideas expressed in these two arts [fashion and auto design] alike, so, too was the very timing of the style changes.”

Woman in white with turquoise 1954 Riviera 2-door hardtop
[Curbside Classics photo]

Harley Earl, widely considered the father of modern automotive design, fundamentally transformed automotive styling in the United States. Employed by General Motors from the late 1920s to the 1950s, Earl elevated styling from a secondary consideration to a central driver of automobile sales and brand identity. The GM Art and Colour Section, established by Earl in 1927, was the first formal automotive design studio in the industry. Color was placed alongside form as a core element of vehicle design. Paint was planned simultaneously with body styling, rather than applied after engineering decisions. Designers – much like those in the fashion and interior design industries – studied color harmony, fashion trends, and consumer tastes. And while Earl was perhaps best known for his influence on exterior styling, as Hemmings writer David Conwell notes, “the designer replaced the engineer on the inside as well.” Interiors, upholstery, dashboard finishes, and exterior paint were coordinated into complete color schemes. In essence, Earl helped establish the idea that color could shape how a car looked, how it expressed status, and how consumers connected with it emotionally. Paint schemes became tools for emphasizing form, communicating brand identity, and encouraging consumers to view the automobile as a fashionable object. Earl was the first to employ female designers – referred to as the “Damsels of Design” – to shift the automotive focus from purely mechanical performance to [female] user experience and aesthetics.

As historian Robert Tate asserts, during the 1950s, “automakers observed that fashionable colors and accessories were bringing more women into dealerships.” Thus automotive color design – shaped in part by the styling practices of designers such as Earl – became closely tied to gendered marketing strategies. Postwar cars were often produced in pastels and fashion-inspired colors; advertising often implied these colors would appeal to women because they resembled fashion palettes, harmonized with suburban homes and lifestyles, and softened the car’s mechanical image. As automakers acknowledged women’s influence in consumer decisions, 1950s advertising encouraged women to view the car not just as transportation, but as another designed element of the modern household.

Women in red plaid jacket next to red 1953 Super 2 door Riviera hardtop
[Curbside Classics photo]

The photographs in the Curbside Classic collection demonstrate the influence of women’s fashion on automotive style. They also reflect how women, pleased with their automotive choices, often clothed themselves in coordinating ensembles to express their newfound relationship with the car.

Baron, Rich. “Ladies and Buicks: 1950s Style in Vintage Photos.” curbsideclassics.com Feb 26, 2026.

Conwill, David. “GM’s Art & Colour Section Put Interiors Front and Center” hemmings.com July 3, 2024.

Martin, Richard. “Fashion and the Car in the 1950s.” Journal of American Culture 20 (3) Fall 1997.

Tate, Robert. “The Influence of Women Consumers on Automotive Design” Motorcities.org March 22, 2023.

Car Culture Car Stories

December to Remember

Posted on December 31, 2025December 31, 2025by Chris Lezotte

Every year around this time, Lexus runs a version of its ‘December to Remember’ Christmas commercial. Originally designed as an end-of-year promotion, the spot features a ‘heartwarming’ holiday story, which invariably ends with the unveiling of a shiny new Lexus wrapped in a big red bow. Considered a ‘cornerstone of Lexus marketing,’ the campaign has run for over 25 years; its obsequious presence has been parodied to great effect on Saturday Night Live. Although the commercial has never encouraged me to put a Lexus on my gift list, it did make me wonder if not a Lexus, what automobile would I love to find under my Christmas tree?

I have been fortunate in my later years to be able to own the automobiles I admire. But that wasn’t always the case. When I was younger I used to imagine myself behind the wheels of cars that were very much unattainable, which made them all the more desirable. So I thought it would be fun, in the spirit of the holiday, to remember the cars that I would have loved to have received for Christmas, or any other time of year.

When I was in college, driving my rusting VW Beetle, I would gaze longingly at the occasional Triumph TR6 convertible that passed me on the highway. With its distinctive wedge shape and Lichfield Green exterior, it was, to my mind, the iconic sports car. Its impracticality for Michigan winters never crossed my mind. I only imagined my younger self with the top down, leaving beat up VWs in the dust. Unfortunately my infatuation with the Triumph led me to eventually purchase a similar vehicle – a Fiat Spider convertible – which was a disaster of a car. So much for that dream.

The 1960s and 70s romanticized the vagabond hippie life. Although I was as straight arrow as they come, I thought it would be fun to own a VW Westfalia Camper and spend the summer touring the USA. Since I had to work to put myself through school that was never an option, but it didn’t stop me from thinking about the possibility. I had an opportunity to drive a VW bus when visiting California, and with the engine in the back, the lack of a hood coupled with the right-on-the-road experience of driving took some getting used to. Unfortunately I got in a bit of an accident with the bus which put a bit of a damper on my desire to own the ‘box on wheels.’

As a fan of Volkswagens, I always imagined trading in my Bug for a sporty Karmann Ghia. One of the single female co-workers at my first full time job had one, and it seemed to represent freedom and fun, something that was lacking in my newly [and short lived] married life. As noted on a classic car site, the Karmann Ghia was an instant success when it was first introduced, especially among ‘starry-eyed Americans who wanted to cruise around in something cool.’ As I was neither stylish nor cool, nor did I have the funds to achieve such status, I continue to pine after my co-worker’s Karmann Ghia as I watched my VW slowly rust away.

The 1978 Vietnam drama Coming Home featured Jane Fonda driving a 1957 Porsche 356 Speedster. Fonda’s character, Sally Bender, acquired the Speedster while her US Marine husband was deployed. When in California on a commercial shoot around the same time, I had the opportunity to see a similar vehicle up close and personal. As one of the crew members pulled up in the classic vehicle, I was star struck. by its simplicity and timeless design. Nearly 60 years later, my heart still goes a flutter whenever I come across a Speedster at a car show.

Christmas has come and gone, and unsurprisingly, there was no gift-wrapped automobile waiting for me. But it’s fun to remember the cars that I wished for so very long ago.

Happy Holidays, and may your car wishes come true.

Car Stories

Family Cars

Posted on December 18, 2025December 19, 2025by Chris Lezotte

In a recent article in Curbside Classic – a popular automotive blog for devotees of older cars – a contributor creates an ‘auto’ biography out of the cars of his childhood. The author, who could be described as a bona fide auto aficionado – not only recalls the make, model, year, and color of each car that made its way into his driveway, but calls upon the family automobile to recall the everyday events of his young life. This recollection cause me to think about my own family automotive history, which, as it turns out, couldn’t be further removed of that of the man who ‘grew up loving cars.’

Although I grew up in Detroit during the Golden Age of Car Culture, I was aware of cars in only a general sense. I remember being able to recognize the makes of cars quite easily; the ‘planned obsolescence’ of the 1950s, which resulted in new and distinctive designs every model year, made it possible distinguish one auto manufacturer from another without having an extensive automotive background. Games of ‘I spy’ during family road trips also gave me an awareness of the different car makes and models. However, in terms of our family cars, my memory is quite shaky, most likely because there was a significant amount of time when we as a family didn’t have a car at all.

I remember the first car that we owned was a 1950ish Kaiser which was dark green in color. At some point it was traded in for a 1951 or 1952 light green Oldsmobile. I don’t recall much about these cars other than they were roomy enough to hold two adults and three squirmy kids. We took this car on trips to Camp Dearborn for picnics and to a rented cottage on Lake Avalon, one of Michigan’s many inland bodies of water. However, the car I remember most from this era didn’t belong to us at all, but to my oldest brother. When we ventured on a road trip to Texas, with my cigar-smoking grandfather in tow, my brother allowed us to use his brand spanking new fire engine red 1957 Oldsmobile. That was a fun ride.

In the winter following the Texas trip, my father died, leaving us carless as my mother never learned to drive. Consequently we spent the next five years bumming rides and relying on public transportation until my brother turned 16. My mother purchased a 1960 white Ford Fairlane – why and from who I don’t know. My brother drove the Fairlane until he totaled it driving down our neighborhood street. My mother replaced that car with a 1960 Corvair which was the car I learned to drive on. I was able to get a driver’s permit at 15 with the stipulation that an adult was present in the car while I was driving. This requirement made absolutely no sense, as my non-driving mother and very nervous was appointed to make sure I was competent behind the wheel. I remember my mother grimacing and holding onto the door handle tightly whenever my gear shifting was less than perfect. It is no wonder that I never became a confident driver.

At some point the Corvair was replaced with a 1964 Pontiac Tempest, no doubt selected by my brother for its resemblance to a GTO. That was the car I shared with my brother until he purchased a 1967 VW Beetle on his 21^st birthday. My mother knew nothing about cars; consequently, she concluded if she paid for insurance and gas we were good to go. The cars were never maintained properly; the muffler on the Tempest was replaced only after I received a ticket for excessive noise.

My younger sister and I shared my brother’s VW while he was off at school. The car was a bit beat up; my brother had repeatedly smashed in the front end. He didn’t get it repaired until I ran into something and paid for my damage [and his] out of my own pocket. When I turned 21, I purchased my own Beetle and drove it for seven years until it was totaled while parked in front of my apartment building.

It is often said that music is the history of our life. Yet the same could be said for the automobiles that carried us through our childhoods and teenage years. Just as a song often serves as a connection to a particular event from the past, a car can bring back memories of family vacations, sibling dynamics, or a young life on the verge of adulthood.

Car Stories

What’s Your [Car] Color?

Posted on November 9, 2025November 9, 2025by Chris Lezotte

A number of years back, as I pulled up to a stop light, I noticed a long line of vehicles in the next lane – four or five at least – that were almost identical in appearance. Although the cars represented different manufacturers, they were all small SUVs, and they were all black. Black, as it turns out, is the second most popular car color in the United States, representing 22% of the automotive market. White cars constitute one quarter of cars sold, with grey and silver contributing another 34%. During the golden age of car culture – the 1950s and 1960s, cars were not only bigger, but came in a wide variety of hues. The muscle cars of the 60s and 70s introduced us to colors that were bright and bold; Panther Pink, Vitamin C Orange, Grabber Blue, Plum Crazy Purple, and Rallye Red described the car, and the person who drove it, as outgoing, outrageous, and fun.

On the road today, cars that are not white, black, silver, or grey stand out, not just because there are so few of them, but because it makes one wonder what makes an individual go against the grain with such an unusual or bold color choice. Arm chair – and legitimate – psychologists have often contributed to stories that ask “what does your car color say about you?” 40 years ago, psychologists Peter Marsh and Collett discussed car color [as well as other automotive characteristics] in Driving Passion: The Psychology of the Car. The pair argued that the economic climate – booms and recessions – often affect the color of cars on the road. Booms feature cars of primary tones and bright colors – yellows, light blues, and reds – whereas when the economy is in decline, there is a tendency for people to select somber colors like greys, browns, and dark blues. Marsh and Collett also suggested that the aspect of personality a car reveals most accurately is “the person’s need for achievement.” Those with a high need for achievement will select cars with subdued colors; folks with relatively low levels of ambition will opt for bright colors including red and yellow.

The connection between car color and human personality remains a subject of interest today. In a recent article, Jaloponik notes how many people consider red to be an exciting color that lets others know “you’re passionate, intense, and ready for adventure.” The Today show goes a step further, asserting that the person who owns a red car is “sensual, dynamic, and outgoing.” Yellow cars, states Jalopnik, is associated with happiness, as it inspires people to “feel happier and more optimistic.” Today attests that the owner of a yellow car is likely to be joyful, has a sense of humor, and is young at heart. Today also suggests that an individual who chooses a dark blue car is confident, credible, and authoritative. If you find yourself attractive to blue cars, writes Jalopnik, “there’s a good chance you’re trustworthy, reliable, and calm.”

In my own car history, I have owned a lot of red cars. My first car was a red Beetle; other vehicles have included a maroon Fiat convertible, burgundy Sirocco, bright red Rabbit, and a brilliant red Audi. In this regard I go against stereotype, as I am anything but outgoing and ready for adventure. It is likely I chose red vehicles to project the persona of who I would like to be, rather than the shy and reticent individual that I am. Of my most recent cars, two out of three – both Golf Rs – have been Lapis Blue. Blue has always been my favorite color. I suspect I choose blue not only because it matches my eyes, but because it projects the confidence and authority I lack. Perhaps by choosing colors that are so against type, some of the qualities associated with them will rub off on me.

I have owned a couple of silver cars, and the only positive thing I can say about them is that they were less likely to show dirt. Although they were attractive in their own right, such color conformity was never something I wanted to embrace. Although I am what you would call an older woman, I am not yet ready to succumb to the neutral, unimaginative, and dare I say boring, black, white, and silver cars that populate the roads today. I’ll continue to enjoy surprising folks when they see me, a small, silver-haired woman, behind the wheel of a rumbling Lapis Blue-Black Edition, hot hatch Golf R.

Car Stories

TikTok and the Woman Driver

Posted on September 25, 2025September 28, 2025by Chris Lezotte

In 2014 I wrote an article – “Women Auto Know: Automotive Knowledge, Auto Activism, and Women’s Online Car Advice”– which addressed the growth of women’s car advice websites. The sites, I noted, were developed as a response to the poor treatment women traditionally received at automotive dealerships and service establishments. Although women influence nearly 85 percent of new car sales, their experience at automotive dealerships differs significantly from that of men. Not only are women subject to sexist and patronizing behavior from automotive personnel, but they often wind up paying considerably more for automobiles or automotive services. Women’s car advice websites became popular during the early years of the Internet as a source for automotive knowledge and the acquisition of negotiation strategies and skills.

Some twenty years later, women are now taking to social media to seek automotive advice and report poor service to thousands, if not tens of thousands, of online followers. As an aging boomer who is admittedly not fluent in social media, I came upon this phenomenon while looking at automotive feeds to which I subscribe. One of those is Motor1.com, a global digital media company specializing in automotive content, providing car news, reviews, buying guides, and premium videos for car buyers and enthusiasts. One of the features that kept popping on my feed was an almost daily report of the car buying or service experiences of TikTok users. It appears that the Motor1.com staff looked to TikTok for interesting car stories to relay to its reader base. TikTok users are heavily concentrated in younger age groups, with the 18-24 and 25-35 brackets representing the largest segments. What is particularly noteworthy about the automotive experiences reported is that nearly all of them came from women.

This should not, after all, be surprising. The automobile’s longstanding association with masculinity has discouraged women from becoming too familiar with cars. Consequently, it has put the female driver at a disadvantage when attempting to purchase or service an automobile. However, despite the lack of an automotive education, women today are much more forthright about addressing this deficiency. Unlike their male counterparts, who are often reluctant to admit they are unknowledgeable or uninformed about cars, women know what they don’t know. Thus they are using social media to become more informed, to ask whether they have been treated fairly, to find solutions to automotive problems, and to acquire the tools to fix an issue on their own.

The headlines of these articles offer clues into the automotive problems. Women’s unfair treatment at dealerships inspired stories such as “Woman Doesn’t Want to Get Taken Advantage of at the Mechanic. So She Puts on a Disguise,” “Woman Told Car She Wanted Online Was Sold. Then She Gets 7 Calls From 7 Dealership Salesman,” and “Toyota Do Better:’ Woman Shops for Used Highlander. How Reliable Are ‘Gold Certified’ Vehicles?” After getting poor or questionable advice, stories reveal how women find their own solutions, such as “Woman Buys Parts for Her Nissan Rogue at O’Reilly. Then She Buys the Same Parts at Autozone for $200 Less,” “’Looked Up How to Do This:’ Hyundai Driver Gets Quoted $87 to Change Air Filter. So She Goes To AutoZone And Gets One For $26,” and “Your Sign to File That Claim:’ Woman Hits a Pothole. Then She Sees the Damage and Gets a Possible $1,000 from the State.” Some articles address how female TikTokkers ask for automotive advice before heading to a service establishment. “Woman Goes to Safelite for Crack Repair. Then A Service Tech Breaks the Whole Windshield—And Offers an Appointment in New Jersey,” “’I Had the Same Issues:’ Woman Puts Her Chevy Malibu in Park. Then She Turns Off the Car and the Dash Reads ‘Shift to Park’,” and “’We’re Not Gonna Touch the Car’: Florida Woman Hears Noise After Oil Change. Then She Suspects Her Mechanic Put In the Wrong Oil ” demonstrate how women are not afraid to ask questions about what they don’t know. The stories also reveal that women are not embarrassed to put their automotive mistakes online so that others may benefit. Features such as “Young Woman Thinks the Lincoln Corsair Is Out of Her Price Range. Then She Visits the Dealership”, “Woman Tries to Sell Her Maserati. Then She Sees How Much It’s Depreciated,” and “Woman Books Alamo Car Rental for Colorado Road Trip for Almost $700. Then She Books the Exact Same Car Via Costco” indicate how women are not afraid to admit they were wrong and are appreciative of the lessons learned from fellow TikTok users.

In 2014 I wrote, “Although women’s car purchases nearly equal those of men, women continue to experience inferior treatment in most US auto dealerships and service establishments. Dealers often take advantage of women’s uneasiness with the negotiation process to intimidate the female consumer and charge her more than men; service centers profit from women’s presumed lack of automotive knowledge and technological expertise as they pressure female customers to finance unnecessary repairs. Despite women’s increased purchasing power, gender inequities in auto service and repair ensure that women remain on unequal footing when entering the automotive showroom.” As exhibited by the TikTok stories on Motor1.com, these problems continue to persist over 20 years later. However, much like the generations before them, today’s tech-savvy young women have taken matters into their own hands. They have called upon social media to draw attention to the issues not only women, but all young people face and in the process, have become empowered as car owners and consumers.

Car Stories

The Cars of Summer

Posted on May 30, 2025May 30, 2025by Chris Lezotte

Driving along Route 66 on a hot summer’s night

As a nod to the beginning of summer, the auto writers at Jalopnik asked readers to report on their favorite summer car pastimes. The responses varied from historical sightseeing, night drives with the top down, aimless adventuring, trips to nude beaches, and driving to high elevations with the hope that an old car’s air conditioner doesn’t conk out. My own summer auto travels are not as exciting; however, living in place that is cold much of the year, driving during the blessed summer months is always fun no matter where I am going.

Years ago, as a recent divorcee with an unreliable car, my earliest road trips were to a metro park within an hour’s drive. It was there I met my sister [also newly single] as we spent hot Michigan afternoons slathered in Coppertone working on our city tans. Once I remarried, the car served as transportation to summer destinations, primarily vacations ‘Up North’ along Lake Michigan. After we retired, our obsession with baseball led to various stadium road trips, first checking all of the major league ballparks off our list before starting on those of the minor leagues. Perhaps our best road trip was in a rented Mustang convertible, driving through the southwest United States on Route 66. We also used our vehicles to transport bikes to rural paths and downtown Detroit for ‘Slow Roll‘ nights. And our 1999 Miata was and remains the perfect ice cream trip car.

1971 Dodge Challenger owned by one of my favorite interviewees

When I began my academic interest in woman and cars, my trips became more purposeful. Interviewing women for my dissertation and subsequent book took me to car shows all across the state and beyond. I spent many an afternoon at parks and parking lots, searching for women who would talk to me about their cars. As I am naturally timid, this was an often stressful situation. However, the enthusiasm which women greeted me dispelled much of my anxiety as I found most relished the opportunity to go on and on about their love for whatever vehicle they were driving. When I embarked on a project focused on women in autocross, my summer routes took me to airport runways and school lots. Through the deafening noise and exhaust fumes I spoke to enthusiastic and engaging women about their involvement in motorsports. Although I never had the nerve to join them on the track, I enjoyed watching the women as they veered around cones, worked on the track, or gathered in groups on the grid to engage in prerace dances.

As I now live in a location where I am in walking distance of just about everything, my driving is somewhat limited. However I still enjoy taking my classics – 1949 Ford and 1967 Shelby – to local car shows. Each provides a unique driving experience, always accompanied by honking horns and thumbs up as I make my way on two lane highways [no freeways for these cars]. It is one of the best parts of summer.

It’s been a cool spring in Southeastern Michigan, but summer weather appears to be on the horizon. As the warm temperatures arrive, I look forward to an automotive summer of road trips, car shows, and ice cream.

Car Stories Events

Women & Car Night at the DIA

Posted on March 30, 2025March 30, 2025by Chris Lezotte

This past week I attended a lecture at the Detroit Institute of Arts which featured Nancy Nichols, author of Women Behind the Wheel: An Unexpected and Personal History of the Car. The book is an overview of women’s automotive history through the personal car experiences of its author. Women Behind the Wheel is significant for a number of reasons. Although men have been writing about their automotive experiences for decades, women’s relationship with the car is rarely examined. Nichols’ book not only succeeds in addressing that lack, but is relatable to any women who has ever owned a car, particularly those of the baby boomer generation. Second of all, it draws attention to the longstanding gendered practices of automotive production, marketing, and ownership which reflect and perpetuate cultural attitudes regarding women and cars. In addition, automotive history is most often focused on specific automobiles and the men who built them; consequently women’s participation in automotive culture is considered less. Nichols’ well-researched manuscript contributes new knowledge through a rarely viewed female lens, and considers how the automobile has contributed to women’s lives in both empowering and dangerous ways.

Finally, as a scholar who has made the investigation of the relationship between women and cars the subject of her ‘third act,’ it has always been my hope that my work would encourage others to explore this little-explored connection in new and engaging ways. While I was pleased and honored to see some of my scholarship cited in Nichols’ book, I was also rather overwhelmed when, after introducing myself, Nancy called me out as the ‘original’ and asked to give me a hug. It was quite a thrill and as I drove home, felt perhaps that the work that I do, while in a very specific niche, does have some value.

As a journalist, editor, and former broadcaster, Nichols’ writing is both accessible and engaging. I would encourage any woman with [or without] a personal connection to cars to read Women Behind the Wheel.

Car Stories

Cars & Snow & Detroit

Posted on January 31, 2025February 4, 2025by Chris Lezotte

Shortly after the official start of winter, Curbside Classics ran a story titled “The Cars in Our Neighborhoods in the ‘50s & 60s – Winter Edition.” The article featured a number of mid-century photos from northern US neighborhoods that pictured cars in, on, and sometimes covered in snow. The photos brought to mind my own childhood in Detroit during the 1950s and 1960s, when snowy days were much more frequent than they are today. When I think back it is always impossible to imagine how those big, heavy, rear-wheel drive automobiles managed to get anywhere when there was snow on the road, particularly since Detroit residential streets were never plowed. I remember the two-rack ruts that eventually formed down the middle of the street; oncoming cars would have to somehow maneuver around each other and the snow-covered cars parked along the curb. Often the street would freeze over after a quick thaw, turning into a makeshift skating rink. While some of us put on our skates, boys in the neighborhood would grab on to the rear fender of a passing car for a slippery joy ride down the street. As Detroit Public School students relied on public transportation, there were no official ‘snow days;’ we were expected to get to school as long as the buses were running. During the big snow storm of 1965, I boarded my usual bus to Cass Tech High School in downtown Detroit. After arriving over two hours later, I was told that school had been canceled; I thus caught the next bus back home and spent what was left of the rest of the day exploring the snow drifts with friends.

I was thankful for modern automotive technology, all-wheel drive, and winter tires when I entered graduate school at the age of 60, as I had a nearly 80-mile commute from rural Ann Arbor to Bowling Green, Ohio. Fortunately the route was almost all freeway, so I didn’t have to worry too much about two-rack ruts. There were some nights during the winter semester, however, where I encountered snowstorms either going to or coming from the BG campus. The high Toledo overpass from northbound I-75 to US 23 was especially scary as I couldn’t stop imagining myself skidding into the guardrail and plummeting into the traffic below. However, I was determined to not let fear take over; my Audi A4 with all-wheel drive, manual transmission, and winter tires was stable on the road, and got me through some rather hazardous driving conditions. On particularly bad nights I would just plant the car behind a long hauler and follow its tail lights all the way home. I am proud to say that I never missed a class due to the weather. My professors would often mention to my much younger cohorts that if I [old age implied] could make it to class in bad weather conditions, there was no excuse for their absences.

Now that I live in downtown Ann Arbor and can walk pretty much everywhere, I don’t have to deal with adverse weather conditions nearly as much as in the past. But every time there is a snowfall, I am hopeful that I can call on my past Detroit driving experiences to make my way – carefully and cautiously – along Michigan’s snowy roads.

Auto Industry Car Stories

Special Exhibits and the Woman Driver

Posted on June 15, 2024June 15, 2024by Chris Lezotte

From the Seal Cove Auto Museum Special Exhibit

In my quest for evidence of women’s automotive history in museums centered on the automobile, one of the categories I encountered from time to time was the ‘special exhibit.’ These exhibits are often put together to commemorate certain events in women’s history. The 100^th anniversary of women’s suffrage in 1920, which unfortunately occurred during COVID, was an occasion to assemble various artifacts related to women’s attainment of the vote. The automobile was an important tool in the suffrage campaign. In the spring and summer of 1916, the transcontinental suffrage tour from New York to San Francisco was one of the actions taken to spread the word of the importance of the women’s vote as well as “to persuade male party leaders to include woman suffrage platforms at both the Republican and Democratic national convention” (Lesh 136). The automobile was not only called upon as the primary mode of transport, but also served as a platform on which to speak and the means of a quick getaway should crowds get hostile. It is not surprising, therefore, that the anniversary of women’s enfranchisement was a popular motive for a women’s automotive history exhibit, even though the pandemic caused many of the displays to be postponed a year or two.

‘Women Who Motor’ at the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House

‘Women Who Motor’ was such an exhibit. It made its debut at the historic Edsel and Eleanor Ford house in the Detroit suburbs, then moved to the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan. The display featured a reproduction of the Motorwagen driven by Bertha Benz to advertise her husband’s invention, an 1899 Locomobile steam runabout like the one Joan Newton Cuneo purchased to enter the AAA’s inaugural Glidden Tour, as well as stories and photographs featuring female automotive legends including Alice Ramsey, Helene Rother, Margaret Elizabeth Sauer, Audrey Moore, Betty Skelton, and Danica Patrick. As the Gilmore teams notes, “this exhibition offers a glimpse into the world of women and the automobile. It is designed as a jumping off point for your own exploration into how the automobile has influenced women, and how women have influenced the automobile.”

Special Exhibit at the Saratoga Automobile Museum

Women’s History Month is also an occasion to draw attention to women’s automotive achievements. While many museums create special displays to honor women in automotive, they are often are a collection of artifacts the museum already possesses, grouped together for the month of March. As Helen Knibb writes, “The first and often only opportunity curators may have to introduce women’s history to the public comes through temporary exhibitions on special themes. But temporary exhibitions exist for a fixed period and are then dissolved” (356).

Chrysler driven by Vicki Wood, on display at the Henry Ford Women’s History Month exhibit

The Henry Ford created a number of these exhibits in March 2024. While the displays included female achievements in a wide variety of endeavors, special attention was given to women’s relationship to the automobile. Within the Henry Ford museum a display was created to celebrate women in racing. Featured artifacts included the Chrysler 300 driven by Vicki Wood at Daytona Beach in 1960, the racing glove worn by Janet Guthrie in the 1977 Indianapolis 500, as well as Sarah Fisher’s racing suit, worn during her third place finish at the Kentucky Speedway in 2000. The Ford Rouge Factory Tour, park of the Henry Ford experience, focused on significant innovations and contributions to the automotive industry made by female inventors and entrepreneurs. Accompanying the main exhibit were interactive displays that offered adults and children the opportunity to engage in Women’s History Month activities

‘She Drives’ exhibit at the Automotive Hall of Fame

I recently had the opportunity to visit a special exhibit at the Automotive Hall of Fame. ‘She Drives’ celebrates racing’s pioneering women. The exhibit includes stories of 11 inspiring women “shaped through their stories artifacts, and cars that shaped their paths.” Featured race car legends include Bertha Benz, Janet Guthrie, Lyn St James, and Shirley Muldowney. There is also an opportunity to participate in the She Drives Road Tour, which includes a visit to the exhibit at AHF as well as stops at other museums and places of interest in the metropolitan Detroit area.

Lowrider at the California Automobile Museum special exhibit

While racing and suffrage are common women-in-automotive-history exhibit themes, the most unusual and fascinating exhibit I encountered was that of female low riders featured at the California Automobile Museum this past April. This exhibit was not just a collection of artifacts packed away in the museum’s archives, but a carefully constructed original display that imaginatively reflected the region’s lowrider history and culture. I suspect that this is a traveling exhibit that will eventually make its way to other museums in the state.

While special exhibits provide an opportunity for automotive museums to draw attention to women’s relationship to the automobile, it is unfortunate that such attention is most often limited to special occasions. Such exhibitions, Knibb argues, require museums “to reassess the balance of exhibition theme and included the ‘underside’ of history, topics which have traditionally been poorly documented or under-represented in exhibition” (357). As Knibb notes, museum collections are often shaped by what the museum has – the ‘survival of objects and the personal tastes of donors’- rather than by any planned efforts to collect and develop artifacts representative of women’s automotive participation (361). Perhaps increased attention to women’s automotive history within the museum would plant the seed for additional informative, educational, and inspirational donations so that women’s contributions would not only be pulled out for ‘special’ occasions, but would be permanently on display as integral to the museum’s automotive collection.

Knibb, Helen. “Present But Not Visible: Searching for Women’s History in Museum Collections.” Gender & History 6, 3 (November 1994): 352-369.

Lesh, Carla R. Wheels of Her Own: American Women and the Automobile, 1893-1929. Jefferson NC: McFarland & Company, 2024.