Tag: automotive history

Car ChicksCar Stories

Women’s Muscle Car Stories

Posted on by Chris Lezotte

In much of my work I collect women’s car stories. I’ve spent many hours interviewing women who had much to say about their relationship with cars. I’ve talked to women with chick cars, muscle cars, and pickup trucks. I’ve met with women who engage in motorsports, as well as women in their 80s and 90s to reflect on early car experiences. Although the themes that emerged from these various projects made their way into journal articles and books, the particular experiences of each woman are often limited to a quote or two. I thought, therefore, that it might be worthwhile to go back and revisit the interviews and unearth some of the stories that deserve to be told. 

One of the first group of women I spoke with were those that own classic muscle cars. The original American muscle car – a two-door, rear-wheel-drive, midsize vehicle equipped with a large muscular V8 engine and sold at an affordable price – was produced between 1964 and 1973 to appeal specifically to an affluent young male market. Because this car culture is so intertwined with masculinity and the male driver, I was interested not only in how the women negotiated their way into this masculine fraternity, but more importantly, hoped to uncover exactly what the powerful cars meant to the women who drive them. The overwhelming majority of female muscle car owners were of the baby boomer generation. Some of the women participated in muscle car culture alongside husbands, but others went it alone, often after the passing of a male companion or family member. Here are two of their stories.

In Minnesota for a family wedding, I happened upon a muscle car show outside of Minneapolis. One of the cars that caught my attention was a bright purple [Plum Crazy] 1970 Dodge Challenger. I was especially intrigued by the album set next to the car; it included not only restoration photos but also contained a faded photo from the 1970s of a young blonde woman in a bathing suit posing next to the car. As it turned out, the woman sitting next to the Challenger at the car show was the original owner. As a teenager fresh out of high school working her first job, Jenny Brinker-Wagstrom was driving a 1957 Chevy that kept breaking down. Needing something more dependable for work transportation, she spotted an advertisement that featured a young blonde woman next to a 1970 Challenger. Jenny went to the dealership and ordered a car exactly like that pictured in the photograph, not understanding what exactly she was buying.

Jenny came from a family of 10 children. Her strict Catholic father accompanied his daughter to the dealership to pick up the car. As she told me, “I heard the car coming from around the building and all I could hear was this loud ‘jib, jib, jib, jib’ really loud, and I thought, oh my god, my dad’s going to kill me. There’s no way. Here comes my Challenger. A guy brought it around for me, he gets out, hands me the keys and says ‘man, you’re one lucky young lady.’ And I thought you don’t know my father, you just don’t know my father. And I looked up at my dad, he looked at me, and he looked at [the dealer] and he said, ‘find another car. There’s no way my daughter’s driving this car.’ And of course the tears welled up in my eyes. And I, you know my father, you can’t talk to him, once he’s made up his mind you know.”

Jenny looked hopelessly at the dealer, who somewhat miraculously, talked her father into acquiescing to his daughter’s wishes. As she recalled, “I didn’t say anything; I just stood there holding my keys. I wouldn’t give my keys up. I was only like what, 20 at the time. And I thought nope, nope, no one’s taking my car. This is my car; I fell in love with her right away you know.”

The Challenger became Jenny’s daily driver for many years. She drove it to work, for running around with her girlfriends, and was often challenged to race by boys on the street. But the Minnesota winters eventually took a toll on the car; although it was no longer drivable, she could not part with it. As she told me, as one of 10 siblings, she had to share everything. Jenny has kept the now restored Challenger all of these years because, as she exclaimed, “it was the only thing I’ve ever owned that I paid for. And just the fact that I fell in love with her.”

Sharyl Sharrow’s 1970 Ford Mustang has a sentimental history. On a trip to Tennessee, her husband and son found the car in a field behind a barn. They trailered it home, and worked on it when they could over the next 15 years. As she told me, “when you have children there’s things that come before your toys.” Once the kids were set in college, she and her husband began working on the car together. They took it apart; every screw, and every bolt were removed and put it in bags. As she recalled,  “we pretty much took everything apart and we had parts stored in the basement, the engine hanging on a block in the garage, and tires underneath my basement steps wrapped in blankets.” But shortly after dismantling the Mustang, Sharyl’s husband became seriously ill and could no longer work on it. However, her husband’s friends from the car club took it upon themselves to finish the project. While her husband was in hospice, about four weeks before he passed, the restored car was placed on the front lawn. As she reminisced, “he cried when they pulled it in; he was so happy.”

Since her husband’s passing, Sharyl has driven the Mustang to car shows as a tribute to her husband’s memory. As she said to me, “Oh it was my husband’s dream car. [Before he passed] he made me promise him I would take it out. So I do it, and I do it grumbling. It can put a smile to my face or it can bring a tear to my eye. You know it’s just, it’s that bittersweet. I would love to have him back in the driver’s seat of it.”

“Every car has a story” is a popular sentiment among automotive enthusiasts. It speaks of the personal, cultural, and historical meanings automobiles carry to those who owned them. In their encounters with cars, individuals often create narratives that combine memory, feeling, and life experience; they generate stories that “integrate their past, present, and future […].”[1] Traditionally, storytellers in these locations have been male; since the early years of automotive history, men’s car stories have been a popular subject of books, film, and magazines.[2] In the twenty-first century, men’s automotive narratives are often found in locations such as car TV, podcasts, online blogs and forums, automotive websites, and digital newsletters. In these masculine settings, women’s unique relationship with cars, and the stories attached to them, are often ignored or considered invalid. In her collection of essays by women writers on cars and the road, Elinor Nauen exclaims, “women have always driven and owned cars – and always fought with men who thought we shouldn’t.”[3]

As tourism scholar Lee Jolliffee argues, culture related to cars “includes not only the cars but also documentation and expression of related histories,” both written and oral.[4] Because women’s relationship with cars differs from that of men, women’s car stories – such as those mentioned here – add a new dimension to the common narrative and provide automotive histories that are otherwise unrecorded. As Marilyn Root – in her compilation of women’s car stories – declares, “for many women the stories of their relationships with their vehicles are not only those of transportation, but of transformation.”[5]

[1] Nicolette Caperello and Kenneth S. Kurani. “Households’ Stories of Their Encounters With a Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle.” Environment and Behavior 44(4) 2012, 504.

[2] Examples include Car Club Memories: Personal Stories from Three Dynamic Decades of Cruisin’, Competition, and Cool Cars compiled by Fred Thomas; Ambrosio and Luckerman’s Cruisin’ the Original: Woodward Avenue; Gone in Sixty Seconds; Vanishing Point; Dirty Mary Crazy Larry.

[3] Elinor Nauen, ed. Ladies Start Your Engines: Women Writers on Cars and the Road (Boston: Faber and Faber, 1996), xvi.

[4] Lee Jollife. “The Bricklin: From Automobile to Place Narrative.” Automotive Heritage and Tourism: A Framework for Study, Michael V. Conlin and Lee Jolliffe, eds. (London, Routledge, 2017), 41.

[5] Marilyn Root. Women at the Wheel 42 Stories of Freedom, Fanbelts, and the Lure of the Open Road (Naperville IL: Sourcebooks, Inc.), 3.

Auto MuseumsCar Culture

The Changing Auto Museum

Posted on by Chris Lezotte

In a recent Jalopnik article, auto journalist Michael Sullivan bemoaned the recent closings of several prominent automotive museums. Sean Mathis, author of a weekly automotive museum guide, also discussed the number of auto museums – over 50 – that have been forced to shutter over the past few years. Both sources cite many of the same circumstances that compel an auto museum to close its doors. The first is the death of the museum’s founder. Museums that begin as an individual’s personal collection often have few provisions once the owner passes; consequently, the automobiles are donated to other museums or sold off. In addition, many museums are still feeling the consequences of the pandemic; cars and museum space still needed to be maintained despite the absence of paying visitors, emptying the bank account of more than one institution. However, after visiting 25 museums in preparation for my current project, I have come to the conclusion that there is another cause for closure that is not often addressed. And that is the inability of many automotive museums to adapt to a changing and more diverse visitor base. 

Walter P. Chrysler Museum, closed in 2012

The museums that close are often those that display cars and not much else. They were originally developed to appeal to a specific customer, a white, male gearhead who spent his youth wrenching on and driving fast cars. For men of this generation, the cars were enough. Rows and rows of automobiles, accompanied only by specs and a little history, satisfied the man who could create his own stories about the vehicles on display. However, today’s youth does not have same connection to cars as their predecessors. A placard full of vehicle statistics holds little appeal. Without relevance to their own lives, the auto museum becomes a place that perhaps holds their father’s memories, but not their own. As a large proportion of car museum visitors are middle-aged or over, their numbers will not be replaced by young men as their population dwindles.

Kids interactive display – Sloan Museum of Discovery

I recently attended the National Association of Automobile Museums [NAAM] annual conference, and many of the presentations addressed the issue of how to make automobile museums more appealing to the non-car enthusiast, particularly to members of under-represented groups. An interesting statistic mentioned was one focused on female museum visitors. In terms of general museums, women outnumber male visitors by a large margin, approximately 62% female to 38% male. However automobile museums are a notable exception, where men make up nearly 66% of visitors. While women now purchase nearly half of new cars in the US, and hold the majority of driver’s licenses, their historical representation in museum narratives has been limited, leading to a visitor base that heavily favors [oldish] men. As noted by Motorious writer Steven Symes, “most car museums cater to older folk and they do so with zero apologies. […] By appealing to a narrow demographic, they’re actually hurting themselves.” The continuing closing of automobile museums would certainly substantiate this sentiment.

Chicana lowriders – California Automobile Museum

But fortunately, museum practices are beginning to change. Auto museums that expand beyond cars to include the social influences of the automobile are more likely to attract a more diversified visitor base. These museums have successfully implemented strategies to expand their audiences by moving beyond traditional mechanical displays to focus on culture, families, and historically underrepresented narratives. By incorporating exhibits that appeal to women, kids, minority groups and other non-old-white-male populations, museums not only have a better chance of survival, but can – most importantly – assure that auto history isn’t lost to future generations. Replacing endless lists of automotive statistics with car stories and histories that have relevance to all visitors, and incorporating docents and guides who are younger and not-always-male could go a long way to attracting a more engaged visitor base.

She Drives exhibit – Automotive Hall of Fame

It is certainly disheartening to witness the closing of so many longstanding automobile museums across the US. But perhaps the era of traditional car museums will eventually be replaced by institutions that serve not just a particular segment of car geeks, but all drivers and lovers of automobiles.

Auto MuseumsConferences

NAAM Annual Conference

Posted on by Chris Lezotte

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the 2026 National Association of Automotive Museums [NAAM] Annual Conference and Awards Banquet at America’s Packard Museum in Dayton, Ohio. Given my research interests, I had originally planned to attend one day to attend a session on women in motorsports. However, as president of the Society of Automotive Historians, I was invited by the Packard director Rob Signom to attend the entire conference. It turned out to be a great experience as I sat in on many informative sessions, networked with folks from the transportation museum community, received some inspiration for my book manuscript, took part in field trips to a number of transportation-related museums and sites, as well as having the opportunity to spread the word about the SAH.

Social Media Presentation [photo courtesy of Sean Matthis]

The four days were jammed-packed with activities. The sessions covered topics such as using social media to engage and attract younger museum audiences, obtaining grants to fund special programs and incentives, achieving best practices for archival accumulation and storage, the challenges of creating changing and relevant exhibits with automobiles, as well as the aforementioned session that focused on incorporating women’s motorsports into museum exhibits. Field trips to the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Carillon Historical Park, Champaign Aviation Museum, personal automotive collections, and an experiential environments design firm were also part of the conference.

Thursday evening featured the presentation of NAAMY Awards, which honor achievements in curation, education, marketing, and collections management in nonprofit transportation museums across North America. During one evening a group of attendees [including my baseball-loving self] had the opportunity to attend a Dayton Dragons minor league ballgame, which was a complete blast.

From the Champaign Aviation Museum

Although I find social situations to be quite stressful, the NAAM folks were welcoming, helpful, and engaging. I was struck by the atmosphere of cooperation; all were eager to share information, artifacts, and resources with others. Not only did I personally connect with archivists willing to help with my book project, but I believe my attendance and participation will help strengthen the important relationship between the SAH and NAAM. And the baseball game was pretty awesome, too.

Car Stories

An SAH Car Story

Posted on by 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.

Auto MuseumsWomen & Car Advertising

Trip to Marysville

Posted on by Chris Lezotte

The Wills Sainte Claire Auto Museum is a small museum located in the out-of-the-way city of Marysville, Michigan, separated from Canada by the St. Clair River. It is devoted to the history of C. Harold Wills and the automobile he created – the Wills Sainte Claire – and their impact on auto history and the city of Marysville. The small building holds 20 Sainte Claire automobiles – the largest collection in the world – as well as original photos, color advertising, and other artifacts relating to the company’s brief history. The automobiles on display are include ‘survivors’ as well many that are impeccably restored. The museum is only open one Sunday afternoon a month; our visit included a short video as well as peek behind the scenes into the museum’s storage facility.

Wills Sainte Claire workers, which included women

C. Harold Wills was Henry Ford’s first employee. He served as chief designer and metallurgist; he was responsible for the design of the Ford script logo, still in use today. Wills desperately wanted to make changes at Ford; unable to do so he left the company – with his $1.5 million severance pay – to build a car in Marysville along the banks of the St. Clair River. His plans also included a housing development  – the “City of Contented Living” – for Sainte Claire employees.

1926 Wills Sainte Claire Roadster, marketed to upper class women

The automobile Wills envisioned was the polar opposite of Ford’s affordable, mass-produced, Model T; rather, it was a somewhat futuristic vehicle that used state of the art engineering concepts and materials. He hoped to compete with luxury automakers such as Packard, Lincoln, and Pierce Arrow. The first car rolled off the assembly line in the spring of 1921, by November 1922, the Wills Co. was $8 million in debt and forced into receivership. Although beautifully crafted and ahead of its time, the car did not do well. It was too expensive, and Wills continually interrupted production to implement every conceivable improvement. The company did not survive the 1926 recession and after producing 12,000 cars, was liquidated. Wills subsequently joined Chrysler as a metallurgical consultant; Chrysler purchased the former Wills Sainte Claire factory which is still in use today.

The female Wills Sainte Claire customer

Throughout its short history, Wills Sainte Claire advertised extensively, always promoting the automobile’s luxury. As one advertisement read, “How can classic be defined?  Sleek, stylish, perfection, unique, timeless, and valuable are words of articulate, lasting design. If you assemble these words in the form of a tangible object you have defined the unique and beautiful Wills Ste. Claire automobile.” What is unusual for this time period is that many of the advertisements – on display at the museum – feature women behind the wheel. 

As women rejected the electric automobile in favor of the faster and more affordable gasoline-powered car, automakers – recognizing a growing consumer base – developed strategies to lure the female driver. Marketing plans shifted from “discussing merits of products to constructing promises for, and listing the expectations of, those who consumed the products.”[1] Relying on the rise in readership of popular women’s magazines, one of the more prominent sales tactics to emerge was advertising that “invited women to seek social status via the purchase of an automobile.”[2]

Wills Sainte Claire wholly embraced this strategy in its advertising. As a 1926 advertisement in the Saturday Evening Post read, “plain, blunt transportation can be purchased for less than Wills Sainte Claire. There are those, however, who demand and are willing to pay for a plus element called style. And these constitute the Sainte Claire clientele – as they constitute Bendel’s and Pierre’s.” The ad includes an illustration of two fashionably attired women travelling – with scarves flying – in a bright red Wills Sainte Claire roadster. An ad published in National Geographic, accompanied by an illustration featuring a woman seated in the driver’s seat with two children behind her, informs its female audience that the 1926 Model T-6 5-Passenger Sedan, “is something genuinely new, and better…and smarter…and sturdier… will become more impressively obvious as the weeks go by.”

Society women out for a spin in a Wills Sainte Claire Roadster

The strategies employed by auto advertisers were constructed, in part, as a response to Ford’s early domination of the automotive market. By 1921, Ford produced over half of all cars in the world. Fords were not only plentiful, but affordable; “growing cheaper by year, the Model T opened new vistas for ordinary people,” which included the growing population of women drivers.[3] Unable to compete head-to-head with “Everyman’s [and Everywoman’s] Car,” manufacturers set out to distinguish their automotive offerings by including an intangible benefit – status – with vehicle purchase. As Ford’s dominance began to erode – due primarily to the company’s unwillingness to move on from the Model T – the automobile as representative of women’s social standing became a popular, effective, and longstanding strategy among luxury cars manufacturers.

Unfortunately for the Wills Sainte Claire, the association of the automobile and social status was not enough to save it. However, the advertising of this little known manufacturer – on display at this small museum on the Michigan-Canadian border, provides insight into the efforts of luxury auto manufacturers to attract the female consumer.

[1] Michelle Ramsey. “Selling Social Status: Woman and Automobile Advertisements from 1910-1920.” Women and Language 28(1) Spring 2005: 26.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Virginia Scharff, Taking the Wheel: Women and the Coming of the Motor Age (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1991), 55.

Car CultureCar Stories

December to Remember

Posted on by 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 by 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 21st 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.  

Conferences

Argetsinger 2025

Posted on by Chris Lezotte
2025 Argetsinger Program, designed by me

The Michael R. Argetsinger Symposium on International Motor Racing History was started in 2015 as a joint effort between the IMRRC [International Motor Racing Research Center] and the Society of Automotive Historians. Other than a break during COVID, the symposium has been held annually, and has grown exponentially from three presenters in 2025 to 20 in 2024. The symposium has been traditionally held at the Watkins Glen International Speedway Media Center. This year the conference was scaled back; it was held in a new venue – the Watkins Glen Harbor Hotel – and limited to 14 presentations. This revised setup eliminated the ‘run over’ presentations and provided ample time for questions. Although the Speedway location was an interesting place to visit, it involved a long drive out of town on very hilly roads. Having the symposium in the hotel also provided a better environment for networking and camaraderie. The two-day conference also included a film festival and reception at the Watkins Glen Chamber of Commerce. Despite its historical significance as the origin of road racing, Watkins Glen is a sleepy town, especially during the off season. Being from the western part of the Eastern time zone, I was not used to darkness falling before 5PM which made for interesting walks around town.

Presenter Jim Miller

I became involved with the Argetsinger when I travelled to the IMRRC to conduct some research for a paper on women-only racing a number of years ago. I presented at the conference the following year, and subsequently became part of the SAH contingent that organized the event. I presented a paper in 2024, but attended this year as a spectator. Although I am quiet and have often felt invisible at the gathering of so many motorsports experts [of which I am not], there was a perceptible difference in how I was regarded this year, no doubt due to my new role as SAH President. I received a dinner invitation for the first time in five years! But my new position allowed me to connect with many of the attendees in interesting ways, which I ultimately enjoyed. The only downside to the two days in Watkins Glen was the 3:15AM wake up call for my flight out of the two-gate Elmira airport.

Tech wiz Eric Monteraselli

The symposium was live streamed and converted to youtube for future viewing. If you have any interest in motorsport history, I suggest you check out the videos from this and past years. The presenters come from many disciplines – from academics to motor racing enthusiasts – so there is certain to be something for everyone. 

Announcements

President Me

Posted on by Chris Lezotte
Founding SAH Board of Directors

At the close of the last SAH board meeting, I officially became president of the Society of Automotive Historians. I am not quite sure how this happened as it was never my intention to run for the position. But here I am. I enter my two-year term quite overwhelmed; there is so much to do right from the get go and I am not quite sure where to start. In addition, in the over 50 years since its founding, there have only been two other female SAH presidents, which will no doubt result in additional scrutiny. But I have a supportive board and an excellent vice president, so hopefully together we can develop an approach and agenda that will serve current and future members well.

My overreaching goal is to make the organization more accessible, inclusive, and to encourage more membership participation. Like many automotive organizations, SAH membership has aged without a sufficient influx of younger people with new ideas to make up the loss. Many of the current members have been discouraged by the lack of communication and feel as though they don’t have a voice. I believe that in order to succeed in the near future, the organization needs to be more attuned to the interests of a more diverse population. We need to employ new means of communication to expand our reach. The new members of the board have added youth and different kinds of experiences that can make a difference. Some of the long term objectives, therefore,  are to explore going digital with our publications, expand our social media presence, communicate with the membership on a consistent basis, and open communication channels so that folks will be comfortable making suggestions to improve any and every aspect of the SAH.

I am not a natural leader. I am soft spoken, have difficulty taking charge, and am non confrontational. Therefore I am hoping that my strengths – creative thinking and hard work – will be enough for me to become an effectual president of the Society of Automotive Historians. I’ll have the next two years to find out.

Auto IndustryCar CultureWomen & Car Advertising

Short People Got No Reason to Drive

Posted on by Chris Lezotte

During the 1980s I was working in the creative department at McCann-Erickson on the Buick account. Although the import market had been promoting smaller vehicles for a least a decade, American manufacturers were hesitant to enter the compact car market. Buick, especially, was known for its rather large vehicles; in the classic film Annie Hall, Woody Allen’s character Alvie proclaims, “there’s a spider in your bathroom the size of a Buick.” Thus when the 1984 Skyhawk was introduced, the smallest vehicle in the Buick lineup, I thought a unique strategy would be to cite it as the perfect vehicle for short people. As someone who is barely 5’ 2”, I was tired of sitting on cushions to see over the steering wheel or propping pillows behind my back to reach the clutch in behemoth American cars. However, my idea was quickly shot down; perhaps the popular Randy Newman 1977 hit with the lyrics “short people got no reason to live” influenced the creative director’s decision. Or more likely it was because promoting a sporty vehicle as appropriate for individuals of shorter stature, primarily women, was considered a marketing nightmare. At any rate, Buick, like the majority of US car makers, continued to sell the mantra “bigger is better,” which no doubt contributed to their eventual decline.

The 1984 Skyhawk ad that eventually ran.
No short people mentioned!

Fast forward forty years, and the automotive site Jalopnik produces an article titled “The Best Cars for Short Drivers.” As auto writer Collin Woodard notes, “sometimes it feels like automakers just completely forget that short drivers exist, too.” The article goes on to provide a list of eleven vehicles that Consumer Reports deems suitable for the vertically challenged. The selection includes not only compacts, but also SUVs, minivans, crossovers, sports cars, and luxury sedans. Woodard explains how each vehicle has the capacity to adjust for shorter drivers, particular in seating and steering wheel positioning. The vehicles run the gamut of automotive needs, including functionality, affordability, roominess, and the elusive “fun-to-drive” vibe.

The Kia Soul. Recommended for the short among us.

Although I have owned a few larger vehicles to accommodate very big dogs, I have preferred smaller daily drivers since I purchased my first car – a Volkswagen Beetle – in 1970. I have stuck with VWs throughout the years and have owned a series of Golf GTIs and Golf Rs, which are easy to park, a blast to drive, and fit my smaller body perfectly.

2025 VW Golf R Black Edition – Just my size!

Yet despite the positive spin on cars that accommodate a slighter frame, the Jalopnik comment section leaves no doubt as to how the automotive population feels about these cars. As one poster snarkily remarks, “Old lady cars are great for short people. Who knew?” As the comments suggest, although cars have adjusted to accommodate all body types, including that of the smaller driver, the disparaging attitude toward women and cars remains, sadly, the same. Proclaims another Jalopnik reader, “short people got no reason to drive.”