Ford Model T Coast to Coast
A Slow Drive across a Fast Country
by Tom Cotter
Quarto Publishing Group – Motorbooks
Nonfiction (Adult), Travel
Pub Date 15 May 2018
EDITION Hardcover
ISBN 9780760359464
PRICE $35.00 (USD)
Description
Driverless cars are on the horizon, but before the world falls asleep in the driver’s seat, let’s take a look back down the road from whence we have come. Ford Model-T Coast-to-Coast, documents the cross-country adventure of two brave drivers as they pilot a century-old Model-T on a 3,000-mile journey from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Coast.
The book is as much a contemplation of early-20th century American life as it is a fond farewell to the automotive age. Can the car still be the vehicle of freedom and discovery, when we’re no longer in command? Or will we finally be able to fully appreciate the scenery rushing past?
Accompanied by Michael Alan Ross’ evocative photography, author Tom Cotter stops in small towns, meets local people and hears their stories about cars, travel, and life. Cotter and Ross also explore back roads adjacent to his main route, the Lincoln Highway—the first transcontinental road.
Significant cross-country runs, such as those by speed-record setter Cannonball Baker, and literary adventurers such as Jack Kerourac, John Steinbeck and Bill Bryson are considered in light of the driverless future. Cotter also drives some of the same roads that a young Edsel Ford traveled in his father’s Model T upon high school graduation in 1917.
In addition to the central road trip, Cotter also visits interesting automotive and transport museums as well as “keepers of the flame” such as Model-T clubs, mechanics, junkyards and collectors across the country.
He also records the numerous trials and tribulations in keeping a 100-year-old car operating on a 3,000-mile journey, something the driverless car of the future is unlikely to encounter.
Join Cotter on his "slow drive across a fast country." You'll be glad you did.
My Thoughts
Interestingly, I attended a car show earlier today where I got to look at some model T's, then I came home and looked through my copy of Ford Model T Coast to Coast A Slow Drive across a Fast Country.
The book is filled with some awesome images and details by Tom Cotter, author and Hagerty’s Barn Find Hunter, and numerous books. Tom was the founder of an automotive and motorsport PR and marketing agency called Cotter Group which managed sponsors including NASCAR, IndyCar/CART, SCCA, NHRA and vintage racing. He's a contributing editor for Vintage Motorsport Magazine and regularly contributes to Hagerty Magazine.