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Merchants of Speed: The Men Who Built America's Performance Industry
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Product Description
Hot rodding has always been about taking something that Detroit built and making it leaner and faster. At the epicenter of the movement was a cast of driven men who designed and manufactured the parts that made it all possible. This book takes an appreciative look back at the early hot rodders who worked out of their garages, basements, and backyards, and the “speed equipment” they developed.
In this mammoth volume, Paul Smith examines the stories behind two dozen speed equipment manufacturers and the go-fast goodies they designed, developed, and sold. Drawing upon hundreds of hours of interviews conducted with these founding fathers of hot rodding, Smith details the work of industry icons such as Iskenderian, Edelbrock, Evans, Hilborn, Navarro, Offenhauser, Sharp, Weiand, Ansen, and Kong. Illustrated with more than 200 period photos and filled with firsthand accounts of the birth of hot rodding—and the automotive aftermarket industry—this book is a truly fitting celebration of the names that became synonymous with speed.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #66270 in Books
- Published on: 2009-10-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 240 pages
Editorial Reviews
Review
“When we open the BangShift.com Gearhead University, this book, Merchants of Speed by Paul D. Smith, will be first semester required reading. Magazines have been delivering more and more great history in recent periods, but this is on an entirely different level. Christmas is coming. If you are a history junkie and want to learn of the great people on whose shoulders we now stand you owe it to yourself to either score the book or plant a bug in someone's ear to score it for you.” - Bangshift.com
“It’s one of those rare multi-purpose books that will occupy equal time in the Studio being cracked open for research, as well as being brought out for some additional inspiration in those late-night bench race sessions.” - Motorburg.com
“Paul Smith has done a remarkable job cataloguing the histories of 22 of hot rodding’s most influential companies and the men behind them. Smith has definitely done his homework in putting this material together; to call this a history book would be like calling the Sears Tower a building. If you’re looking for a thorough history of the performance industry, I don’t think you’ll find a more comprehensive account.” – Kustoms & Hot Rods
From the Inside Flap
The essence of hot rodding has always been to make something that was designed and engineered in Detroit look better and, more importantly, go faster. At the epicenter of hot rodding's formative years prior to and just after World War II was a cast of self-directed men who conceived and crafted the parts that made this possible.
In this mammoth volume, Paul Smith examines the stories behind 26 men, their companies, and the go-fast goodies they designed, developed, and sold. Drawing upon hundreds of hours of interviews with these founding fathers of hot rodding, Smith details the work of icons like Vic Edelbrock Sr., Earl Evans, Stu Hilborn, Ed Iskenderian, Barney Navarro, Fred Offenhauser, Al Sharp, Phil Weiand, and many others.
Smith shows how the speed equipment developed by these early hot rodders--many of whom initially worked out of their garages, basements, and backyards--spilled over into all disciplines of motorsport and evolved into today's automotive aftermarket industry.
Illustrated with more than 250 extremely rare photographs, many from the personal collections of the men interviewed, Merchants of Speed is a worthy celebration of the names that became synonymous with speed
From the Back Cover
The Names That Became Synonymous with Speed!
The essence of hot rodding has always been to make something designed and engineered in Detroit look better and, more importantly, go faster. In this mammoth volume, Paul Smith examines the stories behind 26 men, their companies, and the go-fast goodies they designed, developed, and sold. The brands covered in this exhaustive volume are:
Ansen
Braje
Crane
Edelbrock
Engle
Evans
Herbert
Hilborn
Howards
Iskenderian
McGurk
Navarro
Offenhauser
Potvin
Scott
Sharp
Spalding
Tattersfield-Baron
Thickstun
Wayne
Weber
Weiand
Wilson
Illustrated with more than 250 rare photographs, many from the personal collections of the men interviewed, Merchants of Speed is a worthy celebration of the self-directed men who conceived and crafted the parts that sated a nation's need for speed.
Customer Reviews
Indepth Book
Covers many who were responsible for "speed". Very indepth account of each merchant. Many high-quality photos. A must in one's automotive library.
The Life and Times of "Merchants of Speed"
I reviewed this book for Radioactive Drag Racing News; here is my opening paragraph:
"Two hundred thousand words and photographs worth millions of memories create the highly enjoyable book, "Merchants of Speed," teaching, entertaining, and rewarding readers with a unique view of the history of motor sports. Paul D. Smith (no relation) wrote this new book by integrating the stories and images of 26 key entrepreneurs who conceived performance products and built companies at the industry's infancy. One early key . . . their marketing plan was an old fashion formula: hard work."
I summarized, some 1500 words later:
"Donna Navarro (of Barney Navarro Racing Equipment fame) added in the book's Afterword her thoughts on "the kids who started this pandemic (of hot rodding) . . . conquering any dream they had . . . by trading, borrowing, scraping, and scrounging . . . Honor was alive and individuals counted." She called Paul Smith "another romanticist (who) ventured along and fell victim to the siren of the passion" of hot rodding and racing. The reader is fortunate he put his love in this book."
read the whole review at [...]
Definitely buy the book.
Phillip Gary Smith, author
ULTRA SUPERIOR
