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Auto biography: a classic car, an outlaw motorhead, & 57 years of the American dream

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Varies, see individual formats and editions
Pub. Date:
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Language:
English
Description

A brilliant blend of Shop Class as Soulcraft and The Orchid Thief, Earl Swift's wise, funny, and captivating Auto Biography follows an outlaw auto dealer as he struggles to save a rusted '57 Chevy—a car that has already passed through twelve pairs of hands before his—while financial ruin, government bureaucrats and the FBI close in on him.

Slumped among hundreds of other decrepit hulks on a treeless, windswept moor in eastern North Carolina, the Chevy evokes none of the Jet Age mystique that made it the most beloved car to ever roll off an assembly line. It's open to the rain. Birds nest in its seats. Officials of the surrounding county consider it junk.

To Tommy Arney, it's anything but: It's a fossil of the twentieth-century American experience, of a place and a people utterly devoted to the automobile and changed by it in myriad ways. It's a piece of history—especially so because its flaking skin conceals a rare asset: a complete provenance, stretching back more than fifty years.

So, hassled by a growing assortment of challengers, the Chevy's thirteenth owner—an orphan, grade-school dropout and rounder, a felon arrested seventy-odd times, and a man who's been written off as a ruin himself—embarks on a mission to save the car and preserve long record of human experience it carries in its steel and upholstery.

Written for both gearheads and Sunday drivers, Auto Biography charts the shifting nature of the American Dream and our strange and abiding relationship with the automobile, through an iconic classic and an improbable, unforgettable hero.

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ISBN:
9780062282668
9780062282675
9780062333544
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Grouping Information

Grouped Work ID98e1d9b7-d7f8-624d-3c11-354adc276ba7
Grouping Titleauto biography a classic car an outlaw motorhead and 57 years of the american dream
Grouping Authorearl swift
Grouping Categorybook
Grouping LanguageEnglish (eng)
Last Grouping Update2024-03-28 02:11:39AM
Last Indexed2024-03-28 02:24:37AM

Solr Fields

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0
auth_author2
Itzin, Greg
author
Swift, Earl, 1958-
author2-role
Itzin, Greg,reader
hoopla digital
author_display
Swift, Earl
available_at_catalog
Central
detailed_location_catalog
Central
display_description

A brilliant blend of Shop Class as Soulcraft and The Orchid Thief, Earl Swift's wise, funny, and captivating Auto Biography follows an outlaw auto dealer as he struggles to save a rusted '57 Chevy—a car that has already passed through twelve pairs of hands before his—while financial ruin, government bureaucrats and the FBI close in on him.

Slumped among hundreds of other decrepit hulks on a treeless, windswept moor in eastern North Carolina, the Chevy evokes none of the Jet Age mystique that made it the most beloved car to ever roll off an assembly line. It's open to the rain. Birds nest in its seats. Officials of the surrounding county consider it junk.

To Tommy Arney, it's anything but: It's a fossil of the twentieth-century American experience, of a place and a people utterly devoted to the automobile and changed by it in myriad ways. It's a piece of history—especially so because its flaking skin conceals a rare asset: a complete provenance, stretching back more than fifty years.

So, hassled by a growing assortment of challengers, the Chevy's thirteenth owner—an orphan, grade-school dropout and rounder, a felon arrested seventy-odd times, and a man who's been written off as a ruin himself—embarks on a mission to save the car and preserve long record of human experience it carries in its steel and upholstery.

Written for both gearheads and Sunday drivers, Auto Biography charts the shifting nature of the American Dream and our strange and abiding relationship with the automobile, through an iconic classic and an improbable, unforgettable hero.

format_catalog
Book
eAudiobook
eBook
format_category_catalog
Audio Books
Books
eBook
id
98e1d9b7-d7f8-624d-3c11-354adc276ba7
isbn
9780062282668
9780062282675
9780062333544
itype_catalog
Adult Book Non-Fiction
last_indexed
2024-03-28T09:24:37.294Z
lexile_score
-1
literary_form
Non Fiction
literary_form_full
Non Fiction
local_callnumber_catalog
629.2 S977 2014
owning_library_catalog
Sacramento Public Library
owning_location_catalog
Central
primary_isbn
9780062282668
publishDate
2014
publisher
HarperAudio
HarperCollins
itbooks, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
recordtype
grouped_work
subject_facet
Antiques
Arney, Tommy
Automobiles
Chevrolet automobile -- Conservation and restoration
Chevrolet automobile -- Social aspects -- United States
Collectibles
Science
Technology
Transportation
title_display
Auto biography : a classic car, an outlaw motorhead, & 57 years of the American dream
title_full
Auto Biography : a classic car, an outlaw motorhead, and 57 years of the American dream [electronic resource] / Earl Swift
Auto Biography A Classic Car, an Outlaw Motorhead, and 57 Years of the American Dream
Auto biography : a classic car, an outlaw motorhead, & 57 years of the American dream / Earl Swift
title_short
Auto biography
title_sub
a classic car, an outlaw motorhead, & 57 years of the American dream
topic_facet
Antiques
Arney, Tommy
Automobiles
Biography & Autobiography
Chevrolet automobile
Collectibles
Conservation and restoration
History
Nonfiction
Science
Social aspects
Technology
Transportation

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hoopla:MWT11589025Online Hoopla CollectionOnline HooplaeAudiobookAudio Books1falsetrueHooplahttps://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11589025?utm_source=MARC&Lid=hh4435Available Online

record_details

Bib IdFormatFormat CategoryEditionLanguagePublisherPublication DatePhysical DescriptionAbridged
overdrive:2859de3a-93dc-4a5c-afb7-2a20396ea067eBookeBookEnglishHarperCollins2014
ils:.b22863904BookBooksFirst editionEnglishitbooks, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers[2014]355 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 24 cm
hoopla:MWT11589025eAudiobookAudio BooksUnabridgedEnglishHarperAudio20141 online resource (1 audio file (12hr., 03 min.)) : digital.

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