Auto Biography: A Classic Car, an Outlaw Motorhead, and 57 Years of the American Dream
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.64 (684 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0062282662 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 368 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-10-26 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
The author tells Arney’s story deftly and with great, often raw, humor, and it rarely loses momentum. --Mark Levine . In addition to owning a North Carolina strip club, Arney runs an auto-junkyard-cum-used-car-lot (neither is quite an adequate description). When not in major legal or financial difficulty, Arney—an informally educated, erratic, but remarkably well-informed individual, articulate both in profane and more standard English—and his remarkable crew perform herculean work (meticulously described here) in restoring automobiles. The tale of the ’57 Chevy’s passage from owner to owner until purchased (and laboriously prepared to be sold) by Arney is fittingly contextualized within the central place of the automobile (in particular, this automobile, a classic) in American culture. From Booklist This is a fascinating dual biography of Tommy Arney—described as a
History of modern times, people and machines. William W. Hopper I have listened to this book a number of times, and it is a great story line. I have since given it to friends, who have shared it with other friends. If you are a motorhead, gearhead, or interested in Virginia modern history, this book is great. Good book good people. james whitley I personally know Tommy,Paul,Skinhead and Earl I was around during the 57' wagon project even did some work on it my self . Had a blast working with the guys on various projects . Tommy is a great guy and would do and help anybody people take him wrong or piss him off and he's your worst enemy . I hope we get to do another car with all the same guys . Good job on book Earl . "Big, Bold, Brash, and Well-Researched" according to JPfromOH. Earl Swift's Auto Biography is a great example of primary source reporting in action. It also happens to be a fascinating interweaving of the story of Tommy Arney, the "outlaw motorhead" of the books subtitle and the story of a 1957 Chevrolet, one of the most iconic American automobiles in history. Swift traces Arney's rough and tumble life over the same 57-year period as that of one particular '57 Chevy wagon. Although the life of a school dropout turned classic car dealer, strip club owner, restaurant owner, and cancer survivor might not seem to have much to do with the automobile, the two stories are beautifully interwoven. This
It's open to the rain. 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.. 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