What do you think?
Rate this book
Auto America: Car Culture: 1950s-1970s--PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN G. ZIMMERMAN
A glorious and nostalgic celebration of a defining period in American car culture—the 1950s to the 1970s, the golden age of Detroit’s icons of the road—when automobile design was at its peak and the car itself was synonymous with a vision of success in America.
Auto America offers a compelling look at three decades (the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s) of America’s fascination with the automobile. At a time when self-driving vehicles and climate change are transforming driving around the world, John G. Zimmerman’s pictures capture the optimism and even utopianism of a beloved period in American car culture.
Many of Zimmerman’s photographs were originally taken for Life, Time, and Sports Illustrated magazines and highlight diverse aspects of America’s auto industry at its zenith; they feature not only iconic cars of the era, which Zimmerman chronicled comprehensively at car shows and in studio assignments throughout the period, but also a behind-the-scenes look at the people who designed, built, collected, exhibited, and raced them.
With more than 200 photographs and drawing on the John G. Zimmerman Archive’s collection—including his best-known photographs of Fords, Chryslers, and GMs in their heyday alongside ephemera, tear sheets, and outtakes from his assignments—the book celebrates the automobile’s central place in American culture during those decades when the timeless silhouettes of classic cars ruled the roads.
Auto America offers a compelling look at three decades (the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s) of America’s fascination with the automobile. At a time when self-driving vehicles and climate change are transforming driving around the world, John G. Zimmerman’s pictures capture the optimism and even utopianism of a beloved period in American car culture.
Many of Zimmerman’s photographs were originally taken for Life, Time, and Sports Illustrated magazines and highlight diverse aspects of America’s auto industry at its zenith; they feature not only iconic cars of the era, which Zimmerman chronicled comprehensively at car shows and in studio assignments throughout the period, but also a behind-the-scenes look at the people who designed, built, collected, exhibited, and raced them.
With more than 200 photographs and drawing on the John G. Zimmerman Archive’s collection—including his best-known photographs of Fords, Chryslers, and GMs in their heyday alongside ephemera, tear sheets, and outtakes from his assignments—the book celebrates the automobile’s central place in American culture during those decades when the timeless silhouettes of classic cars ruled the roads.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published October 25, 2022
About the author
Linda Zimmerman
11 books20 followersLinda Zimmerman is likely the only writer/realtor in Southern California who is an expert on food, kitchen design, equipment, appliances and cookbooks — and who can whip up a meal from one of her own books.
She is the author of "Puddings, Custards and Flans" and "Chicken Soup," and the co-author of "Grills and Greens," which was nominated for a James Beard Award in 1994. She is also the co-author of the best selling "Cobblers, Crumbles & Crisps and Other Old-Fashioned Fruit Desserts."
Starting her career in the film business, she worked on features such as "A Bridge Too Far," "Straight Time" starring Dustin Hoffman, and the musical, "Grease," starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. She also worked in the television industry on shows like “Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show” and “Laverne & Shirley.” After participating in the making of the premiers of “Grease” across the country, she decided to cook professionally and formed Quel Fromage, a wholesale-retail cheesecake company. While operating Quel Fromage, she accepted the position as Associate Director of the Ma Cuisine Cooking School, an adjunct of the celebrity favorite West Hollywood restaurant, Ma Maison where Wolfgang Puck was then chef.
Linda created and published,“The Food Yellow Pages,” the first comprehensive directory of the professional food world for Los Angeles in 1988 with restaurateur Susan Fine. A revised 2nd edition was published in a few years later. Today, the directory has a cult following.
Her articles have appeared in many publications, including the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Woman’s Day, Food Arts, Food & Wine, Good Food, Growing Wealth, the Gault-Millau Food Paper, the Los Angeles Times, the Daily News, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, the San Francisco Chronicle, the LA Weekly and the San Diego Union. She has also edited publications, cookbooks and tested recipes for some of the top chefs and writers in the Los Angeles area.
Linda often is a guest on local radio talk shows and is a frequent speaker at various local colleges and universities. She has hosted several local radio and TV food shows, has appeared nationally on ABC-TVs The Home Show, and was profiled at work in her own home on a featured segment of the Better Homes and Gardens TV Network show, Working At Home. Most recently she was a guest on daytime TV’s first reality series, Starting Over. She has been a featured author on the website: www.Cookstr.com several times.
Linda is also a Realtor at Compass in Beverly Hills. Originally from Chicago, she lives in the Los Angeles area and has two cats, LilyRose and OliveJune.
She is the author of "Puddings, Custards and Flans" and "Chicken Soup," and the co-author of "Grills and Greens," which was nominated for a James Beard Award in 1994. She is also the co-author of the best selling "Cobblers, Crumbles & Crisps and Other Old-Fashioned Fruit Desserts."
Starting her career in the film business, she worked on features such as "A Bridge Too Far," "Straight Time" starring Dustin Hoffman, and the musical, "Grease," starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. She also worked in the television industry on shows like “Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show” and “Laverne & Shirley.” After participating in the making of the premiers of “Grease” across the country, she decided to cook professionally and formed Quel Fromage, a wholesale-retail cheesecake company. While operating Quel Fromage, she accepted the position as Associate Director of the Ma Cuisine Cooking School, an adjunct of the celebrity favorite West Hollywood restaurant, Ma Maison where Wolfgang Puck was then chef.
Linda created and published,“The Food Yellow Pages,” the first comprehensive directory of the professional food world for Los Angeles in 1988 with restaurateur Susan Fine. A revised 2nd edition was published in a few years later. Today, the directory has a cult following.
Her articles have appeared in many publications, including the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Woman’s Day, Food Arts, Food & Wine, Good Food, Growing Wealth, the Gault-Millau Food Paper, the Los Angeles Times, the Daily News, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, the San Francisco Chronicle, the LA Weekly and the San Diego Union. She has also edited publications, cookbooks and tested recipes for some of the top chefs and writers in the Los Angeles area.
Linda often is a guest on local radio talk shows and is a frequent speaker at various local colleges and universities. She has hosted several local radio and TV food shows, has appeared nationally on ABC-TVs The Home Show, and was profiled at work in her own home on a featured segment of the Better Homes and Gardens TV Network show, Working At Home. Most recently she was a guest on daytime TV’s first reality series, Starting Over. She has been a featured author on the website: www.Cookstr.com several times.
Linda is also a Realtor at Compass in Beverly Hills. Originally from Chicago, she lives in the Los Angeles area and has two cats, LilyRose and OliveJune.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 20, 2023
Having been born in the early 1950s close to Detroit, Michigan I am very familiar with cars produced from the 1950s to the 1970s. I even owned a few.
My home town of Milford is just a few miles from the GM Proving Grounds. Many was the time when my friends and family would ride by the site and see new cars being driven and tested. I remember seeing an atomic powered car!
In Auto America Car Culture 1950s-1970s, from Rizzoli New York, with photos by John G. Zimmerman and written by Linda Zimmerman and Greg Zimmerman and Darryl Zimmerman, readers are treated to photos from the three decades showcasing cars, locations, behind-the-scenes, car shows, domestic gatherings and more.
The book is truly a trip down Memory Lane for me. So much looks familiar. I can practically smell the leather, oil, gas and accompanying scents and feel the air and locations pictured.
During The Golden Era of car design and culture (the 1950s to the 1970s) it was easy to identify one car manufacturer’s car from other manufacturers.
Cars had personalities, allure, offered unique experiences and the promise of the open road. America was on the move and Detroit’s cars fit the bill.
Forget self-driving vehicles, autos that are more computer than machine and mini-environments.
Back then cars were raw, powerful, easy to work on, parts were readily available and back yard mechanics flourished.
Included in the book are examples of car ephemera, advertisements, designs and so much more.
Cars were more than a mere form of transportation. They were a reflection of the times and society of their time. Cars were America from their flashy chrome bumpers right down to their custom hubcaps.
America ruled the auto industry and like its citizens American cars were diverse, came in all sizes and fit every budget-big or small.
My home town of Milford is just a few miles from the GM Proving Grounds. Many was the time when my friends and family would ride by the site and see new cars being driven and tested. I remember seeing an atomic powered car!
In Auto America Car Culture 1950s-1970s, from Rizzoli New York, with photos by John G. Zimmerman and written by Linda Zimmerman and Greg Zimmerman and Darryl Zimmerman, readers are treated to photos from the three decades showcasing cars, locations, behind-the-scenes, car shows, domestic gatherings and more.
The book is truly a trip down Memory Lane for me. So much looks familiar. I can practically smell the leather, oil, gas and accompanying scents and feel the air and locations pictured.
During The Golden Era of car design and culture (the 1950s to the 1970s) it was easy to identify one car manufacturer’s car from other manufacturers.
Cars had personalities, allure, offered unique experiences and the promise of the open road. America was on the move and Detroit’s cars fit the bill.
Forget self-driving vehicles, autos that are more computer than machine and mini-environments.
Back then cars were raw, powerful, easy to work on, parts were readily available and back yard mechanics flourished.
Included in the book are examples of car ephemera, advertisements, designs and so much more.
Cars were more than a mere form of transportation. They were a reflection of the times and society of their time. Cars were America from their flashy chrome bumpers right down to their custom hubcaps.
America ruled the auto industry and like its citizens American cars were diverse, came in all sizes and fit every budget-big or small.
July 31, 2026
”As a physical extension of the human body, a sublimated manifestation of our inner emotions, or an expression of social identities inflected by race, class, and gender, the motorcar presents rich territories for artists to explore.”
-ALINE LOUCHHEIM, "The Automobile in Modern Art," The New York Times, September 20, 1953
The best moment of this book takes place on page 70. The preceding 69 pages are very well done photos, but stick to mostly magazine photos of cars, crowds of people admiring cars, and people manufacturing cars. Suddenly though you turn to a double page spread that features a wall of smoke. In the corner are some small figures who all stand as if they don’t really know what to do. Flip the page and the scenes gets bleaker. Two men stand in front of an all consuming wall of black smoke that might as well be a mile high. The following double page spread shows two different men standing in the ruins of a burned down plant. Another spread plops you in an endless field of wreckage. Then we go back to our regularly scheduled programming and get inundated once again with glossy images of cars, factories, and concert halls where an orchestra plays and dancers frolic before the launch of the ‘56 Lincoln.
The few photos of the 1953 Hydra-Magic plant inferno I cannot seem to find anywhere online - maybe that makes checking out this book from the library worth it. John Zimmerman’s photos are excellent, but as someone who is not super into cars most of these pictures did not spark much emotion in me. If anything the people photographed here are more interesting than the vehicles. Still worth a page through though.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews