Wheels of Change: From Zero to 600 M.P.H.: the Amazing Story of California and the Automobile

by Kevin Nelson

Winner of the Valentine Memorial Award for Excellence in Automotive History and a finalist for Best Book of the Year by the Los Angeles Motor Press Guild, Wheels of Change is the story of automobiles in California from the horseless carriage era of the 1890s to the jet cars of the 1960s.And what a story it is! Award-winning author Kevin Nelson brings to life the personalities that have helped shape this story, from all-time great race driver Barney Oldfield, to design marvel Harley Earle (creator of the Corvette), to Hollywood stars such as Steve McQueen and James Dean, who drove hard, lived hard, and loved fast automobiles. Nelson covers the birth and growth of hot rodding in California, dry lakes racing, automobiles in movies, motor racing on the Coast, automobile races from New York to California, George Barris, Dean Jeffries and the development of the custom car craze, "low-riding," Californian Craig Breedlove and his "Spirit of America" land speed racer, and so much more in this wonderfully written and researched history.

403 pages, Paperback

First published September 28, 2009

About the author

Kevin Nelson is the award-winning author of Operation Bullpen, The Golden Game, Lunches With Mr. Q, and many other books.