By Paul Ingrassia
Paul Ingrassia's Engines of Change is a spirited ride through Americana, especially "the automobiles that have influenced how we live and think as Americans" (p. 341). Hop in. You're going to enjoy the journey.
But this book isn't intended to be about great cars, fast cars, or famous cars, although it contains some of each. . . . The cars in this book either changed American society or uniquely captured the spirit of their time. By those criteria most cars, even those regardere as automotive icons, fall short" (p. 341).
I have traveled the pages of this book two times. This trip won't be my last. Engines of Change: A History of the American Dream in Fifteen Cars is that good. Interesting. Insightful. Enlightening. Humorous. It is all of that and more.
About Paul Ingrassia:
Paul Ingrassia (1950-2019) was a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist. His posts included Detroit Bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, President of Dow Jones Newswires, and former managing editor of Reuters News. Ingrassia co-authored Comeback: The Fall and Rise of the American Automobile Industry (1994), Crash Course: The American Automobile Industry's Road from Glory to Disaster (2010), and Engines of Change (2012). Paul Ingrassia battled cancer for years, finally succumbing to pancreatic cancer in 2019. Reuters paid a wonderful tribute as did Stephen J. Adler in ‘Magic act: A tribute to Paul Ingrassia.' You can read both by clicking here.
About the cars featured:
Here are the fifteen cars Ingrassia features along with a prominent figure associated with the ride. Remember, this is about impact, not popularity:
1. The Ford Model T (Henry Ford)
2. The General Motors LaSalle
3. The Chevrolet Corvette (Zora Arkus-Duntov)
4. The 1959 Cadillac (Chuck Jordan, Harley Earl, George Walker, Virgil Exner)
5. Volkswagen Beetle and Microbus (Ferdinand Porsche, Heinz Nordhoff)
7. Chevy Corvair (Ed Cole, Ralph Nader)
8. Ford Mustang (Lee Iacocca)
9. Pontiac GTO (John DeLoran)
10. Honda Accord (Shige Yoshida, Soichiro Irimajiri, Tetsuo Chinio)
11. The Chrysler Minivan (lee Iacocca, Hal Sperlich)
12. The BMW 3 Series (Herbert Quandt)
13. The Jeep
14. The Ford F-Series Pickup Truck
15. The Prius (Takeshi Uchiyamada)
A few takeaways:
1. Cars and culture: "Whether the cars shaped the culture or the culture shaped the cars is just another version of whether the chicken came before the egg, or vice versa. Let's just say it's both" (p. xx). I thought this comment insightful:
Hefner, Elvis, and the other cultural rebels of the day stood for bigger parties not for social justice or conservation or anything like that. I have a coincidence, self-indulgence offered Detroit a lot more profit potential than self-denial. Cars that were bigger and flasher cost more than cars that were plain and simple. So there was an odd, if often wary, alignment between America’s cultural rebels and its blue-suited corporate establishment. It was a perfect atmosphere for automotive extravagance (pp. 66-67).
One may not think of automobiles as a reflection of culture, but I think Ingrassia's assessment is spot on. What are the implications for today?
2. Dynamic Duos: Ingrassia highlights some of the powerful #2 leaders. James Couzens (an essential second to Henry Ford) and Takeo Fujisawa (second to Soichiro Honda) and Hal Sperlich (second to Lee Iacocca).
3. Persistence and vision: Duntov is the embodiment of both. See chapter 2, "Zora, Zora, Zora." His story is a lesson in pushing through difficulties, speaking up when you see something others don't, and leaning into your vision. His was the Corvette. "What's your Corvette?"
4. Seeing the value beyond the value: Duntov resisted the push to add a back seat to the Corvette even though Ford's additional seat was helping sell thousands of units. "The value must be gauged by effects it may have on an overall picture." "He was arguing that the Corvette's greatest value to Genearl Motors would lie not in its actual sales, but in its ability to help transform the lackluster image of Chevrolet" (p. 46).
5. Unsung Cultural Icons:
About Zora Duntov, George Will wrote: "If you do not mourn his passing, you are not a good American" (p. 55). George Will's eyes see further, his mind digs deeper than many. He recognized the significance of Duntov and the Corvette to America, the importance of fighting for an ideal, of understanding the importance of a flagship even though that flagship may not generate revenue, the necessity desire for ingenuity and the power of overcoming adversity.
6. The cost of a bad idea: "Ford hoped to sell 200,000 Edsels in the first year, but wound up selling just one-third that many. In November 1959, after two years of futility and $400 million in losses, Ford killed the Edsel before the car could kill the company" (p. 75).
7. The power of good advertising and self-deprecation.
VW decided not to attempt to "out-Detroit Detroit. The Volkswagen ads instead would be witty and self-deprecating befitting a car that looked, well, funny" (pp. 97-98). Their ad, "How do you think the snowplow man gets to the snowplow?" was voted the "Best Television Commercial of the Century" in 1999 (p. 100). Lesson: Advertise who you are. Don't try to play up something you are not.
8. Ironic Providence: Read the Ingrassia account of the Corvair, Ralph Nader, and the election of George W. Bush. "It can be safely said, at any speed, that the Chevy Corvair's legacy helped make George W. Bush president of the United States" (p. 139). This is not hyperbole.
9. Don't mock plain and effective: The Falcon of the 1960's was derided as bland. "Super low cost, zero personality." But Ford sold 417,174 Falcons during the car's first year.
10. Sometimes a budgetary challenge is a good thing: Ford lost $400,000,000 on the Edsel so proposed only a $50 million budget to build the Mustang. The car had to sell for under $2,500 and did. See Chapter 6.
11. Eat Crow! Early in his career, Soichiro Irimajiri had to publicly apologize to each member of the R&D team at Honda after his design of a piston caused them to lose a race. Later, he would reign over Honda's American manufacturing and lecture at Harvard Business School. Imagine what might not have happened had he quit or refused to eat crow. See pages 197 and 213.
12. Visionaries see what others do not: This is true of Iacocca (Mustang, Minivan), Soichiro Honda, John DeLorean, Harley Earl and so many more. Take the time to see, look ahead, and think.
Leaders Are Readers:
1. "The Marque of Zora" 1972 Sports Illustrated
2. Jerry Burton, Zora Arkus-Duntov: The Legend Behind Corvette (Cambridge, MA: Bentley Publishers, 2002).
My recommendation:
I read one reviewer's headline: "This is a car guys book." Yes it is, but it is so much more than that. Engines of Change shows off Ingrassia's impressive research, fascinating stories, delightful sense of humor, insights about the automotive world, and even more his understanding of the automobile's ability to shape America and American culture -- and to be shaped by it. Engines of Change is what you see at the intersection of cars and culture. Not a crash, but an interesting parade of progress.
Ingrassia writes, "The great American road trip was always about searching for something meaningful, more or less" (p. 295). The author gives us that meaningful "more." I highly recommend Engines of Change: A History Of The American Dream In Fifteen Cars.
