Publisher Description

The Catastrophic failure of a new but unproven copper-cooled Chevrolet in 1923 led the General Motors Corporation to buy back the 100 cars it had sold to the public and recall another 400 in company and dealer hands. As a result, in 1924 General Motors started building the industry's first scientific proving ground to test new vehicle designs before they were released for production and sale. Before this, all automakers tested new cars haphazardly on public roads and within limited engineering laboratories. Better known by the public as test tracks, the proving grounds became a source of curiosity for decades about the secrets they might hold. Detroit Area Test Tracks goes behind the test track walls to show how the facilities evolved and what typically takes place inside. Book jacket. The Images of America series celebrates the history of neighborhoods, towns, and cities across the country. Using archival photographs, each title presents the distinctive stories from the past that shape the character of the community today. Arcadia is proud to play a part in the preservation of local heritage, making history available to all. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Michael W.R. Davis, Yale alumnus and automotive historian, has covered the industry for 45 years as both journalist and public relations manager with the Ford Motor Company. Living in Detroit he experienced firsthand the small-town, one-industry bond, where the successes and failures of one could not help but affect the other. Mr. Davis served as corporate communications director of both the Detroit News and Evening News Association before becoming executive director of the Detroit Historical Society. General Motors: A Photographic History is to be the first in a series of three books with Arc

Review Text

Title: Proving Ground Primer Author: Matt DeLorenzo Publisher: Road & Track Date: 1/6/10 Pre-production vehicle testing is one of those concepts that car people take as a no-brainer. However, the auto industry was more than a quarter century old before GM broke ground on the first scientific proving ground in 1924 a year after it had to buy back 100 Chevys and recall an additional 400 in dealer stocks that had cooling issues. Mike Davis, a Detroit-area automotive historian has compiled a book "Detroit Area Test Tracks" that gives a photographic history of the Big Three's Michigan-based test tracks as well as a handful of other including Packard and Studebaker. The 128-page soft-cover is a treasure-trove of vintage photographs and plat maps that take you through the early stages of the car testing regimes that are taken for granted today. Priced at $ 21.99, the book is available from Arcadia Publishing (arcadiapublishing.com).

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