Wheels of history
From the Model T and DB5 to the VW Beetle and the Hummer
Henry Ford jump-started the age of the automobile with the first assembly-line car in 1908: the Model T. Over the next century the automobile evolved from chugging workhorse to tail fin–era showboat to sleek status symbol, complete with sleek hood ornament. Initially a novelty item, the car grew into a necessity of the modern age, and a vector of freedom on the open road.

20th Century Classic Cars offers a lush visual history of the automobile, decade by decade, via 400-plus print advertisements from the Jim Heimann Collection.

Using imagery culled from a century of auto advertising, this book traces the evolution of the auto from horseless carriage to rocket on wheels—and beyond. With an introduction and chapter text by New York Times automotive writer Phil Patton, as well as an illustrated timeline, this volume highlights the technological innovations, major manufacturers and dealers, historical events, and influence of popular culture on car design. Time-travel through the Automobile Age with a collection that puts you in the driver’s seat. A TASCHEN classic, now in a new size at an irresistible price!

Phil Patton writes about car design for The New York Times and is a contributing editor to I.D. magazine. He was a consultant for Curves of Steel: Streamlined Automobile Design at the Phoenix Art Museum and Different Roads: Automobiles for the Next Century at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.