How Well Do You Know Your Automotive Mysteries?

The book: History’s Greatest Automotive Mysteries, Myths, and Rumors Revealed
Author: Matt Stone & Preston Lerner
Pages: 256
Purchase: Click here

Did you hear about it? Read about it somewhere? See it online?

The internet and social media are awash with stories, articles, and tweets about so-called factual stories. Of course, while the majority of the information is usually true when it is coming from a reputable source, things get far murkier when information gets passed down, again, and again. Trust, but verify.

Fact checking has its origins in the early 20th century, when editors of newspapers and periodicals began to check and verify statements made before publication, increasing the credibility and trustworthiness of the articles, and documents. Today, fact checking is most often associated with political journalism, but, of course, can be used in any field, including the automotive one.

Authors Matt Stone, and Preston Lerner, both well established automotive journalists and authors—the duo also collaborated on the Paul Newman racing biography, Winning—this time turn their attentions on some of the most popular automotive-based controversies in History’s Greatest Automotive Mysteries, Myths, and Rumors Revealed: James Dean’s Killer Porsche, NASCAR’s Fastest Monkey, Bonnie and Clyde’s Getaway Car, and More.

You’ve probably heard some of these stories before, but you’ve never heard them told in this amount of detail: Was James Dean’s Porsche Spyder cursed? Did Steve McQueen do all of the stunt driving in Bullitt? Were all the Ford’s Model T’s actually painted black? Did NASCAR legend Smokey Yunick really drive away in a race car with the gas tank removed? Did the outlaws Clyde Barrow & John Dillinger write “thank you” letters to Henry Ford telling him how they only drove Ford V-8’s because they were the fleetest, best for making a successful getaway? Did Rodney King actually get his 68-horsepower Hyundai Excel up to 115 mph during the infamous chase, as some eyewitnesses say he did? Was oil heiress Sandra West really buried in her favorite Ferrari? Did a monkey by the name of Jocko Flocko really win a Grand National race? The answers might not be what you think, and Stone and Lerner get to the bottom of these…and more.

The authors divide up their selections into six different sections: Urban Legends, Crime, Racing, Hollywood, Death, and Inside Industry. With a critical eye, a bit of common sense, and backed by copious research, interviews, and photographs, the authors dissect the twenty-five tales told within, and certify them as true, or false.

In the vein of Ripley’s Believe It or Not, this book aims to get at the facts of the matter, and put to rest some automotive urban legends. A reader is bound to get engrossed into more than a few of the stories told within, and while some are more interesting than others, and the focus is decidedly American-centric, Stone and Lerner’s book is a fun read, and an easy way to pass some time.

Sometimes, facts really are stranger than fiction, but who doesn’t love to be surprised—while learning new things about cars?

Purchase: History’s Greatest Automotive Mysteries, Myths, and Rumors Revealed

Images Source: amazon.com