20th Century Classic Cars

Multilingual Edition: English, French, German. Time-travel through the Automobile Age with a collection that puts you in the driver’s seat. 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.

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.

"Not just for petrol heads: this is also a fascinating social and design history - and the vintage illustrations of elegantly dressed ladies are a treat."
The Lady, London