Colonel Albert Pope and His American Dream Machines: The Life and Times of a Bicycle Tycoon Turned Automotive Pioneer

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McFarland, Jan 13, 2009 - Transportation - 263 pages

In the 1890s Colonel Albert A. Pope was hailed as a leading American automaker. That his name is not a household word today is the very essence of his story.

Pope's production methods as the world's largest manufacturer of bicycles led to the building of automobiles with lightweight metals, rubber tires, precision machining, interchangeable parts, and vertical integration. The founder of the Good Roads Movement, Pope entered automobile manufacturing while steam, electricity, and gasoline power were still vying for supremacy. The story of his failed dream of dominating U.S. automobile production is an engrossing view into America's industrial history.

 

Contents

Preface
1
1 The Watershed
3
2 Lumbering Is What Popes Do
19
3 A Bloody Crucible
33
4 He Casts His Lot
58
5 Wheels for All
66
6 Milking the Market
91
7 Indispensable Roads
115
10 Like a Dog with a Bone
166
11 Triumphant Return
181
12 Parting
201
13 Leaving His Mark
207
Epilogue
220
The Ford Enigma
233
Pope Manufacturing Company Corporate Genealogy
237
Bibliography
241

8 The Wunderkind
124
9 A Patented Formula
143

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About the author (2009)

Stephen B. Goddard practices law and teaches history and public policy at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. The author of three books, he also writes for HistoryWire.com.

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