A glorious and nostalgic celebration of a defining period in American car culture--the 1950s to the 1970s, the golden age of Detroit's icons of the road--when automobile design was at its peak and the car itself was synonymous with a vision of success in America. Auto America offers a compelling look at three decades (the 1950s, '60s, and '70s) of America's fascination with the automobile. At a time when self-driving vehicles and climate change are transforming driving around the world, John G. Zimmerman's pictures capture the optimism and even utopianism of a beloved period in American car culture. Many of Zimmerman's photographs were originally taken for Life , Time , and Sports Illustrated magazines and highlight diverse aspects of America's auto industry at its zenith; they feature not only iconic cars of the era, which Zimmerman chronicled comprehensively at car shows and in studio assignments throughout the period, but also a behind-the-scenes look at the people who designed, built, collected, exhibited, and raced them. With more than 200 photographs and drawing on the John G. Zimmerman Archive's collection--including his best-known photographs of Fords, Chryslers, and GMs in their heyday alongside ephemera, tear sheets, and outtakes from his assignments--the book celebrates the automobile's central place in American culture during those decades when the timeless silhouettes of classic cars ruled the roads.