
| Adam Daggett's romance started in a Minnesota mud hole. His
little blue Teal dragged Pauline Bautwood's Gomez-Dep from the mud
hole. It was love at first sight and Adam bashfully stalked her down
the long, danger-fraught auto trek, all the way to Seattle. This was
the summer of 1916. America was gearing itself up to become a world
power among nations. Opportunities to be a part of that upward surge
were exploding everywhere, but mostly, just over the hill. It was still a primitive America and it hadn't quite decided yet if steam cars, electric cars, or that back-firing contraption called a gasoline engine auto would match the throbbing beat being hammered out in the Song of the Open Road. Many of those romantic auto names are forgotten now, named after a sweetheart, or a tall building, with shade tree factories springing up that only turned out 2, or 3 autos before the company collapsed and the dream died of a broken heart, forsaken. |

| Their names are forgotten, but America has never forgotten the
lure bigger than mud that beckoned the adventurous soul to chase the
nostalgic dream of a happier life, somewhere down the road – maybe
Seattle, or San Diego. The lure of the open road lifts Adam and
Pauline out of their stilted, type-cast roles and casts them as
adventurers that hear a light-hearted melody that America will
always remember, just me and my girl in my powerful Oldsmobile. Until autos were seriously accepted, the perils lurking along the primitive, muddy roads west of the Mississippi promised to sideswipe Adam's impossible dream of a steamy romance with the saucy-eyed, high-society girl with a desperate hold on her own steering wheel that he hopes to fall in love with. Even though he can't shoo a bull or rope a marauding bear, he relentlessly pursues this girl of his dreams. Adam's only hope is that his derring-do in the grease pit will make her eyes sparkle brighter than the diamond-starred ring that engages her to a rich, high-society gentleman. Adam leaves his small town garage behind and risks everything he has in order to turn himself into the kind of young man he hopes Pauline would love in spite of everything. His chances dwindle, mile after mile, until at last he has only one last chance left to throw his hat into the ring, where a certain snorting bull of the woods with murder and mayhem on his mind is wrecking everything in Adam's little china shop. This poignant love story comes illustrated with 19 bright pictures of a few of those old cars that Grandpa could not resist. The plot is based on the classic 1924 novel, FREE AIR, penned by Sinclair Lewis, a famous author of that era.
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