Putting His Passion Into Words

The painted ladies of Detroit paraded through the decade of the 1950s clad in flashy turquoise, hot mustard, glossy black and flaming orange. Long, sleek bodies weighted with glitzy chrome and bubble skirts called out on behalf of the era to the generations to come, "Don't you just love me?"
Tom Brownell, editor and author of over 1,500 vintage vehicle articles and publications, syndicated columnist for Motor News Media and professor of Languages and Literature, teaches his "Culture of the Automobile" students that society expresses itself through its automobiles.

"You can look back and see the connection between the automobile and society at the time," said Brownell. "The flamboyance of the 1950s, for example, wasn't an ‘in your face' affluent era, but the war was won, and there was an optimism that pervaded society that was expressed in the cars. The garish paint jobs, the chrome, the ornaments and long cars reflected an emotional excess-'this is how we feel.'"

The spark that got Brownell into automotive writing came from studying under Pulitzer Prize-winning author Don Murray at the University of Vermont. "Don believed there was no point in writing unless you published your work, so he pushed us just ferociously to publish our stuff," Brownell said. "I think I published about 35 to 50 articles that first year."

Brownell has continued to write prolifically, having published 16 books including his most recent, "How to Restore Your Collector Car," and "Chevrolet Pickup Buyer's Guide," both in the second edition of printing. His current work, "Automotive Refinishing," will be published in 2000.
Brownell is editor of This Old Truck magazine and US correspondent for Off-Road and Auto Mondial, the leading German and Romanian automotive enthusiast magazines. He has appeared on PBS "World of Collector Cars."

"The car represents the history of this century," said Brownell. "That's part of what I try to communicate in my culture class. One group of students looked at pictures of cars of different eras and then made associations between what they saw in the styling and what they thought the era was like. They were right on target.

"The current SUV craze represents incredible affluence, but it also represents the deterioration of our society from a structural standpoint, with road rage and such. I don't know if those vehicles encourage it, but they certainly allow it."

The classics that Brownell loves to write about, such as the ostentatious beauties of the 1950s, speak of a gentler time. "The size of the car wasn't to run somebody off the road. It was that people felt so expansive," said Brownell.

The 1954/55 MG TF, the last of the traditional tub roadsters, is Brownell's automobile of choice from an attractiveness standpoint. "It's not an especially powerful car, but it is a beautiful one." Like all of the vintage charmers that appear in Brownell's works, its glamour only improves with age.