Looking for a book on historical lemons
 

Not the Ralph Nader book, it's a coffee table book I saw at Barnes &
Noble several years back that I regret not picking up at the time. I
don't remember the title or the author, but I do remember that the
cover illustration was a picture of a lemon (the kind used to make
lemonade) with a steering wheel and wheels stuck on it. Most books on
lemons focus on cars made in the last 30 years, but this one had cars
going all the way back to the beginning of the history of the
automobile. In fact, the first entry was the fardier invented by
Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot in 1771, because he attached the steam boiler
in such a way that the full weight bore down on the front wheel and
the driver had to have had arms like a gorilla to steer the thing. I
also remember a picture of a car with 8 wheels from the early part of
the 20th century, as well as more commonly known lemons like the Edsel
and the BMW Isetta.

Anyone familiar with the book I'm talking about that can supply the
author and title?

Thanks.

Looking for a book on historical lemons
 

This is probably the book you seek.


http://www.amazon.com/Lemon-Sixty-He...791179&sr=1-62

Forrest

Looking for a book on historical lemons
 

On Jan 8, 3:23*am, Otto Skorzeny > wrote:
> This is probably the book you seek.
>
> http://www.amazon.com/Lemon-Sixty-He...lures/dp/15602...
>
> Forrest

R&T and S.I.A. might be able to suggest some, too.
Maybe Society of Automitive Historians can lend a hand.

Most failures are from lack of finance.

Looking for a book on historical lemons
 

On Jan 8, 3:23*am, Otto Skorzeny > wrote:
> This is probably the book you seek.
>
> http://www.amazon.com/Lemon-Sixty-He...lures/dp/15602...
>
> Forrest

Afraid that doesn't look like it. According to the description, it
covers the 1950s to 1990s, and the one I'm thinking of went back a lot
further.

Looking for a book on historical lemons
 

From Wickedpedia:
"A lemon is a defective car that, when purchased new or used, is found by
the purchaser to have numerous or severe defects not readily apparent before
the purchase. Any vehicle with these issues can be termed a 'lemon,' and, by
extension, any product which has major flaws that render it unfit for its
purpose can be described as a 'lemon.'"
********

The Edsel was indeed not a lemon, and it really wasn't that ugly. Most
American cars made 1958 and 1959 were pretty gaudy.
I've seen 2 books about lemons and both of them blur the difference between
what is a bad car and what is an unsuccessful car. Some cars listed as
lemons were neither bad nor unsuccessful.
I hope the people that write these books don't actually make a living
spreading this misinformation.

Ken D.

"Robin Banks" wrote:
> The Edsel was not a "lemon". It was a line unwanted by then chairman of
> Ford
> Robert Mcnamara, who did everything he could to stop it before it was even
> called "Edsel", and everything he could afterwards, finally succeeding in
> Nov
> 1959. Being released during a recession in the USA didn't help either.
>
> It had a very successful introduction despite his meddling, hardly a
> lemon.
>
> --
> ~~R.Banks