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Autoline Detroit: Why Detroit Emerged as the Automotive Capital of the World

25 November 1999

Autoline Detroit: Why Detroit Emerged as the Automotive Capital of the World

    DETROIT, Nov. 24 -- A special combination of entrepreneurs,
venture capital, technical expertise and geography combined to make Detroit
the automotive capital of the world, according to an hour-long special of the
television program Autoline Detroit.  The special includes interviews with
automotive historians who analyze why Detroit became such a hotbed of
automotive development, and why this wasn't repeated in other areas of the
country.  The special also looks at the major product innovations that
transformed the horseless carriage from being a curiosity into an everyday
necessity.  The program airs on Detroit Public Television at 10:30 a.m. on
Sunday, November 28.
    "In the early part of this century, Detroit was the Silicon Valley of its
day," said John McElroy, the host of Autoline Detroit.  "It took an incredible
amount of risk, willpower, and guts to get that fledgling industry off the
ground."
    The historians interviewed include Bob Casey, the curator of
transportation at the Henry Ford Museum; Jim Wagner, a member of the Advisory
Board to the Automotive Hall of Fame; Mark Patrick, the curator of the
National Automotive Historical Collection at the Detroit Public Library; and
Mike Davis, an author, journalist and historian.
    The hour-long special helps to kick off Detroit Public Television's fall
pledge drive.  "We're asking all our viewers to pitch in and show their
support for the only television program in the country that covers the auto
industry," McElroy said.  "Money talks, and this is an important measure of
how much support there is in the community for programming like this."
    You can watch "Autoline Detroit" and its companion program the "Nightly
Automotive Report" on the internet at http://www.theautolink.com .