As head of Pierce-Arrow in its formative years, Colonel Charles Clifton played a significant role in the development of a venerated automobile manufacturer. Roundly respected in his time, Clifton was a force in automobile trade associations for nearly a quarter century but slipped into undeserved obscurity after his death in 1928. This biography covers Charles Clifton's role in the earliest conflicts and achievements of the American automobile industry and the growth of the Pierce-Arrow company, using industry publications and periodicals of the time as well as recollections of his associates and contemporaries. It details his wider importance in shaping the industry itself, especially his role in the controversies surrounding the Selden patent and the patent cross-licensing agreement between auto manufacturers. The impact of World War I on the industry and Clifton's activities responding to the vast operational changes the war brought about conclude the book.

Pioneers of the U.S. Automobile Industry uses four separate volumes to explore the essential components that helped build the American automobile industry - the people, the companies and the designs. This volume uses more than 450 photos to help weave the story of the risk-takers who helped shape the automotive industry from the very beginning. Pioneers and companies covered in this edition include: Charles and Frank Duryea Studebaker The Pratt Family and the Elcar Motor Care Company Joseph Moon Russell Gardner Louis Clarke George Pierce and Charles Clifton Packard/Joy/Macauley and the Packard Motor Car Company Edwin Thomas Ransom Olds Peerless Fred and August Duesenberg Kissel Brothers Hupp / Drake / Hastings / Young and the Hupp Motor Car Corporation Walter Flanders Chapin / Coffin / Bezner / Jackson / Hudson / McAneeny and The Hudson Motor Car Company Harry Stutz Harry Ford Graham Brothers Charles Nash

Vols. for 1919- include an Annual statistical issue (title varies).