Once Upon a Car is the brilliantly reported, inside-the-boardrooms-and-factories story of Detroit's fight for survival, going beyond the headlines to chronicle how the country's Big Three auto companies teetered on the brink of collapse and pulled themselves together under new leadership at Ford and government assistance to General Motors and Chrysler. In this riveting true account of an iconic industry in crisis, Bill Vlasic takes readers from the gleaming corporate skyscrapers, massive auto plants, and union halls to the U.S. Congress and into the Oval Office, introducing a cast of memorable characters, many of whom are speaking out for the first time. Once Upon a Car is a uniquely American tale of success, failure, and redemption, chronicling a vitally important chapter in an astonishing story that is still unfolding--a story no one is more qualified to tell than Bill Vlasic.

Once Upon a Car is the brilliantly reported story of Detroit's fight for survival, chronicling how the country's Big Three auto companies--General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler--teetered on the brink of collapse during the 2008 financial crisis. Bill Vlasic takes readers behind closed doors and into the executive offices, assembly plants, and union halls to introduce a cast of memorable characters, many of whom speak out for the first time, including the executives who struggled to save their companies but in the end had to seek a controversial, last-gasp rescue from the American government. The story moves from the gleaming corporate skyscrapers and massive auto plants to the U.S. Congress and into the Oval Office, where President Obama and his aides wrestled with how to keep General Motors and Chrysler from going out of business. Vlasic shows why the bailout worked, and how Detroit can succeed under new leadership and build automobiles equal to any in the world.