PUBLISHERS DESCRIPTION:
Here is a comprehensive and witty account of the history of motoring in Ireland from the introduction of the motor car in the 1890s to the present day, written by well known journalist and broadcaster John O'Donovan.
In the early years, motoring was the preserve of wealthy enthusiasts, some of whom founded the Irish Automobile Club -later the RIAC-in 1901 to protect and advance their interests. One of its first successes was the organisation of the famous 1903 Gordon Bennett race, held over a special course in counties Kildare, Carlow and Laois. In time, motor traders as well as motor owners organised themselves and in 1922 the Irish Motor Agents' Association was founded. It quickly became an influential body, and was the direct forerunner of the modern Society of the Irish Motor Industry.
In 1917 the first car plant in Ireland was established at Cork by Henry Ford, himself
the grandson of a Corkman. His enormous ego was matched by that of the only man with whom he ever entered into a partnership, Harry Ferguson from Co. Down. Ferguson was an inventor of genius, an autocrat and, with Ford, probably did more to develop the mechanisation of farming than any other individual. This flamboyant individualism was maintained in more recent times by Stephen O'Flaherty and Con Smith, each of whom made his fortune by taking on the Irish agency for what seemed unpromising continental marques - Volkswagen and Renault - with brilliantly successful results.