Book excerpt: Award-winning automotive historian, author, and photographer Dennis Adler takes you on a whirlwind tour through more than a century of automotive history, from the first production motorcar, the 1886 Benz Patent Motorwage, to fabled makes including Hispano-Suiza, Duesenberg, packard, and Hudson More than 200 stunning color photographs define and detail the remarkable styling and revolutionary mechanical engineering for 100 greatest cars ever built. Adler, in accordance with the world's leading automotive dseigners, collectors, and authorities, picks the top ten cars of all time--breathtaking cars that have become the motoring icons of the twentieth century. The Art of the Automobile reveals not only the makes and models that have left an indelible mark on the motoring world, but why and how these specific cars have become so important to the history of the automobile itself. For anyone whose pulse quickens at the sound of a Ferrari V-12, or whose heart races at the sight of a glorious 1930s Duesenberg, here, truly, is the essential car book of the century.