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Louie Mattar's Fabulous Car

by Heidi Lewis

A cross-country car built for an audacious challenge

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AlbakiReads Editorial

A cross-country car built for an audacious challenge

Louie Mattar’s fascination with cars grows into hands-on mechanical work and a long project: modifying the family car so it could travel across the country without stopping. The description places the achievement in 1952, after five years of work, and notes that the car still runs and is displayed at the San Diego Automotive Museum. The book connects an inventive vehicle to the practical labor behind it—mechanical knowledge, craftsmanship, tinkering, and problem-solving—making the car itself a way into Mattar’s biography and an unusual chapter in automotive history.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Children ages 9–12 interested in cars and mechanical inventions
  • Young readers who enjoy biographies about craftspeople and inventors
  • Readers curious about ambitious automotive projects and road travel

Themes

Automotive innovationCraftsmanship and mechanical problem-solvingPersistenceBiography and technology

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

"Louie Mattar was crazy for cars.... If it had a motor and four wheels, Louie went wild." From a vehicle-obsessed child, Louie grew into a knowledgeable mechanic and craftsman who always had to be tinkering, solving problems that seemed impossible and dreaming up innovations that no one else considered. Soon, he was modifying the family car to enable it to travel across the country without stopping--a feat he accomplished after five years of work, in 1952. The Fabulous Car still runs and is on view at the San Diego Automotive Museum, where it first inspired author Heidi Lewis to write about it.As a child, Heidi Lewis always dreamed of what was just beyond the road ahead. She's also fascinated by bizarre gadgets and outrageous quests, so when Heidi spied the Fabulous Car at the San Diego Automotive Museum, it was love at first sight. Heidi is a native of Southern California. Learn more at https: //www.heidilewis.info/.Jordi Vila Delcl
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