Roy D. Chapin

<p>"John Cuthbert Long’s Roy D. Chapin is a thorough and detailed biography of a remarkable but little-known Detroit automobile industry pioneer. Historians should include Roy Dikeman Chapin (February 23 1880–February 16 1936) in any listing of  significant American auto industry pioneers along with the Duryea brothers Ransom E. Olds Henry Leland Henry Ford William C. Durant and the Dodge brothers. Outside the cloister of automotive historians Roy Chapin is an unknown. This is in part because no company or car bore his name. Unlike many  contemporary auto pioneers Roy Chapin was a modest man who did not promote himself. Even Long’s superb biography of Chapin is not well-known because it was privately printed in 1945 with a small press run. In reprinting this volume Wayne State University Press is making an important contribution to automotive history."<br />—From the introduction by Charles K. Hyde Department of History Wayne State University</p>