Drive down the streets of St. Louis City, and you can almost feel the tugs of what was dreamed within a region that hung many of its hopes on building the great American automobile."We will be bigger than Detroit when it comes to building automobiles." Who could dispute that widely-held belief when the best automotive engineering, the first American sports car, vehicles that helped win wars, and inventions that redefined automobiles were born here in the Gateway City? They Will Run provides a new interpretation of the automotive history that pops up around every corner in St. Louis. From some of the wisest and most committed early independent builders to assembly plants for each of the Big Three, the Gateway City provided not only support for early European emigrant travelers in the 18th and 19th centuries but also for the road travelers of the 20th century and beyond.Open these pages to experience the road behind the wheel of a vehicle built here in St. Louis. Meet the men who took a pencil to paper or a wheel to the road or a hot air balloon to the skies and impacted the great American automobile. Learn about or be reminded of the ways St. Louis was and is at the center of the United States beyond simple geography.With this second edition, local authors and car enthusiasts Tom Eyssell and Molly Butterworth take you through the pages of history and further down that road with sites and maps to open the gates to a new way of experiencing firsthand the history of the automobile in St. Louis.