Diego Rosenberg

My first memory (when I was 2) was playing with my dad's 1967 Cougar. No interesting vehicles followed till I was of driving age, but the cast had been set - I was a certified car nut. Several years later, our new neighbors had family that owned a Pontiac dealership across the border in Elmer, NJ, which influenced my love for the Wide-Track brand.

But don't think I became a one-trick pony, as travel to foreign countries and having French family friends warmed me up to Citroen. My parents were not into cars (but supported my interests), but car books from my youth showed me plenty of interesting and odd cars from around the world, such as the Ford Taunus, Panhard Dyna, Borgward Isabella, IKA Torino, and even American ex-pats like the Dodge GTX from Argentina.

Yet high-performance cars were always tugging at my sleeve. I scored a '70 4-4-2 W30 ragtop when I was 15, which educated me on another brand, although Musclecar Review, Musclecars, Guide to Muscle Cars, and Musclecar Classics (not to mention Collectible Automobile) magazines were seminal in my education.

In recent years, after a recessionary lull, I managed to score a stint at Hot Rod magazine, but it's my extensive experience in the hobby (which includes being the announcer for the Pure Stock Musclecar Drag Race in MI) that was the likely impetus for CarTech to approach me with their book idea.

That book, "Selling the American Muscle Car: Marketing Detroit Iron in the 60s and 70s", was an adventure in learning about how the different manufacturers catered to the youth and high-performance market. The experience has changed my paradigm on how I view the cars from the era, and I sincerely wish my efforts are worthy for your personal library.

ADDENDUM: Book won a Gold at the International Automotive Media Registry:

https://automediaregistry.org/26th-iamc-results/