Background
Ramsey was born Alice Taylor Huyler, the daughter of John Edwin Huyler, a lumber dealer, and Ada Mumford Farr.
Ramsey was born Alice Taylor Huyler, the daughter of John Edwin Huyler, a lumber dealer, and Ada Mumford Farr.
She attended Vassar College from 1903-1905.
On her 59-day trek she was accompanied by two older sisters-in-law and another female friend, none of whom could drive a car. They arrived amid great fanfare on August 7. The drive was originally meant as a publicity stunt for Maxwell-Briscoe, the carmaker.
At that time, women were not encouraged to drive cars.
The group of women used maps from the American Automobile Association to make the journey. Only 152 of the 3,600 miles (244 of the 5,767 kilometers) the group traveled were paved.
Over the course of the drive, changed 11 tires, cleaned the spark plugs, repaired a broken brake pedal and had to sleep in the car when it was stuck in mud. The women mostly navigated by using telephone poles, following the poles with more wires in hopes that they would lead to a town.
Along the way, they crossed the trail of a manhunt for a killer in Nebraska, received a case of bedbugs from a Wyoming hotel, and in Nevada they were surrounded by a Native American hunting party with bows and arrows drawn.
In San Francisco, crowds awaited them at the Saint James Hotel. was named the "Woman Motorist of the Century" by American Automobile Association in 1960. In later years, she lived in West Covina, California, where in 1961 she wrote and published the story of her journey, Veil, Duster, and Tire Iron. Between 1909 and 1975, drove across the country more than 30 times.
She died on September 10, 1983, in Covina, California.
On October 17, 2000, she became the first woman inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame. "Good driving has nothing to do with sexual
lieutenant’s all above the collar.".
Quotations: "Good driving has nothing to do with sexual lieutenant’s all above the collar.".