Alice Huyler Ramsey lived from 1887 to 1983 and was the first woman to drive across America from coast to coast.

She graduated Vassar in 1907. On June 9, 1909, the 22-year-old housewife and mother from Hackensack, New Jersey began a 3,800 mile adventure from Hell's Gate in Manhattan, New York in a green Maxwell 30, which she drove and serviced all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge at San Francisco, California. There they landed amid great fanfare on August 10. She was accompanied on her fifty-nine day trek by two older sisters-in-law and another woman friend , none of whom could drive a car.

In later years, she lived in Covina, California, where in 1961 she wrote and published the story of that remarkable journey, "Veil, Duster, and Tire Iron." Between 1909 and 1975, Ramsey drove across the country more than 30 times. On October 17, 2000 she became the first woman inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame.

"Good driving has nothing to do with sex. It’s all above the collar." (Ms. magazine, p. 17, February 1975).