Glib, charismatic and larger than life, Carmichael enjoyed her first 15 minutes of fame during the fuel crisis of 1974. At the time, she was billing herself as a maverick who planned to “rule the auto industry like a queen” by selling a low-cost, high-efficiency three-wheeled vehicle—the Dale—described in promotional literature as “the most exciting new car of this century” and “dollar for dollar, the best car ever!” You didn’t have to be a professional fact-checker to realize that this was too good to be true. Sure enough, within a year, Carmichael was indicted after authorities discovered that the Dale...
