Tom Swift and His Electric Runabout; or, The Speediest Car on the Road (Tom Swift Series Book 5)

iv, 216, [4] pp. "Tom Swift (in some versions Tom Swift, Jr.) is the name of the central character in five series, totaling over 100 volumes, of juvenile science fiction and adventure novels that emphasize science, invention, and technology. The character was created by Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book-packaging firm. His adventures have been written by a number of different ghostwriters over the years. Most of the books are published under the collective pseudonym Victor Appleton. The 33 volumes of the second series use the pseudonym Victor Appleton II." "The book opens with Barton Swift & son discussing a trip to Long Island, NY, to enter a race for electric automobiles. Tom has been working on a new rechargeable battery that he feels would be ideal for use in a racing automobile, due to its' endurance and quick-charge capabilities. The discussion is interrupted by a series of violent noises coming from the roof of the house. Mr. Damon has added airships to the list of vehicles he has crashed while piloting, by tangling the Red Cloud's running gear (See Book #3) in the house's chimney. Tom has another run-in with Andy Foger, who now is driving a new 4-speed auto. This further hardens his resolve to build the "Speediest Car on the Road," one with a 100mph top speed. The Fogers, (father and son) have it in for the Swift family, and now plan to ruin them financially by breaking the bank where Tom & Barton keep their funds. The FDIC had not yet been invented, and running out of cash could cause a bank to fail, when depositors lost faith in the institution and withdrew their deposits. Not willing to wait for financial ruin to set in, Andy and his cohorts Sam & Pete, join a gang called The Deep Forest Throng, and kidnap Tom. Tar & feathers as well as some lumps, are in Our Hero's future. Tom also manages to survive near-electrocution, when an old nemesis sabotages his new machine. Poor Tom, who is now a bit tattered and crispy around the edges, vows to stay home and out of trouble, for a while. (Yeah, right!) A solution to the bank's problems, and mastering the rigors of racing 500 miles in a prototype vehicle are all told in the remainder of the story."--https://www.tomswift.info/homepage/runabout.html