The Automobile as an Object of Desire: Kenneth Grahame, "The Wind in the Willows"

In Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind and the Willows," Mr. Toad, traveling with Mole and Rat in their horsecart, encounters his first automobile.
"Glorious, stirring sight!" murmured Toad. "The poetry of motion! the real way to travel! the only way to travel!"
"What are we to do with him?" asked the Mole. "Nothing at all," replied the Rat firmly. "He is now possessed."

As I explore the end of the golden age of the automobile and the love affair with the car, I also am looking at the origins of the affair.  Certainly this source raises important insights about the pioneering days of automobiling and the love affair  as it emerged.