Author's two automobiles? Almost (7)
I believe the answer is:
carroll
'author's' is the definition.
(Lewis Carroll)
'two automobiles? almost' is the wordplay.
'two automobiles?' can mean two replacements for 'automobile'.
'automobile' becomes 'car' (synonyms).
'automobile' becomes 'rolls' (short for Rolls Royce).
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'rolls' with its last letter removed is 'roll'.
'car'+'roll'='CARROLL'
(Other definitions for carroll that I've seen before include "Lewis - - , 28 creator" , "Pen name of Dodgson" , "Lewis -, Alice author" , "Lewis -- (Alice books)" , "Lewis -, Alice creator" .)