Indie Auto

Chrysler’s collapse in premium-priced field was a bigger deal than Edsel’s

by Steve in Data Dive 9

(EXPANDED FROM 6/23/2023) A while back Indie Auto reader Geeber asked about what happened to Chrysler Corporation’s market share in the premium-priced field after Dodge went downmarket in 1960. He was referring to a major corporate shakeup where Dodge was given low-priced entries, initially under the Dart nameplate. I should start by acknowledging squishiness in historical accounts. Lanny Knutson [...]

Peter Wilding: With power comes the need for control

February 19, 2025 1

Peter Wilding had technical problems posting a comment so I’m running it as a stand-alone letter to the editor. If you experience a similar issue, send your comment here. Know that I rarely withdraw a commentator’s posting [...]

US automakers made vain promises in early-1970s to beat back imports

February 18, 2025 0

In response to soaring import sales in the early-1970s, US automakers made brave promises of a counterattack. In retrospect, many of those promises sound decidedly hollow. For example, in the wake of a critical review of the 1969 [...]

Roy D. Chapin Jr. showed little self awareness when recounting AMC tenure

by Steve in Links 1

Once upon a time the Henry Ford museum sponsored an automotive design oral history project. Among the people interviewed was Roy D. Chapin Jr., who led American Motors from 1967-77. The Automobile in American Life and Society (2025) lists around one hundred oral histories, but a goodly number of them aren’t actually available at [...]

Remembering the dark side of 1960-70s American ‘muscle cars’

February 15, 2025 4

“Don’t want to rain on the parade of a nice article, but reading about Duster 340’s always makes me sad. Back in 1970 a close friend skrimped and saved all his money from summer and part-time jobs to buy a new 340. Three [...]

A road sign with a sense of humor?

February 16, 2025 2

I have long thought that American government could communicate more effectively if it used a senes of humor once in a while. Thus, I was intrigued by this sign on an obscure rural highway in Maui, Hawaii. Was the sign turned upside down — and put unusually low on its post [...]

First-generation Scirocco was trendy but didn’t look like a Volkswagen

by Steve in Design Notes 26

(EXPANDED FROM 1/16/2023) Yesterday Aaron Severson weighed in on the original Volkswagen Scirocco, so this is a good time to expand on a piece I wrote a few years ago after finding a rare — and rather weathered — specimen in the wild. On his Patreon website, Severson (2025) was pretty dismissive of the car. He argued that [...]

1971-72 Dodge Demon shows Chrysler both at its best and worst

February 13, 2025 1

The 1971-72 Dodge Demon is a weird historical anomaly in that it showed the Chrysler Corp. at both its best and worst. Giving the compact A-body an entry-level sporty coupe turned out to be the automaker’s single smartest move of [...]

US automakers made vain promises in early-1970s to beat back imports

February 18, 2025 0

In response to soaring import sales in the early-1970s, US automakers made brave promises of a counterattack. In retrospect, many of those promises sound decidedly hollow. For example, in the wake of a critical review of the [...]

How much did postwar automakers decontent cars to keep the price down?

February 10, 2025 6

Indie Auto commentator Peter Wilding (2025) raised a good point when noting that he “never understood the idea of deliberately decontenting a car to be able to advertise a lower price, when hardly anyone actually buys the car like [...]

Was the 1963-64 Studebaker Avanti a fatal mistake?

by Steve in Fake Design 36

(EXPANDED FROM 4/22/2022) The 1963-64 Studebaker Avanti has been described by historian Patrick Foster as “one of the most beautiful automobiles ever to grace the road” (2008, p. 138). Even so, the premium-priced sporty coupe was arguably a commercial failure. Studebaker could have plausibly extended its time as an automobile [...]

Chrysler’s collapse in premium-priced field was a bigger deal than Edsel’s

Letter to the Editor

Peter Wilding: With power comes the need for control

History

US automakers made vain promises in early-1970s to beat back imports

Roy D. Chapin Jr. showed little self awareness when recounting AMC tenure

Quotes

Remembering the dark side of 1960-70s American ‘muscle cars’

Random Shots

A road sign with a sense of humor?

First-generation Scirocco was trendy but didn’t look like a Volkswagen

Gallery

1971-72 Dodge Demon shows Chrysler both at its best and worst

History

US automakers made vain promises in early-1970s to beat back imports

Drive-By Musings

How much did postwar automakers decontent cars to keep the price down?

Was the 1963-64 Studebaker Avanti a fatal mistake?

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Editor’s Note

A thank you to recent donors and an update on new initiatives

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