Indie Auto

Automotive News’ sense of urgency on climate change amounts to empty words

by Steve in Media Analysis 0

Automotive News (2024) recently posted the editorial, “Believe the storms: Climate change is real.” The piece has a decidedly retro quality because it makes an argument that major media outside the auto industry acknowledged long ago. This is yet another example of how Detroit still suffers from an insularity which “matches that of any West Virginia hollow” (McCall, 2002). Better late than never, I suppose, but the editorial is [...]

Is the decline in distinctive national approaches to car design a bad thing?

October 14, 2024 4

(EXPANDED FROM 5/18/2022) Karl Ludvigsen has a website called Why Cars Are So Bad. A few years ago he posted on it the text of a speech he delivered back in 1989. Included in his remarks was a question that I think is still important: [...]

Redesigned 1958 Chevrolet was sort-of successful in pushing back against Ford

October 11, 2024 11

Ford’s aggressive efforts to retake the top-selling crown from Chevrolet reached a crescendo in the 1957 model year, when it out-produced its rival by more than 170,000 units. Ford’s main advantage was a new body with lower, [...]

You know things are bad when an Automotive News reporter swears off new cars

by Steve in Current Events 13

I recently came across an Automotive News column that I never thought I would see — a reporter who argued against buying a new car. Richard Truett (2024) explained that in recent years he has only bought low-mileage, recent-vintage cars because new-car prices have risen so high. What’s more, he’s not sure if he will ever buy a new car again. [...]

A deeper dive into why Chrysler’s 1962 B-body wasn’t a stretched compact

October 8, 2024 7

Our recent story on the 1962 Chrysler B-body (go here) has generated a debate among auto history writers. In the article, I sided with those who had argued that the downsized Plymouth and Dodge were not merely stretched [...]

Why did the 1968 Imperial sell so poorly in a booming market?

October 4, 2024 11

The domestic luxury-car field saw output rise by a healthy 11 percent in 1968, but the Imperial went in the opposite direction — down by almost 13 points. At least on paper, the Imperial should have done much better. It had a newer [...]

1941 Studebaker Commander: Ending its big cars on a high note

by Steve in Design Notes 7

(EXPANDED FROM 4/16/2021) The 1941 Studebaker Commander is noteworthy partly because of its lovely art deco styling, but also because it represents close to the last of the automaker’s big premium-priced cars. In 1939 Studebaker had come out with the Champion, which undercut the Big Three’s low-priced cars in size. The Champion [...]

Readers brainstorm ideas for future Indie Auto stories

October 14, 2022 112

This is a centralized place for readers to offer specific story ideas to Indie Auto. Any ideas are welcome, from potential feature stories to book reviews. I have started off by posting suggestions from readers [...]