Indie Auto

1967 Pontiac Grand Prix convertible grille closeup

1967 Pontiac Grand Prix convertible didn’t catch on

by Steve in Design Notes 10

(EXPANDED FROM 9/1/2023) Albert Fredrick Godwin stopped by to point out that our featured 1967 Pontiac Grand Prix convertible was his car. He had displayed it at an annual auto show hosted by LeMay Collections in Marymount. Let’s expand a bit about this fairly rare model. The Grand Prix was only offered as a convertible in 1967. And even though [...]

1954 Chevrolet was beginning of the end for GM’s brand hierarchy

April 21, 2026 18

(EXPANDED FROM 3/1/2024) This article’s comment thread has had a recent uptick in discussion, so let’s add a bit more analysis. The 1954 Chevrolet’s greatest claim to fame — or, more accurately, infamy — was contributing to the demise [...]

Bigger didn’t prove to be better for General Motors in late-70s and 80s

April 17, 2026 43

(UPDATED FROM 12/30/2022) A few years ago we had a debate in a comment thread about the importance of scale in the U.S. auto industry (go here). I thought I would add another layer to the conversation by discussing the decline of General [...]

The sad story about buying a 1981 Monte Carlo right out of college

April 9, 2026 2

Captain My Captain followed up a lengthy comment with a story about buying a 1981 Chevrolet Monte Carlo right out of college. At the end of his missive I learned that he publishes captainmycaptain.blog, whose slogan is “Every car is a [...]

Why the 1968-69 Javelin was not Richard Teague’s best AMC sporty coupe

by Steve in Drive-By Musings 9

In a comment thread to a recent story we have debated whether the original Javelin was Richard Teague’s best sporty coupe design. I would like to flesh out my rationale for why it wasn’t. This is a subjective take, but I think that it can help illuminate how AMC’s head designer contributed to the automaker losing its independence. The 1968-69 Javelin was [...]