Welcome to the December edition of Indie Auto. Most of my time in the last month was spent on the lead story, “Did a rumor cause the downsized 1962 Plymouth and Dodge?” This started as a quick-response piece but morphed into one of the longest postings I’ve written for Indie Auto.
At the LeMay Collection’s annual car show last August I saw a 1958 Edsel with an unusually ambitious customization that included a retractable roof. This car epitomizes the over-the-top glitziness of the late-50s, so it now has its very own photo essay.
In other news, our far-flung auto industry correspondents discuss Hakan Samuelsson’s recent comments about “flight shaming” (go here). The Volvo CEO was recently quoted in Automotive News as saying that this climate-protection practice leads down “a very dangerous path” (Bolduc, 2019). For more background, check out Michael Birnbaum’s (2019) story in the Washington Post.
I’ve gotten so backed up in writing stories to go with my automotive photos that I decided to start running wordless galleries. Our first contestant is a 1964 Studebaker Daytona convertible.
A book mini-review of Brock Yates’ The Decline and Fall of the American Automobile Industry is reposted because his perspective is central to Indie Auto’s approach. One of the goals of this website is to go beyond merely enjoying old cars and also gain a deeper understanding of why American automakers experienced one of the most spectacular industrial collapses of the last century.
As discussed on the Introduction page, articles are living documents that are improved in response to feedback and new information. For example, I started to fix a data problem with “The rise and fall of the Thunderbird” and ended up significantly rewriting and expanding this story.
Meanwhile, “1938-40 Graham: Live by glitz, die by glitz” has a bit of additional information and clearer language about pricing.
Reading list:
- Riding the Roller Coaster: A History of the Chrysler Corporation, by Charles K. Hyde. Key question: Does a scholarly author provide more thorough and astute analysis of Chrysler’s management decisions from the late-1940s through the mid-1970s?
- Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis, by Jared Diamond. Key question: Is his method of assessing the capability of a nation to transcend a crisis — which is grounded in the psychology of trauma — applicable to American automakers during the tumultuous 1960s?
How often do you post?
The front page of this website is updated around the first of each month. Typically included is a mix of new and reposted material.
In addition, Indie Auto’s Facebook page and Twitter feed include a handful of “best of” stories from around the web. Lately new posts have been added roughly every other week.
RE:SOURCES
- Birnbaum, Michael; 2019. “Europe’s flight-shame movement has travelers taking trains to save the planet.” Washington Post (subscription required). Posted August 2; accessed November 28.
- Bolduc, Douglas A.; 2019. “Why Volvo’s boss is no fan of ‘flight shame.'” Automotive News (subscription required). Posted November 5; accessed November 28.
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