Month: April 2023
Maryann Keller: General Motors once again punished its media critics
“GM’s old critics were sharpening their knives. In January [1992] David E. Davis, editor and publication director of Automobile magazine, gave a biting speech to the Washington Auto Press Association in which he blasted past […]
Should a nonprofit auto history group create a credible data bank?
(EXPANDED FROM 4/16/2021) One of the challenges of working with automotive sales and production data is that the most easily-available sources don’t always appear to be accurate. Thus, it felt validating to come across a […]
1946 Hudson shows what made automaker so important — and vulnerable
Here’s an idea I would invite Indie Auto readers to test drive: Hudson’s demise had the biggest long-term impact on the U.S. auto industry of any independent automaker that merged or died in the 1950s. […]
Reader opines on why U.S. automakers weren’t competitive with imports
Ole stopped by to respond to the post, “Gordon Buehrig on Ford’s attitude about small cars circa 1960.” It wasn’t until the early-1960s that the entire European auto industry produced more cars than Chevrolet or […]
Five questions about Aaron Severson’s take on American Motors
Ate Up With Motor’s Aaron Severson (2023) stopped by Curbside Classic last week to post an epic series of comments about American Motors. The thing that most struck me about his 11 comments — which […]
Mercury took station wagons to the outer limits in 1957-60
A “Story Ideas Bank” request asked for more coverage of station wagons, so let’s take a step in that direction with a brief look at the 1957-60 Mercury. The Ford Motor Company invested heavily in […]
Defective 1977-79 Continental Mark V showed how Lincoln lost its way
(EXPANDED FROM 8/2/2021) Some buyers of the 1977-79 Lincoln Mark V waited up to eight weeks to receive exclusive designer-series models . . . that turned out to have defective paint. At least that’s Jack […]
Gordon Buehrig on Ford’s attitude about small cars circa 1960
“Fred Hooven was a very good friend of mine and had a much bigger job at Ford than I did. He worked for Mike Ference. Henry Ford asked Ference — this was in 1960. He […]