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Month: August 2023
Literature
When did U.S. automobile ads start to display more racial diversity?
(EXPANDED FROM 8/25/2021) A few years ago Paul Niedermeyer (2021) wondered whether a 1961 Oldsmobile marketing image displayed people of color. The short answer is “no,” which we will talk about later in this story. […]
Links
Hudson’s radical WWII concepts and Pierce-Arrow’s downmarket pivot
The other day I intended to take a quick cruise through the Automotive History Preservation Society’s virtual library. Instead, I ended up spending a meaningful amount of time reading articles that had been reposted from […]
Media Analysis
Is Patrick Foster right that AMC’s biggest mistake was not buying Jeep earlier?
A recent Hemmings column by Patrick Foster (2023) argues that American Motors’ biggest mistake was not buying Willys Motors — the maker of Jeep sport-utility vehicles — way back in the early-60s. Indeed, he went […]
Photo Essay
Still motion: A haunting encounter with a 1940s Chevy truck
(EXPANDED FROM 11/20/2020) The National Park Service is renovating the Kestner homestead near Lake Quinault. However, one item is being left to nature’s whims — a circa 1941-46 Chevrolet panel truck once used in a […]
Quotes
Chevrolet Corvair advertising shows gender roles in 1960s
“Chevrolet marketers wanted to preserve ‘sportiness’ and ‘performance’ as masculine activities, but at the same time realized that women appreciated a good-handling car as much as their male counterparts. So, Chevrolet repurposed the performance attributes […]
Data Dive
Late-60s fastbacks: Not ready for prime time?
(EXPANDED FROM 13/23/2022) Today fastbacks are so common that you can even find them on family sedans. That’s a big shift from the late-1960s, when fastbacks were restricted to a few sporty coupes. “The very […]
Design Notes
1968-69 Oldsmobile Cutlass: Was this a peak moment for GM styling?
(EXPANDED FROM 7/16/2021) The Oldsmobile Cutlass tends to receive less attention than General Motors’ other three 1968-69 mid-sized cars. This is unfortunate because the Cutlass was arguably the cleanest of the bunch. Let’s go a step […]
Data Dive
Four-door subcompacts were not exotic in late-60s and early-70s
(EXPANDED FROM 5/16/2022) The rise of the four-door subcompact has generated a debate here at Indie Auto (go here), so let’s bring a few more facts to the table. I have not found any import […]
Quotes
Robert Cumberford: Car grilles suffer from ‘wretched excess’
“Grilles serve as a car’s face, so it is important to use them as marks of identity, and they should be big enough to be recognizable. But there’s a limit that necessarily comes into the […]