Indie Auto

Tesla’s ‘code red situation’ is obscured by forms of denial

by Steve in Current Events 0

Tesla’s automotive operations are facing a moment of truth — but all too often it has been obscured by forms of denial. Automotive News (2025) illustrates how this has played out in the media. A recent unsigned editorial called upon Elon Musk to either focus more attention on Tesla or “appoint someone else to lead the company on a day-to-day basis — an automotive equivalent to Gwynn Shotwell, the COO who has long kept a steady hand on SpaceX.” While it is possible that Tesla might benefit from such a move, it misses what strikes me as the bigger problem: [...]

Was the 2002-5 Ford Thunderbird two-seater inspired or stupid?

April 22, 2025 3

I have mixed feelings about the 2002-5 Ford Thunderbird. I am glad the automaker brought back the storied nameplate and think that this generation had a few interesting design touches. That said, the car strikes me as bigger than [...]

It’s too bad that the late-70s big Chrysler didn’t become a stretched Volare

April 21, 2025 28

(EXPANDED FROM 12/30/2022) This story operates on two levels. The first one is how the car-buff media could be wrong in its predictions about future products. The second level looks at how slow the Chrysler Corporation was in coming to [...]

Skamania General Store bus truck front quarter

Old-fashioned Skamania may have anticipated the automobile’s future

by Steve in Photo Essay 0

How small is the hamlet of Skamania? So small that its focal point appears to be a general store that doesn’t have much food, there is only one gas pump, and the restroom consists of an outhouse in the far reaches of the parking lot. However, one can find some interesting roadside attractions — and two of them arguably anticipate the automobile’s future. [...]

Commentators explain how a fat Corvette stops space aliens

April 19, 2025 0

Some of the web’s most important writing is buried in auto blog comment sections. One of my all-time favorites is a soliloquy by Truth About Cars commentator Petezeiss (2014). In response to criticisms of the 2015 Corvette Z06’s weight [...]

How might John Z. DeLorean have done as head of AMC?

April 18, 2025 26

(EXPANDED FROM 7/15/2021) A few years ago Curbside Classic commentator Chris Cieslak (2021) noted that American Motors toyed with the idea of hiring John Z. DeLorean after he left General Motors. This brings up an interesting “what if?” [...]

Knudsen’s favored 1972 Mark IV design borrowed from the Eldorado

by Steve in Links 7

(EXPANDED FROM 8/5/2022) A few years ago Dean’s Garage posted a fascinating story about the battle over the 1972 Lincoln Continental Mark IV’s styling. Jim and Cheryl Farrell (2022) described how a design proposal championed by Ford President Semon “Bunkie” Knudsen beat out one pushed by Executive Vice President Lee Iacocca. The story and comment [...]

Implosion of early-1950s compacts hints at product-proliferation dangers

April 15, 2025 9

The most significant postwar trend among independent automakers was a rush to compact cars. Between 1950 and 1953 four automakers came out with new entries. This would prove to be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, [...]

Early indications of Toyota embracing its inner Virgil Exner

April 14, 2025 3

(EXPANDED FROM 10/25/2021) The above photograph shows the beginning of Toyota’s embrace of sci-fi styling. In the foreground, the second-generation Sienna minivan (which was produced from 2003 to 2009) had simple but attractive [...]

Richard Teague interview hints at why he needed stronger oversight at AMC

April 8, 2025 10

Lately I have been listening to an interview David Crippen did with Richard Teague in 1985. This was a few years after Teague retired from leading the design staff of American Motors (Wikipedia, 2025). The interview was frustrating because [...]

Richard Langworth’s death raises questions about auto history’s future

by Steve in Readings 0

Indie Auto reader Zachary Morecraft suggested in the “Story Idea Bank” that we do a piece on Richard M. Langworth, who died February 20 at the age of 83. Langworth was such a towering presence within the American auto history field that I am surprised his passing has not generated more attention. Wikipedia (2025) lists three-dozen auto history books that [...]