Indie Auto

Why do Japanese automakers continue to make their vehicles look so scary?

by Steve in Current Events 4

My biggest takeaway from a trip to the 2024 Seattle auto show last week was how automakers continue to try to out outdo each other in making their cars and trucks looks scary. Why? Clotaire Rapaille, arguably the originator of the scary-looking vehicle, posits that car buyers tend to make decisions based upon their “reptilian brain,” which [...]

Was GM’s approach to 1970s car design superior to Mercedes-Benz’s?

November 19, 2024 3

For its September 1973 issue, Motor Trend published a pro/con feature asking whether “romantic” styling was dead. In other words, did new considerations such as safety and pollution laws as well as more emphasis on [...]

Foster and Glatch’s AMC book is splashy but suffers from pom-pom waving

November 18, 2024 5

I feel torn in writing a review about The Complete Book of AMC Cars (2024). New auto history books are rare enough these days that anyone who navigates the gauntlet of getting published deserves applause. At the same time, I think [...]

Dan Neil: Auto journalists feel great pressures

by Steve in Quotes 4

“The entire environment is incestuous. They introduce new cars. They fly journalists in and put them up at really nice hotels and, you know, treat them to experiences that they would never possibly in a million years — they wouldn’t even be allowed in these hotels ordinarily. You know, and that’s not supposed to affect their judgment. But it is [...]

1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk: A match made in hell

November 12, 2024 16

(EXPANDED FROM 4/2/2021) After Studebaker and Packard combined in 1954, Motor Trend anticipated the possibilities of the two automakers sharing resources. For example, the magazine imagined Studebaker’s lightweight cars [...]

Motor Trend dares to complain that 1974 personal coupes had grown too big

November 11, 2024 2

Motor Trend magazine’s 1974 road test of seven personal coupes may have been rather vapid in many respects, but it did offer one useful critique. Writer Jim Brokaw complained that the largest models — the Ford Thunderbird, Buick [...]

1971-74 Dodge Charger: Making the most of a questionable idea

by Steve in Data Dive 15

(EXPANDED FROM 5/16/2023) In response to the interesting conversation in the comment thread about Chrysler’s early-70s compacts, I thought it could be useful to expand on a data dive I did a while back on the 1971-74 Dodge Charger. This was arguably the single most ambitious new Chrysler passenger car of the early-70s. Chrysler’s 1971 mid-sized [...]

Readers brainstorm ideas for future Indie Auto stories

October 14, 2022 112

This is a centralized place for readers to offer specific story ideas to Indie Auto. Any ideas are welcome, from potential feature stories to book reviews. I have started off by posting suggestions from readers [...]