A while back Indie Auto reader Geeber asked about what happened to Chrysler Corporation’s market share in the premium-priced field after Dodge went downmarket in 1960. He was referring to a major corporate shakeup where […]
(EXPANDED FROM 12/4/2020) Industrial Strength Design: How Brooks Stevens Shaped Your World, is a relatively old book but it still offers useful insight into one of the more influential independent U.S. auto design consultants of […]
Histories about the Stout Scarab tend to emphasize that it was the first production minivan (Peek, 2021; Wikipedia, 2023). However, this innovative 1930s car strikes me as also being the granddaddy of the 1960s camper […]
(EXPANDED FROM 1/22/2021) The 1933-42 Willys gets far less attention than it deserves. The model 77 and its successors were important because they anticipated the American compacts of the 1950s and 1960s. In addition, the […]
(UPDATED FROM 2/19/2021) Histories written by practicing automotive journalists are usually engaging reads with lots of behind-the-scenes anecdotes. However, they can also be analytically superficial and grounded more in access than accountability journalism. In other […]
(EXPANDED FROM 6/16/2021) According to Ed Cray’s (1980) Chrome Colossus, in 1932 Cadillac was in danger of being discontinued when a young service manager named Nicholas Dreystadt crashed a General Motors’ executive committee meeting to […]
(EXPANDED FROM 3/1/2020) Once upon a time a Truth About Cars commentator lauded the simplicity of the then-new Jeep Renegade. “Well, I for one am yearning for a simpler time, and this vehicle suggests that,” […]
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. […]
(EXPANDED FROM 4/2/2021) Newly declassified intelligence documents show how a crash program by American automakers to switch to eggcrate grilles for their 1972-73 models thwarted a space alien invasion. The strategy worked so well that […]
(EXPANDED FROM 1/15/2021) The 1938-40 Graham is a popular topic in the auto history media because of the car’s infamous “sharknose” styling. What gets little, if any, attention is that even if the design had […]
Copyright © 2022 Olympia, Earth Media, LLC | All rights reserved