Gallery
1970s
Readings
Mister Javelin: Guy Hadsall Jr. at American Motors
First-person accounts by lesser-known auto industry leaders can add to the historical record in surprising ways. This is why the SAH Press, which is an arm of the Society of Automotive Historians, should be lauded […]
History
George Romney made eight big mistakes at AMC
George Romney may have been one of the U.S. auto industry’s best post-war leaders, but he made eight big mistakes while leading AMC from 1954-62. Some of his bad moves were costly enough to almost […]
Readings
“Remember those great Volkswagen ads?”
This oversized hardback book is a compendium of Volkswagen advertisements produced by Doyle Dane Bernbach. The format is quite simple: The 364-page book consists almost entirely of ads — 500 in all. Content is grouped […]
Current Events
AMC Javelins look better without badly redone stripes
Hemmings’ current “Find of the Day” (2020) is a 1968 AMC Javelin in a lovely metallic blue. Unfortunately, this car — like all too many surviving sporty coupes from the 1960s and 1970s — does […]
Editor's Note
What’s new for May
The American auto industry’s religious devotion to bigger, glitzier and more powerful cars shifted into overdrive after World War II. This month’s front page shows a number of different facets of this phenomenon. Our top […]
Readings
Standard Catalog of Imported Cars, 1946-1990
I was inclined to get the more recent edition of the Standard Catalog of Imported Cars: 1946-2002 (Covello, 2001) until I read Amazon.com reader reviews. I don’t tend to take these reviews very seriously but noticed an […]
Data Dive
Was the ‘Ford blitz’ to blame for the collapse of independent automakers?
(EXPANDED 10/28/2022) A few years ago Richard M. Langworth argued that Ford’s aggressive attempt to overtake Chevrolet in 1954 received more blame “than it deserved” in undercutting the viability of independent automakers (2019, p. 16). […]
Editor's Note
Acknowledging the politics of auto history
The auto buff media tends to avoid discussing the political dimensions of the industry for good reason. Readers can have strong views, so why risk antagonizing anyone? Indie Auto doesn’t want to make anyone mad, […]
Bird Chatter