Editor's Note
Thank you for helping make 2023 a good year for Indie Auto
I hope you had an enjoyable New Year’s Eve and see promise in the coming year. I also wanted to thank you for helping to make 2023 a good year for Indie Auto. As a […]
Aaron Severson
Media Analysis
Is Ate Up With Motor the ‘canary in the mineshaft’ for auto history media?
Right before Christmas Aaron Severson (2023) warned that “the future of Ate Up With Motor is looking quite bleak.” This strikes me as a wake-up call to the automotive history field. Severson is arguably one […]
Media Analysis
AROnline may get a reprieve and Jalopnik fiddles with AI-written content
Good news and bad news on the automotive media front. The good news is that AROnline has had a number of offers by individuals and groups to keep the website online, at least as an […]
Photo Essay
1962 Ford: Harbinger of stylish trucks rots in the woods
(UPDATED FROM 2/18/2022) Five miles up an unpaved road in the Olympic Mountains is a harbinger of today’s stylish trucks. Slowing decaying in the rainforest is a 1962 F-Series pickup. Rather than trying to cart […]
History
Who were the five worst leaders of postwar U.S. automakers?
(UPDATED FROM 5/7/2021) Warren Buffett has argued that the Number 1 problem a company can face is choosing the wrong chief executive officer. Buffett, who is CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has said that over the […]
History
Six mistakes that killed the AMC Pacer — and American Motors
(EXPANDED FROM 9/9/2022) The 1975-80 AMC Pacer may have been a memorable car, but it was also a key factor in American Motors’ demise as an independent automaker. What’s particularly tragic is that the Pacer’s […]
History
1962-64 Plymouth: The odd case of prescience interruptus
(EXPANDED FROM 8/28/2020) The 1962-64 Plymouth is one of the most prescient U.S. cars of the 1960s. Aside from the 1953 Plymouth, the 1962 redesign represented the first serious effort by a Big Three automaker […]
History
Might Studebaker have survived if Sherwood Egbert had stayed healthy?
(EXPANDED FROM 9/29/2021) A few years ago Ate Up With Motor had an interesting exchange about how Sherwood Egbert’s departure as president of the Studebaker Corporation hurt its automotive division’s chances of survival. Egbert resigned […]
Media Analysis
Making fun of automotive history
(UPDATED FROM 2/22/2014) Curbside Classic has always been far more willing to make fun of itself than larger media outlets. In doing so, the website has shown (perhaps inadvertently) how the media can be patronizing to auto history buffs. […]
History
Was Ford right to kill the front-wheel-drive 1963 Cardinal/Redwing?
(UPDATED FROM 12/8/2021) Did Ford make the right move by pulling the plug on a US-built subcompact slated to be introduced in the fall of 1962? The car, initially called the Cardinal but later renamed […]