Design Notes
A curve from nowhere
The Jeep CJ may have one of the boxiest automotive bodies ever produced, but its front end is visually dominated by curves. Note how the rounded fender edge emerges from an exposed gap between two pieces […]
American Motors
Quotes
George Romney saw the future
“Years before Ralph Nader became famous, years before Toyota and Nissan and Honda became juggernauts, and years before anyone was paying $4 a gallon for gasoline, George Romney knew that cars were going to have […]
Readings
The Story of Jeep
This 252-page paperback book has lots of useful product information and a fair amount of corporate history. I’ve found most useful this book’s coverage of the 1960s, which elsewhere hasn’t received the attention it deserves. […]
Readings
American Motors: The Last Independent
This book was published in 1993 but still offers the best balance of product information and corporate history about American Motors, written in an accessible prose that sometimes hints at Patrick R. Foster’s stint as […]
Media Analysis
‘GM envy’ distorts how we view a once and future auto industry
What’s fascinating about the mega-merger hype is the degree to which it downplays obvious questions. Was not the over-consolidation of the U.S. auto industry after World War II a major reason for its subsequent humbling […]