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Auto safety
Quotes
Remembering the dark side of 1960-70s American ‘muscle cars’
“Don’t want to rain on the parade of a nice article, but reading about Duster 340’s always makes me sad. Back in 1970 a close friend skrimped and saved all his money from summer and […]
Quotes
Detroit automakers created an exciting but insular realm
“Cars and the car business infect some people’s blood, which is why that agglomeration of machinery and brains and money we call Detroit functions as a state of mind as much as an industry, not […]
Fake Design
1965-69 Chevrolet Corvair: What if it had a front-engined companion?
(UPDATED ON 10/14/22) The second-generation Chevrolet Corvair was one of the best cars General Motors has ever built. Its styling was exceptionally clean for the mid-60s, which were dominated by fussy gingerbread designs. Meanwhile, the […]
Quotes
Why the safety-focused Tucker didn’t have seat belts
“(Preston) Tucker spoke with airline stewardesses and even an airline executive, who told him, ‘If we put a parachute under each seat, this would imply that an element of danger existed and would so terrify […]
Current Events
Whyte’s ‘The Sack of Detroit’ gives auto history a hard-core libertarian spin
As I was reading Paul Niedermeyer’s critique of Kenneth Whyte’s new anti-Nader book, I found myself wondering how the auto buff press would have responded if the book had been published in the early-70s. In […]
Satire
Auto blinders (or peepers): How they improve the human condition
Automotive blinders, also known as auto peepers, are the narrowing of windows between the C- and D-pillars of vehicles. This design feature blocks a driver’s rearward vision, which assists in human population control by inducing […]
Satire
Mature reflections about societal collapse on Interstate 5
The interchange between U.S. Highway 101 and Interstate 5 running north is an asphalt monument to automotive freedom. This river of highway descends from the elite cliffs of Olympia, Washington’s westside into its more plebeian […]
Random Shots
Bumpers are almost useless on newer automobiles
Remember the good old days when cars had meaningful bumpers? The repair costs for even a 2- or 3-mph parking lot ding is much higher than in the days when the feds required bumpers that […]
Random Shots