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Design excesses
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Airdams: The greatest automotive innovation since the tail fin
The airdam, and its twin brother the air curtain, are the tail fins of our time. They have become such a key part of today’s vehicles that even family cars have raced to offer the […]
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Retired designers ponder a once and future Pontiac GTO
For 2020 the League of Retired Designers solicited artwork for a contemporary Pontiac GTO. Dean’s Garage recently posted the submissions — and they are well worth viewing (go here). When introducing the submissions, David Mcintosh […]
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Infiniti’s dog leg is gone — all hail the floating roof!
Infiniti’s new design direction has a “good news and bad news” quality. The good news is that the dog-leg rear pillar is being retired. Automotive News reporter Hans Greimel (2020) recently wrote that the reason […]
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Should AMC have given the 1974 Matador coupe a luxury spin-off?
Patrick Foster (2020) recently argued that AMC should have offered a luxury spin-off of the sporty 1974 Matador coupe. He also suggested that such a car should have been named the Ambassador. “With tunneled headlamps […]
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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 […]
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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 […]