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Design excesses
Media Analysis
Designer Bob Nixon distanced himself from the ill-fated AMC Pacer
(UPDATED FROM 10/4/2014) Collectible Automobile’s interviews can be a valuable means of documenting automotive history, but they can also lead us astray due to inaccuracies. For one thing, the memories of key participants can fade […]
History
Was GM’s approach to 1970s car design superior to Mercedes-Benz’s?
For its September 1973 issue, Motor Trend published a pro/con feature asking whether “romantic” styling was dead. In other words, did new considerations such as safety and pollution laws as well as more emphasis on […]
Gallery
1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk: A match made in hell
(EXPANDED FROM 4/2/2021) After Studebaker and Packard combined in 1954, Motor Trend anticipated the possibilities of the two automakers sharing resources. For example, the magazine imagined Studebaker’s lightweight cars getting Packard’s “monstrous new V8 engine, […]
Links
Motor Trend dares to complain that 1974 personal coupes had grown too big
Motor Trend magazine’s 1974 road test of seven personal coupes may have been rather vapid in many respects, but it did offer one useful critique. Writer Jim Brokaw complained that the largest models — the […]
Data Dive
Which high-performance pony cars sold best in the early-1970s?
(EXPANDED FROM 5/2/2023) When car enthusiasts talk about high-end pony cars, they tend to focus on which ones were the fastest or won the most races. I would like to focus on a nerdier question: […]
Gallery
Redesigned 1958 Chevrolet was sort-of successful in pushing back against Ford
Ford’s aggressive efforts to retake the top-selling crown from Chevrolet reached a crescendo in the 1957 model year, when it out-produced its rival by more than 170,000 units. Ford’s main advantage was a new body […]
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Letters to the Editor
Reader insists that the 1971 Mercury Cougar ‘wasn’t ugly at all’
KH stopped by to respond to our story, “Collectible Automobile sheds little light on why 1971 Mercury Cougar was ugly.” It wasn’t ugly at all. It looks much better than all the other “cookie cutter” […]
History
In 1974 Harry Bradley anticipated the American wagon’s future
(EXPANDED FROM 11/9/2022) A few years ago Dean’s Garage reprinted a prescient essay Harry Bradley (2022) wrote way back in 1974 about the future of the American station wagon. His article made a number of […]