Editor's Note
Why Indie Auto isn’t a ‘gearhead’ auto-history website
I have spent most of the day fixing a refrigerator. The good news is that it seems to work properly now. The bad news is that my tinkering was marked by quite a bit of […]
Engineering
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Car Life tries not to yawn when road testing the 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle
Car Life wasn’t hugely excited about the 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle. Even so, the magazine tried to present the new nameplate in a positive light: “At this writing, Chevelle accounts for 18% of Chevrolet sales and […]
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Car and Driver gives Roy D. Chapin royal treatment in 1970 AMC Hornet story
Car and Driver under David E. Davis gave the royal treatment to American Motors’ head Roy D. Chapin Jr. A case in point was a story about the 1970 AMC Hornet, which treated Chapin’s marketing […]
Media Analysis
Pat Foster barks up wrong tree by lauding an AMC Gremlin GT with a 360 V8
Since last summer’s departure of Daniel Strohl from Hemmings, I have mainly been drawn to its website because of a Pat Foster column. He has become one of the most prominent U.S. auto history book […]
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1964 Oldsmobile Vista-Cruiser was a clever way to downsize the big American wagon
Motor Trend lauded the 1964 Oldsmobile Vista-Cruiser and Buick Sports Wagon for being as roomy as a full-sized wagon even though they were based on General Motors’ mid-sized body. Indeed, cargo room was 6.4 cubic […]
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All-new 1972 Ford Torino didn’t rank well against older intermediates
The 1972 Ford Torino was a particularly big deal. The automaker had bestowed upon its mid-sized offerings the first all-new platform since they were introduced in 1962. Ford ditched unit-body construction and increased exterior dimensions […]
Design Notes
1966 Oldsmobile Toronado: Just another shiny thing from General Motors
(EXPANDED FROM 6/18/2021) In selecting the 1966 Oldmobile Toronado as its Car of the Year, Motor Trend (2005) took out its pom-poms and gushed that “never in the 14-year history of this award has the […]
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Might Detroit have embraced front-wheel drive earlier if McNamara had stayed at Ford?
The Chrysler Corporation’s decision to shrink its big Plymouth and Dodge for 1962 occurred at a tumultuous time — the U.S. auto industry was reportedly considering even more dramatic changes due to soaring sales of […]
Gallery
1960 Auto Union 1000: What happens when you cross a VW with Detroit iron
Road & Track complained that for 1960 the Auto Union’s two-door hardtop was given a “crude ‘American’ touch, a clumsy wrap-around” windshield (Bond, 1959). That made this body style look even more incongruous than previously. […]
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In 1959 Road & Track predicted front-wheel-drive big cars within a few years
Flush with enthusiasm about the Big Three’s new compacts, the November 1959 issue of Road & Track made some bold predictions about what was next. “Detroit Beat” writer Don Mac Donald stated that “Detroit, stung […]