(UPDATED FROM 6/26/2020) The Saab 99/900 proved to be the box that crushed the tiny Swedish carmaker. I grant you that this platform was hardly an immediate failure. Even so, the design of the 99 […]
One of the things I most appreciate about Curbside Classic are the comments. As a case in point, a recently reposted article about the 1957 Nash Ambassador had a lengthy exchange from 2015 regarding a […]
(EXPANDED ON 1/27/2023) Many books, magazine articles and blog posts have been written about the independent automakers’ struggle to survive in the 1950s. Even so, I have come across a number of unresolved mysteries relevant […]
“George Mason’s invitation to Packard to join AMC was lost in Packard’s and Studebaker’s rush to embrace. Mason knew about the negotiations, but gamely showed up at East Grand to make a formal presentation to […]
“This nation’s car market has always supported a handful of what seem to be ‘protest cars.’ There were a lot more of them before World War II, but the post-war era has had it share: […]
(UPATED 3/9/2023) A few years ago Lotus Rebel (2021) drew upon our AMC Pacer story to suggest alternative approaches for that car’s design in a comment at Ate Up With Motor. That website’s publisher, Aaron […]
(EXPANDED 10/28/2022) A few years ago Richard M. Langworth argued that Ford’s aggressive attempt to overtake Chevrolet in 1954 received more blame “than it deserved” in undercutting the viability of independent automakers (2019, p. 16). […]
The necessity of industry consolidation has long been a popular idea among auto executives and pundits. The basic argument has been that the automotive industry — both in the U.S. as well as globally — […]
Ron Kowalke has put together a handy source of data about American independents. As with other Standard Catalog volumes, this 400-page book has some data gaps. This book can be exceptionally dense reading even for a […]
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 […]
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