A recent Curbside Classic article (Stern, 2022) about the Canadian 1964 Valiant reminded me of one of my stylistic pet peeves: The car’s front fender had a weird, hairpin-shaped character line. Jim Benjaminson (2020) of […]
(EXPANDED FROM 4/2/2017) Richard M. Langworth has authored more auto histories than just about anyone. Yet he was strikingly humble when beginning to discuss the controversial topic of who was responsible for the 1947 Studebaker’s styling. “I am […]
Geeber offers valuable additional layers of analysis to our story, “Was the ‘Ford blitz’ to blame for the collapse of independent automakers?” Thus, I’m elevating this comment to the front page. While the focus has […]
Geeber recently wrote one of the best overviews I have ever seen about why Chrysler’s dealer networks became so dysfunctional. His comment (below) was in response to, “Lynn Townsend failed to solve Chrysler’s warfare between […]
Reader James E. Duvall offered a thoughtful take on our 1966-67 Chrysler B-Body story that deserves more prominence as a stand-alone letter. While I believe the Elwood Engel’s styling department was on-track and that Lynn […]
In a recently published article about the Rambler Tarpon, Patrick Foster (2021) doubted that the show car would have sold better than the Plymouth Barracuda if it had reached production. His rationale was that neither […]
(EXPANDED 8/3/2022) The 1969-71 Chrysler was an unfortunate example of a promising design that went sideways because of a few bad decisions. The Chrysler was exceptionally clean and purposeful for an American premium-priced car of […]
The failure of individual automakers is invariably grounded in an inability to maintain adequate economies of scale. However, debates about what is the ideal shape of the American auto industry are heavily informed by competing […]
A few years ago Paul Niedermeyer (2017a) questioned the conventional wisdom that the downsized 1962 Plymouth and Dodge were an 11th-hour accident of history. In an epic essay, the Curbside Classic publisher poked holes in […]
Copyright © 2022 Olympia, Earth Media, LLC | All rights reserved