The Edsel and Lincoln were the Ford Motor Company’s most visible failures of the late-50s, but the Mercury was also an embarrassment. The ill-fated Turnpike Cruiser epitomized both the promise and futility of Ford’s ambitious […]
(EXPANDED FROM 1/2/2021) Hudson as been a popular topic with readers this week so I have expanded a story that takes a different angle: What might have happened if Hudson had managed to remain an […]
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 […]
(EXPANDED FROM 12/18/2020) The 1956 Packard Executive has received a recent boomlet of attention by automotive historians. In a Hemmings Classic Car column, Patrick Foster (2021) suggested that this model could have “saved Packard” if […]
(EXPANDED FROM 6/26/2020) Disaster in Dearborn: The Story of the Edsel is paradoxical. On the one hand, this is a serious history book — unlike so many of the coffee-table decorations that populate the big-box […]
Indie Auto stories are occasionally linked to — and then debated — on other automotive history websites. A recent example is Curbside Classic, where a subthread discussed the 2004-to-present Chrysler 300C. This debate is a […]
(EXPANDED ON 1/20/2023) The 1955 Packard’s styling was nicely done in many ways — but it was also an evolutionary dead end. The designers of the last “real” Packards deserve credit for two things. First, […]
(UPDATED 11/25/2022) For 1956 the Big Three were on relatively good behavior. Only one of their products was outrageous enough to be nominated for Indie Auto’s Ugly Car of the Year Award. All the rest […]
(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 […]
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