When I came across a 1966 Oldsmobile Starfire at this year’s LeMay annual car show, it got me wondering why such a nicely styled car failed to catch on in one of the 1960’s hottest […]
General Motors has been criticized for going too far in downsizing its 1986 E-body personal coupes, which included the Buick Riviera, Oldsmobile Toronado and Cadillac Eldorado. Sales fell off a cliff, but they didn’t recover […]
David Burrell has written what may be the most detailed account of how William Mitchell vainly tried to shift the “boat-tail” 1971 Buick Riviera to a mid-sized platform. Burrell’s story in Retro Autos (2021) even […]
Rare Classic Cars & Automotive History has a video that ranks the top-10 “coolest” interiors of Big Three cars from 1955-70. Host Adam Wade’s (2024) list is worth viewing but I would like to offer […]
The 1971 Oldsmobile Toronado arguably represented the first time that General Motors executives panicked in response to weak sales from a car styled under head designer William Mitchell. Whereas the first-generation Toronado was a remarkably […]
(EXPANDED FROM 11/19/2021) In a recent story, Hagerty described Wayne Kady as “the most well-known unknown designer in the history of General Motors” (Seaman, 2024). Among the designs that the article shed light on is […]
(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 […]
(EXPANDED FROM 9/16/2022) We should start with a more impertinent question: What should — and shouldn’t — the creators of the 1968-70 Dodge Charger get credit for? Yes, this was an iconic design, but it […]
Working on the 1963-65 Buick Riviera story got me curious about the long-term trajectory of the brand’s high-end family cars. A low point was the 1958 recession, when the Roadmaster and Limited together garnered under […]
(EXPANDED FROM 7/27/2022) The 1963-65 Buick Riviera was one of the more memorable designs of the 1960s. However, the car didn’t really look like a Buick. Nor did it sell very well — arguably due […]
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