Indie Auto

1960 Auto Union 1000: What happens when you cross a VW with Detroit iron

by Steve in Gallery 10

(UPDATED FROM 12/21/2023) 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. The car’s teardrop shape was rooted in the late-1930s and was reminiscent of the Volkswagen [...]

Miscellaneous ramblings about being on the road

June 25, 2026 1

The above photo was taken two days ago during a trip across Washington state. Gas prices had come down from the previous week, when I paid a low of $4.89 and a high of $6.09 per gallon for regular unleaded gasoline. Those prices are [...]

Did the odd styling of the 1969 Chrysler two-door hardtop hurt its sales?

June 25, 2026 6

(EXPANDED FROM 6/7/2024) Curbside Classic commentator nlpnt (2024) argued a while back that the fuselage Chrysler’s best-looking body style was the wagon. Conversely, I would add that the two-door hardtop was the least [...]

DeBest ad for the 1981 Pontiac Trans Am that was never printed

June 17, 2026 2

(UPDATED FROM 7/17/2023) Pete DeBest thought he had it made. He followed his dad into the car business by landing a gig at Pontiac’s ad agency as a copy writer. Things went great at first. For example, one day he was in a meeting where [...]

Automotive Hall of Fame post on Robert McNamara is still riddled with fact errors

June 15, 2026 24

(EXPANDED FROM 1/17/2024) More than two years ago we pointed out that the Automotive Hall of Fame posted remarkably inaccurate information about former Ford Motor Company executive Robert McNamara. Their fact errors [...]

1969-77 Plymouth: Fuselage wasn’t so bad compared to anti-fuselage

by Steve in History 15

(EXPANDED FROM 5/3/2024) Ponderous styling of the so-called “fuselage” Plymouths has been pointed to as the biggest reason why sales were smaller than the well-regarded platform it replaced (e.g., auto editors of Consumer Guide, 2022). Output for the fuselage body, which was produced from 1969-73, was indeed lower by an average of 15 percent per year than [...]