Indie Auto

Three rules led to a stultifying level of conformity in 1960s U.S. car design

by Steve in Design Notes 0

The 1960s are often described as a golden age for U.S. car design, but they still suffered from a stultifying level of conformity. To give you a sense of what I mean, let’s take a look at the three rules Detroit largely followed with the front-end design of passenger cars. Before proceeding, I should note that one can point to occasional exceptions to these rules — [...]

Society of Automotive Historians takes partial steps into the electronic age

September 22, 2026 2

Today is the last day that you can vote in the Society of Automotive Historians’ board-of-directors election. According to an email blast, as of this morning only 73 out of 622 members had voted (SAH, 2026). Four candidates are [...]

Data on imports sheds light on their dramatic gains from 1964-80

September 18, 2026 5

(EXPANDED FROM 7/10/2024) One of the biggest weaknesses of the auto history field is that it doesn’t pay enough attention to the collapse of U.S. automakers in the face of a rising tide of imports. So let’s take a look at data compiled by the [...]

1974 Chrysler New Yorker was a tragedy that played out on four levels

September 16, 2026 12

The 1974 Chrysler New Yorker is one of those cars that does not reek of tragedy in obvious ways. It looks like a perfectly normal big car from the mid-1970s. There’s nothing particularly exciting about it, but there’s also [...]

In 1974 Harry Bradley anticipated the American wagon’s future

September 11, 2026 10

(EXPANDED FROM 9/10/2024) A few years ago Dean’s Garage reprinted a prescient essay Harry Bradley (2022) wrote back in 1974 about the future of the American station wagon. His article made a number of important points, such as the [...]

Car and Driver says Ford Mustang will ‘murder’ the 1964 Plymouth Barracuda

September 9, 2026 17

(EXPANDED FROM 4/10/2024) A Car and Driver article on the just-introduced 1964 Plymouth Barracuda adopted an unusual format — a transcript of a conversation with a Chrysler official. When a road tester complained that the car’s [...]

Is David Kiley right that Ford should replace Lincoln with a new brand?

by Steve in Current Events 21

David Kiley (2026) recently argued in The Car Collective’s Substack newsletter that Lincoln should be killed. His opinion piece shows a lot more spunk than what one might find in the vapid pages of Automotive News, but I would question his conclusion. After running through all of the money that Ford has spent trying to revive Lincoln, Kiley concludes that [...]