Bird Chatter
Year: 2020
Fake Design
1974 AMC Ambassador: GM envy to the ZiL degree
The 1974 Ambassador’s ZiL-like styling shows how AMC had succumbed to “GM envy” in the 1970s. This car was so big and ugly that it was doomed to failure. Yet American Motors wasted scarce resources […]
Readings
Standard Catalog about muscle cars screwed up its photos
The Standard Catalog folks offer a nice-looking book about muscle cars. Alas, the reference guide’s credibility is hurt by incorrect photos. The format for the Standard Catalog of American Muscle Cars: 1960-1972 has a lot […]
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Media Analysis
Should auto history websites only say nice things?
(UPDATED FROM 7/31/2020) A few years ago Curbside Classic commentator Team Obsolete complained that stories written by Paul Niedermeyer “drift over like a cold dark cloud, displacing people’s sunny enthusiasm and dumps freezing rain and […]
Quotes
The crucial difference between access and accountability journalism
“These are two different views of journalism’s very purpose, forever in competition for status, resources, and power. These approaches require different skills, different practices, and different sources, and produce radically different representations of reality. Access […]
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Readings
Champion of the Lark: Harold Churchill and the Presidency of Studebaker-Packard, 1956-1961
This is a scholarly book with a bit more product information than typical of the genre. Robert R. Ebert’s prose can be stilted but offers nuances not found elsewhere due to his careful parsing of corporate documents […]
Gallery
Readings
Mister Javelin: Guy Hadsall Jr. at American Motors
First-person accounts by lesser-known auto industry leaders can add to the historical record in surprising ways. This is why the SAH Press, which is an arm of the Society of Automotive Historians, should be lauded […]