Bird Chatter
Year: 2020
Readings
Studebaker: The Life and Death of an American Corporation
This is one of the better scholarly books about an auto company. Donald T. Critchlow achieves the rare feat of crafting a narrative that is engaging, analytically sophisticated and challenges industry groupthink in key respects. […]
Media Analysis
Robert McNamara was involved in the Ford Mustang?
Retired Ford engineer Ben J. Smith said that he “wrote some very very strong letters to the product planning people and to Bob McNamara” when his manually-retractable roof design for the original Ford Mustang was rejected. […]
Editor's Note
What’s new for February
The lead story on a Studebaker concept car was an excuse to dig deeper into the fascinating images at the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Brooks Stevens archives. The famed designer’s proposed 1965 Studebaker Lark sedan wasn’t […]
Quotes
Donald Trump on why Elon Musk has to help him
“Well — you have to give him credit. I spoke to him very recently, and he’s also doing the rockets. He likes rockets. And — he does good at rockets too, by the way. I […]
Multimedia
Joe Ligo drives a Kaiser and plans an AMC film
Joe Ligo shows the value of auto history films in a 10-minute piece about the 1954 Kaiser Special. He mixes historical footage and scenes from a test-drive of a restored Kaiser as the visual backdrop […]
Editor's Note
What’s new for January
This month’s lead story essentially explores the question: How come AMC died when it had such terrific designers? A related story offers commentary on a 2011 film about Fred Hudson, who was the chief exterior […]
Photo Essay
Mid-1930s-to-70s design evolution shown at LeMay event
As usual, this year’s LeMay annual car show offered an eclectic mix of cars and trucks. In addition to the nonprofit organization’s private collection, owners displayed their own vehicles. And if you timed it right, […]
History
How American Motors abandoned its uniqueness in the second half of the 1960s
The most strikingly quality of American Motors’ car designs developed in the mid-60s was how quickly the automaker ditched the Rambler look in favor of styling mostly indistinguishable from the Big Three. This was a […]
Links
Automotive News: ‘Go along to get along’ quality fuels groupthink
The trade journal’s great advantage over major daily newspapers or business magazines is that it can focus exclusively on one industry. That results in more detailed and comprehensive coverage. However, this can lead to a […]