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Month: January 2021
Links
On the origins of the 1974 Riviera and 2021 Grand Wagoneer
Wayne Kady comments about the bustleback Buick: The April 2021 issue of Collectible Automobile has a letter from retired General Motors’ designer Wayne Kady. He described how GM’s head designer William Mitchell ordered him to […]
Quotes
Bill Vlasic: A 2007 figure that summed up Detroit’s fall
“It was only a statistic, a number in an industry that churned out reams of facts and figures. But when Toyota announced on April 24 that it had sold 2.35 million automobiles around the world […]
Letters to the Editor
Further thoughts on a post-war Willys compact
Indie Auto readers can offer feedback either by submitting a comment at the bottom of a post or sending me a message (go here). Some messages initiate private conversations, but this one functions as a […]
Quotes
Vance Packard: The quality of cars declined in 1950s
“In late 1958, Printers’ Ink conceded that ‘there is a widespread feeling that ‘they don’t make cars the way they used to’ — either mechanically or from the point of view of interior decor.’ And […]
Gallery
Design Notes
How Toyota ruined the Scion xB
When the Scion xB was redesigned for the 2008 model year, it was upsized from a subcompact to a compact. That added a foot in length, almost three inches in width and more than 600 […]
Readings
Brock Yates brilliantly analyzed fall of U.S. auto industry
The Decline and Fall of the American Automobile Industry is one of the most important automotive books of the last 50 years. That’s because Brock Yates presented what may very well be the best all-around critique […]
Quotes
Why Ford rejected small cars in late-40s and early-50s
“The company’s Product Planning Committee was considering anew the question of an economy (light) car. A report on February 17 (1949) held that there were 4,000,0000 potential customers for such a car and that the […]
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