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Home2024

Year: 2024

1956 Ugly Car of Year Award
Design Notes

1956 Ugly Car of the Year Award: Indies get desperate

December 31, 2024 Steve 17

(EXPANDED FROM 11/25/2022) For 1956 the Big Three were on relatively good behavior. Only two of their products was outrageous enough to be nominated for Indie Auto’s Ugly Car of the Year Award. All the […]

1964 Chevrolet Corvette
Literature

1953-73 Chevrolet Corvette ads gingerly showed changing gender roles

December 30, 2024 Steve 9

(EXPANDED FROM 6/10/2022) One of the more common types of clickbait on auto history websites is to post an old-car ad and throw in a few paragraphs of background. Cranking out lots of short, breezy […]

Parody ads about the auto industry and media
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Automotive Views: The otherworldly truth about Virgil Exner

December 29, 2024 Steve 0
1960 Mercury
Gallery

1960 Mercury took the wide look to an extreme

December 28, 2024 Steve 2

I am still practicing how to use my new photo-editing software, so here are a few images that illustrate an interesting moment in U.S. automobile design: This 1960 Mercury may be the most extreme example […]

1965 Ford Mustang
History

Lee Iacocca got lucky with the 1964-66 Ford Mustang

December 27, 2024 Steve 13

(UPDATED FROM 11/18/2022) The original Ford Mustang was the automotive equivalent of The Beatles rock band. The U.S. auto industry had never seen anything like it — a small sporty car that proved so popular […]

1974 AMC Matador coupes
Media Analysis

Bob Nixon interview left questions about 1974 AMC Matador and 1965 Marlin

December 26, 2024 Steve 0

(EXPANDED FROM 10/4/2014) We have previously critiqued American Motors designer Bob Nixon’s recollections about the Pacer (go here). Now let’s discuss his take on the 1974 Matador and 1965 Marlin. This portion of his Collectible […]

Readings

‘Industrial Strength Design’ offers lush but shaky take on Brooks Stevens

December 24, 2024 Steve 2

(EXPANDED FROM 6/14/2023) For good or ill, Brooks Stevens was one of the most influential independent U.S. auto design consultants of the postwar era. Despite some shaky analysis and factual lapses, the best book about […]

Gallery

The Stout Scarab didn’t just anticipate the modern minivan

December 23, 2024 Steve 1

(EXPANDED FROM JUNE 2, 2023) Histories about the Stout Scarab tend to emphasize that it was the first production minivan (Peek, 2021; Wikipedia, 2023). However, this innovative 1930s car strikes me as also being the […]

Parody ads about the auto industry and media
Our Sponsors

Close brush with gov’t closure hints at limits to electoral mandate

December 21, 2024 Steve 0
1971 AMC Gremlin and VW Beetle front
Design Notes

Richard Teague’s styling helped to kill American Motors

December 20, 2024 Steve 28

(EXPANDED FROM 3/19/2021) This story has received more reader pushback than almost any other single piece that I have published in Indie Auto. Even so, I think that it epitomizes what this blog is all […]

Posts pagination

1 2 … 20 »
  • 1972 Lincoln Continental Mark IV
    Is David Kiley right that Ford should replace Lincoln with a new brand?
    September 2, 2026 15
  • 1972 Buick Skylark Custom grille
    1972 Buick Skylark Custom represented the end of an era
    September 1, 2026 4
  • 1959 Ford Thunderbird
    1959 Ford Thunderbird was a gimmicky but hugely important car
    August 26, 2026 11
  • Compact cars became the neglected stepchildren of U.S. automakers
    August 21, 2026 21
  • 1980 AMC brochure cover with picture of American Center building
    AMC’s Roy D. Chapin Jr. succumbed to the illusion of bigness
    August 19, 2026 2
  • 1980 Ford Thunderbird and 1956 model
    Ford’s design talent in the 1970s wasn’t enough to halt a dramatic slide in sales
    August 14, 2026 13
  • 1973 Buick Riviera
    Why wasn’t the 1971 ‘boat-tail’ Buick Riviera shrunk to compact size?
    August 14, 2026 24
  • Internet problems reminded me of U.S. automakers in the 1970s
    May 2, 2026 1
  • 1956 Buick hood scoop
    Readers brainstorm ideas for future Indie Auto stories
    October 14, 2022 141
Society of Automotive Historian award to Indie Auto

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