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Year: 2025
Random Shots
Moss grows fat on a decaying seat belt
This seatbelt from a 1962 Ford pickup has been rusting for decades in the Olympic Mountains of Washington state. Go here for a photo essay. “Random Shots” is a regular feature that captures sublime and ridiculous moments […]
Quotes
Maryann Keller: Postwar GM had ‘almost pathological resistance’ to change
Maryann Keller was one of the most astute automotive analysts of the last half century. A short passage in her 1993 book, Collision, arguably sums up as well as anyone the primary reason why General […]
Editor's Note
A thank you to recent donors and an update on new initiatives
This week Indie Auto paid its quarterly business taxes, so this is a good time to publicly thank all of you who have made recent donations. We’re too small to give you any trinkets, and […]
Fake Design
Was the 1963-64 Studebaker Avanti a fatal mistake?
(EXPANDED FROM 4/22/2022) The 1963-64 Studebaker Avanti has been described by historian Patrick Foster as “one of the most beautiful automobiles ever to grace the road” (2008, p. 138). Even so, the premium-priced sporty coupe […]
Readings
Encyclopedia of American Cars is a useful but sometimes inaccurate reference book
(EXPANDED FROM 4/26/2013) Last weekend I made the trek to my favorite bookstore — Powell’s in Portland, Oregon. There I found a 1993 edition of the Encyclopedia of American Cars for $25. That struck me […]
Multimedia
Lincoln Continental Mark III versus Cadillac Eldorado: Which one was better?
Adam Wade of Rare Classic Cars & Automotive History (2025) recently compared the Lincoln Continental Mark III and the first-generation Cadillac Eldorado. Although the Mark III had a much simpler and more derivative design, Wade […]
Auto Paedia
How the greenhouse on US cars has evolved from the late-40s to present
(EXPANDED FROM 10/27/2021) Greenhouses have not typically changed as frequently as other parts of the American automobile’s external styling, but they go a long way toward summing up the dominant design approach of a given […]
Drive-By Musings
How typical was car snobbery in postwar high schools?
(EXPANDED FROM 2/6/2023) A few years ago Curbside Classic reposted a comment from a guy named Rob who had a “soul-crushing experience” driving a 1959 Rambler American to high school hangouts (Niedermeyer, 2023). In 1968 […]
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