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Home2025

Year: 2025

1958 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser C-pillar
Design Notes

1958 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser is a monument to Ford’s failed ambitions

May 27, 2025 Steve 12

(EXPANDED FROM 4/8/2022) The Edsel and Lincoln were the Ford Motor Company’s most visible failures of the late-50s, but the Mercury was also an embarrassment. The ill-fated Turnpike Cruiser epitomized both the promise and futility […]

Current Events

Is JVL right that ‘Trump killed Tesla’ as a viable automaker?

May 26, 2025 Steve 9

Last week political commentator Jonathan V. Last (2025d) declared that Elon Musk’s close association with President Trump has “killed Tesla.” That was happy news to Last, who had previously argued that a good way to […]

Stonehenge
Photo Essay

You can drive your car to a uniquely American twist on Stonehenge

May 25, 2025 Steve 1

If you wanted to see Stonehenge but haven’t managed to fly to England, there is an alternative in the United States. Around a century ago philanthropist Sam Hill built a replica in a rural corner […]

Quotes

David E. Davis offered his take on John Z. DeLorean

May 24, 2025 Steve 9

Whether John Z. DeLorean was merely a car guy with a tragic life trajectory or a sociopath has been an ongoing debate here at Indie Auto. Thus, I was intrigued to come across David E. […]

Parody ads about the auto industry and media
Our Sponsors

Get the inside story on the 100 hottest cars of all!

May 23, 2025 Steve 0
1968 Chevrolet Corvette convertible
Ad Nauseam

A 1968 Chevrolet Corvette and a manly man. Alone.

May 23, 2025 Steve 0

David E. Numm liked to remind himself that he was fairly comfortable — and that things could be much worse. At least he was assigned to be a copy writer for the Chevrolet Corvette rather […]

Media Analysis

Do car ads need to talk down to people in order to be engaging?

May 22, 2025 Steve 6

One of the laziest kinds of clickbait in the auto history media are posts of old advertisements, commercials and various types of marketing videos. All too often the text that accompanies the ads could be […]

1970 Ford LTD
Data Dive

Was the decontented Ford LTD ‘essentially like an Impala’?

May 21, 2025 Steve 9

(EXPANDED FROM 8/29/2023) A few years ago Curbside Classic’s Paul Niedermeyer stopped by to critique our story, “1969 Ford LTD attacked GM’s hierarchy of brands in multiple ways.” He repeated the following quote from the […]

Roy Chapin Jr. and William Luneberg
Multimedia

Joe Ligo’s third AMC episode suffers from analytical weaknesses

May 20, 2025 Steve 3

One downside of partnering with another automotive historian on a media project is that you inevitably have to negotiate editorial details. That can be particularly challenging if one of the partners has considerably more stature. […]

1972 Pontiac Firebirds
History

William Porter brought a thoughtful approach to his design work at GM

May 19, 2025 Steve 0

I can be quite critical of Automotive News, so in fairness I should note when they do good work. A case in point is a feature story by David Phillips (2025) about William L. Porter. […]

Posts pagination

« 1 … 18 19 20 … 35 »
  • Ward Packard
    James Ward offers more nuanced take on Packard’s fall than other auto histories
    July 23, 2026 35
  • Budd XR-400
    The XR-400 wouldn’t have ‘saved’ AMC but it pointed in a useful direction
    July 22, 2026 6
  • 1965 Studebaker Cruiser proposal
    Car Life speculates about why Studebaker shut down its South Bend plant
    July 17, 2026 9
  • 1956 Lincoln
    The 1956 Lincoln’s styling proved to be a one-year wonder
    July 17, 2026 18
  • 1975 Mercedes-Benz 450 SL
    1975 Mercedes-Benz 450 SL lacked the taut brilliance of its predecessor
    July 14, 2026 10
  • 1988 Oldsmobile Toronado
    Did GM go too far in downsizing the 1986 Riviera, Toronado and Eldorado?
    July 10, 2026 16
  • 1968 Pontiac Firebird green convertible
    1967-72 Pontiac Firebird shows limits of ad illustrations
    July 7, 2026 10
  • 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
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