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Year: 2025
Random Shots
Bumpers are almost useless on newer automobiles
Remember the good old days when cars had meaningful bumpers? The repair costs for even a 2- or 3-mph parking lot ding is much higher than in the days when the feds required bumpers that […]
Quotes
K. T. Keller predicted the end of late-50s styling excesses
K. T. Keller stepped down as Chrysler Corporation’s board chair in 1956 but he still weighed in on auto industry matters. For example, in a 1958 interview he made a rather pointed prediction that implied […]
Media Analysis
Automotive News gets surprisingly negative on Tesla Cybertruck
Automotive News isn’t noted for tough-minded journalism, so I was surprised by the negative tone of a recent Tesla Cybertruck story. It started with the provocative headline: “Cyberflop? Tesla discounts Cybertruck as demand cools for […]
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Brock Yates called postwar U.S. auto leaders ‘Grosse Pointe myopians’
(EXPANDED FROM 11/1/2018) “Grosse Pointe myopians” is a pejorative term that automotive journalist Brock Yates (2018) gave to the management class of U.S. automakers in an essay published in the April 1968 issue of Car […]
History
1968-70 Dodge Charger: Who should get credit?
(EXPANDED FROM 12/29/2023) This is another Indie Auto story that has received a fair amount of blowback. For example, one presumably former reader alleged that I was a “Chevy fanboy” because I called the 1968-70 […]
Design Notes
The 1964-65 Lincoln Continental was a step backward rather than forward
(EXPANDED FROM 4/13/2022) A brochure for the 1964 Lincoln Continental was almost apologetic in describing “significant improvements” to the car. “You will appreciate greater leg room, knee room and head room. In the rear compartment, […]
Random Shots
Would you prefer an agile car or a tank?
Jerry P. Hirshberg, Nissan’s retired president of North American design, once stated that when “Europeans think about safety, they think about a light, agile car” — much like the one pictured on the left. However, the […]
Current Events
What do the fires of Los Angeles have to do with the auto industry?
As I write this, the weather at SeaTac International Airport near Seattle, Washington is cold, cloudy and sporadically rainy. That’s quite different from 1,000 miles south in Los Angeles, which is battling an unprecedented series […]