Indie Auto
header-advert
  • Home
  • About
    • Introduction
    • Editor’s Notes
    • Story Ideas Bank
    • Why All The Data?
    • Fake Stuff
    • About Those Photos
    • Talk Legal To Me
    • Privacy Policy
  • All Our Features
    • Ad Nauseam
    • Bird Chatter
    • Calendar
    • Current Events
    • Data Dives
    • Design Notes
    • Drive-By Musings
    • Fake Designs
    • Gallery
    • Histories
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Links
    • Literature
    • Media Analysis
    • Multimedia
    • Our Sponsors
    • Photo Essays
    • Quotes
    • Random Shots
    • Satire
  • Look It Up
    • In Auto Paedia
    • By author
    • By automaker or brand
    • By time period
    • By topic
    • By vehicle type
  • Readings
    • General Reference
    • Specific Brands & Automakers
    • Auto Culture, Policy & Business Strategy
    • Bibliography
    • Where To Buy Your Books
    • Recently-Posted Readings
  • Links
    • Bibliography of Links
  • Contact
    • Emails & Newsletter
    • Rejected Comments
  • Donate
HomeDesign Notes

Design Notes

1941 Studebaker Commander 2-door coupe
Design Notes

1941 Studebaker Commander: Ending its big cars on a high note

February 26, 2026 Steve 11

(EXPANDED FROM 10/1/2024) The 1941 Studebaker Commander is noteworthy partly because of its lovely art deco styling, but also because it represents close to the last of the automaker’s big premium-priced cars. In 1939 Studebaker […]

1970 Buick Riviera
Design Notes

The 11 worst single-year redesigns of postwar American cars

January 16, 2026 Steve 36

(EXPANDED FROM 7/14/2023) I grant you that top-whatever rankings can be clickbaity, but I decided to do this story for a specific reason. In the postwar years Detroit tended to assume that rapid-fire restylings were […]

1961 Buick LeSabre
Design Notes

The 1961 Buick was a pivot point for GM’s troubled brand

December 19, 2025 Steve 3

(EXPANDED FROM 12/23/2022) The 1961 Buick represented a pivot point for General Motors’ troubled premium-priced brand. The car’s styling lurched from the swaggering flamboyance of the 1950s to the utilitarian conservatism of the 1962-64 models. […]

1951 Kaiser hood ornament
Design Notes

The redesigned 1951 Kaiser was not quite anatomically correct

December 4, 2025 Steve 13

(EXPANDED FROM 4/20/2023) The 1951 Kaiser was trumpeted as having “anatomic design” — that is, it was made to fit the needs of the human anatomy. Although the car’s unusually taunt body had some aesthetic […]

1968 Chrysler New Yorker 2-door hardtop
Design Notes

1968 Chrysler New Yorker: The peak of ‘peak Chrysler?’

November 14, 2025 Steve 22

(EXPANDED FROM 7/8/2022) Paul Niedermeyer (2021) has called the 1965 Chrysler New Yorker “the last great Chrysler.” He argued that this particular vintage “represents a pinnacle: never again would the New Yorker attain this degree […]

1974 AMC Matador Brougham coupe didn't do luxury very well
Design Notes

Should AMC have given the 1974 Matador coupe a luxury spin-off?

October 30, 2025 Steve 10

(EXPANDED FROM 8/21/2020) Patrick Foster (2024) illustrates how fanboy sentiment can undercut the quality of historical analysis by arguing that AMC should have offered a luxury spin-off of the 1974 Matador coupe — and that […]

1961 Chrysler New Yorker convertible
Design Notes

Chrysler brand looked the least weird of automaker’s 1961 line

October 20, 2025 Steve 12

(EXPANDED FROM 6/13/2022) While the 1961 Chrysler was hardly a stylistic masterpiece, it strikes me as being the least weird of the automaker’s lineup. The Plymouth suffered from a bizarre shark-faced fascia and the Imperial’s […]

Design Notes

1967-74 Mercury Cougar: A classic goes to hell

October 9, 2025 Steve 21

(EXPANDED FROM 7/20/2022) The 1967-74 Mercury Cougar is a tragic story of a classic design going to hell. The first-generation models, which were produced from 1967-68, were among the best-looking pony cars of the late-60s. […]

1955 Packard hood
Design Notes

1955 Packard styling too closely copied Cadillac’s to rebuild its cachet

September 24, 2025 Steve 35

(EXPANDED FROM 1/20/2023) This essay has generated more blowback than almost any other post at Indie Auto. In a way I find that surprising because it makes what strikes me as a fairly mundane point: […]

2008 Scion xB
Design Notes

Toyota ruined the Scion xB by making it too big

September 11, 2025 Steve 11

(EXPANDED FROM 1/22/2021) Toyota has had an enviably strong track record here in the United States, but it has had a few misses. They include its mishandling of the ill-fated Scion subbrand. Although one could […]

Posts pagination

1 2 … 9 »
  • 1967 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme
    Was the 1966 Olds Cutlass Supreme the first mid-sized brougham model?
    March 5, 2026 21
  • 1976 Plymouth Volare 2-door coupe
    Splashy new cars often were the biggest disasters during the postwar period
    March 3, 2026 1
  • Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
    March 2, 2026 12
  • 1968 Chevrolet C10 pickup
    Was the 1967-68 Chevrolet C10 the ‘first modern pickup’?
    February 27, 2026 7
  • 1941 Studebaker Commander 2-door coupe
    1941 Studebaker Commander: Ending its big cars on a high note
    February 26, 2026 11
  • 1961 De Soto
    Video histories of DeSoto and American Motors aren’t as good as books
    February 24, 2026 3
  • 1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk front with hood open
    Four lingering questions about Aaron Severson’s take on the 1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk
    February 20, 2026 6
  • Thank yous, power outages and format changes
    October 31, 2025 0
  • 1956 Buick hood scoop
    Readers brainstorm ideas for future Indie Auto stories
    October 14, 2022 134
Society of Automotive Historian award to Indie Auto

Recent Comments

  • Scampman on Splashy new cars often were the biggest disasters during the postwar period
  • Steve on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • kim in lanark on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • Lori H. on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • kim in lanark on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • Don on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • Steve on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • Troy on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • Steve on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • Philco Ford on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • Hondadriver on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • stewdi on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • kim in lanark on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • Scampman on Was the 1967-68 Chevrolet C10 the ‘first modern pickup’?
  • stewdi on Four lingering questions about Aaron Severson’s take on the 1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk

Archives

Categories

Tags

1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s American Motors Auto culture Auto history media Auto media Automotive News Automotive Views Business strategies Chevrolet Compact cars Curbside Classic Design Design excesses Dodge Electric vehicles Engineering Fake advertising Ford Ford Motor Co. Full-sized cars General Motors Journalism standards Luxury cars Management culture Marketing Mid-sized cars Parody Patrick R. Foster Plymouth Premium-priced cars Public policies Rambler Reader comments Richard M. Langworth Stellantis Studebaker
Follow Us
  • Facebook
  • RSS Feed
Search
Archives
Categories
Help keep the lights on
Quinault at night

Copyright © 2022 Olympia, Earth Media, LLC | All rights reserved