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HomeDesign Notes

Design Notes

Design Notes

1964 Studebaker: Brooks Stevens hammered final nail in the coffin

August 27, 2025 Steve 27

(EXPANDED FROM 4/16/2021) One of my more unpopular takes is that Studebaker shouldn’t have assigned Brooks Stevens to restyle the 1964 Lark. He may have had a more mainstream design sensibility than Raymond Loewy, but […]

1973 Saab 96
Design Notes

Should Saab have come out with a retro 96 in the 1990s?

August 19, 2025 Steve 9

EXPANDED FROM 3/14/2022) In a Hemmings post about a 1971 Saab 96 for sale, Mike McNessor (2014) described the car as “irresistible and timeless as the VW Beetle or the Mini.” He went on to wonder […]

1972 Ford Thunderbird
Design Notes

How did Bunkie Knudsen influence the 1972 Ford Thunderbird?

August 8, 2025 Steve 6

(EXPANDED FROM 8/12/2022) For 1972 the Ford Thunderbird brochure tried to get extra fancy with see-through paper. And on inside pages the text gushed that the only way to change the car was to “Make […]

2025 Kia K5
Design Notes

Will cars with ‘crying-eyes’ styling withstand the test of time?

July 31, 2025 Steve 10

(EXPANDED FROM 2/18/2022) The automotive media tend to treat even the ugliest styling trends like the courtiers who ignore when the emperor has no clothes. I thus found it refreshing to see Sajeev Mehta critique […]

1999 Pontiac Firebird 30th Anniversary Trans Am
Design Notes

Obesity won even when it lost with pony cars

July 16, 2025 Steve 3

(EXPANDED FROM 9/16/2021) The failure of the fourth-generation Chevrolet Camaro and Firebird wasn’t supposed to happen. General Motors’ F-body siblings had a much more modern — and arguably more stylish — design than their sole competitor, […]

1955 Studebaker President 2-door hardtop rear close
Design Notes

1955 Studebaker President hardtop hints at a road not taken

July 14, 2025 Steve 15

(EXPANDED FROM 11/3/2021) This may not be a very popular perspective, but I would suggest that the so-called Loewy coupes were at their best in 1955. Although the styling wasn’t as clean as the 1953-54 […]

Mercedes-Benz 300TD wagon
Design Notes

Mercedes-Benz W123: Back when form really did follow function

July 2, 2025 Steve 4

(EXPANDED FROM 5/26/2023) A comment by Fratzog spurred me to expand on this story about the Mercedes-Benz W123, which to my mind is the brand’s most iconic model. I get that this may be a […]

1969 International pickup
Design Notes

1969 International was too little, too late to save brand’s big-truck ambitions

June 24, 2025 Steve 4

(EXPANDED FROM 5/12/2023) This post has received a burst of new attention, so I thought it would be a good time to expand it. I have argued what may not be very popular with fans […]

Citroen SM
Design Notes

Citroen SM: A surprisingly conventional next step

June 12, 2025 Steve 8

(EXPANDED FROM 12/4/2020) In a post on the Saab 99, we mentioned how in the late-60s and early-70s a handful of iconoclastic automakers tried to mainstream their basic designs. A case in point was Citroën. […]

1958 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser
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 […]

Posts pagination

« 1 2 3 … 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
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