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HomeData Dive

Data Dive

1968 Datsun 510 4-door sedan
Data Dive

Four-door subcompacts were not exotic in late-60s and early-70s

March 26, 2025 Steve 23

(EXPANDED FROM 8/3/2023) The rise of the four-door subcompact generated a robust debate at Indie Auto a few years ago (go here), so I did a data dive to bring some facts to the table. […]

1967 Pontiac Tempest Custom Sprint
Data Dive

Ford got crushed in 1960s mid-sized field despite early entrance

March 7, 2025 Steve 11

(EXPANDED FROM 3/31/2023) Compacts and personal coupes generated an outsized amount of media attention during the 1960s, but the most important emerging market segment turned out to be mid-sized cars. Sales rose steadily to the […]

1961 Dodge Polara 4-door hardtop
Data Dive

Chrysler’s collapse in premium-priced field was a bigger deal than Edsel’s

February 20, 2025 Steve 13

(EXPANDED FROM 6/23/2023) A while back Indie Auto reader Geeber asked about what happened to Chrysler Corporation’s market share in the premium-priced field after Dodge went downmarket in 1960. He was referring to a major […]

1963 Lincoln Continental convertible
Data Dive

What if Robert McNamara had killed the Lincoln brand?

February 12, 2025 Steve 18

(EXPANDED FROM 6/16/2023) A few years ago Jim and Cheryl Farrell’s articles about the 1961 Continental’s development got me thinking about what might have happened if Robert McNamara had succeeded in killing the Lincoln brand. […]

1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon Brougham 4-door sedan
Data Dive

How badly did the ‘aeroback’ hurt GM’s 1978-79 mid-sized sales?

January 23, 2025 Steve 7

(EXPANDED FROM 4/24/2023) Collectible Automobile suggested a while back that the “aeroback” styling of the 1978-79 Buick Century hurt its sales (Witzenburg, 2023). However, the article didn’t compare output with previous years or other General […]

1955 Dodge
Data Dive

1955-56 Chryslers: ‘Forward Look’ wasn’t as successful as sometimes assumed

January 8, 2025 Steve 9

(EXPANDED FROM 2/19/2021) This story has seen a burst of renewed interest, so I have updated and expanded it — partly in response to reader comments. However, the punchline remains the same: that Virgil Exner’s […]

2024 Mitsubishi Outlander
Data Dive

Why did Mitsubishi fail in the United States?

January 7, 2025 Steve 28

(EXPANDED FROM 2/9/2024) There was good news and bad news about Mitsubishi’s U.S. sales in 2024. The good news: Sales were up 25 percent, led by its Mirage economy cars. The bad news: This was […]

1979 Pontiac Grand Prix
Data Dive

What’s Collectible Automobile’s beef with the 1978-80 Pontiac Grand Prix?

January 3, 2025 Steve 16

(EXPANDED FROM 8/25/2022) One of the more curious aspects of the postwar U.S. auto industry is the way that dramatic change was often normalized by the media — as long as it went in the […]

1960 Lincoln Premiere 4-door hardtop
Data Dive

In 1960 Lincoln moved upmarket despite struggling sales

December 10, 2024 Steve 14

(EXPANDED FROM 8/9/2022) A few years ago Corey Lewis (2022) wrote that the 1960 Lincoln’s entry-level model was “rebranded as simply ‘Lincoln,’ to compete with the new base model Chrysler New Yorker (1960-1962) and Series […]

Data Dive

Did African-American car buyers save Cadillac in the 1930s?

November 25, 2024 Steve 8

(EXPANDED FROM 4/18/2023) According to Ed Cray’s (1980) Chrome Colossus, in 1932 Cadillac was in danger of being discontinued when a young service manager named Nicholas Dreystadt crashed a General Motors’ executive committee meeting to […]

Posts pagination

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  • 1950 Nash Rambler hood ornament
    Speedreaders.info is a rare source of book reviews, but quality varies
    June 3, 2026 0
  • 1958 Lincoln
    1958-60 Lincoln: Failing to beat GM at its own game
    June 2, 2026 12
  • 1957 Nash Ambassador
    Three videos: The death of car culture, rich people’s cars and the 1957 Nash
    May 29, 2026 6
  • 1963 Mercury Marauder
    1963 Mercury Marauder: Ford tries to do a premium-priced car on the cheap
    May 27, 2026 11
  • Did 1964 Ramblers share more parts between size classes than competitors?
    May 26, 2026 1
  • 1976 Tatra T-613
    Tatra was yet another automaker that deemphasized aerodynamics by 1970s
    May 22, 2026 12
  • Patrick Foster shows how International Harvester failed to adapt
    May 13, 2026 5
  • 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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