(EXPANDED FROM 6/30/2023) Did Ford make the right move by pulling the plug on a U.S.-built subcompact slated to be introduced in the fall of 1962? The car, initially called the Cardinal but later renamed […]
(UPDATED FROM 12/20/2022) The 1936-37 Cord 810/812 is arguably one of the most important American cars of the 20th Century. In addition to offering iconic styling, it was also remarkably advanced in its engineering. Among […]
(EXPANDED FROM 2/1/2022) Back in 2021 Patrick Foster suggested that a 1956 1/2 Packard model called the Executive could have “saved” the brand if it had been introduced a year or so earlier. In contrast, […]
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. […]
(EXPANDED FROM 3/27/2023) A Popular Science road test ranked the 1971 Plymouth Valiant four-door sedan above its newest rivals among the low-priced brands — the Ford Maverick and AMC Hornet (Norbye and Dunne, 1971). That […]
(EXPANDED FROM 12/16/2022) One of the more popular comments about previous versions of this story has been that the 1961-63 “compact” Cadillac failed because it looked out of proportion. It was basically a regular Cadillac […]
(EXPANDED FROM 12/30/2022) This story operates on two levels. The first one is how the car-buff media could be wrong in its predictions about future products. The second level looks at how slow the Chrysler […]
(EXPANDED FROM 7/15/2022) I can’t usually tell in advance whether an article will hit a nerve. As a case in point, I didn’t think this one about the 1954 Packard Clipper would generate much notice. […]
(EXPANDED FROM 3/3/203) The 1956 Mercury represented the end — at least for the next four years — of Edsel Ford’s original conception of the brand. Since it was introduced 1939, Mercury had been positioned […]
Top General Motors’ designers William Mitchell and Chuck Jordan showed glimmers of adaptiveness in an interview with Motor Trend (1971) magazine. However, the luxury of hindsight allows us to see some of the blinders that […]
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