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HomeReadings

Readings

Readings

DeLorean’s book is still one of best critiques of General Motors

May 7, 2025 Steve 23

(EXPANDED FROM 4/1/2022) On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors ranks right up there with Brock Yates’ The Decline and Fall of the American Automobile Industry (1983) in articulating where Detroit went wrong. Yet it should […]

Richard Langworth
Readings

Richard Langworth’s death raises questions about auto history’s future

March 19, 2025 Steve 0

Indie Auto reader Zachary Morecraft suggested in the “Story Idea Bank” that we do a piece on Richard M. Langworth, who died February 20 at the age of 83. Langworth was such a towering presence […]

Readings

Charles K. Hyde wrote a useful but superficial history of the Chrysler Corp.

February 21, 2025 Steve 5

I am ambivalent about Charles K. Hyde’s book, Riding the Roller Coaster: A History of the Chrysler Corporation. The American automotive history field desperately needs more scholarly books, and Hyde is a relatively rare academic […]

Readings

Encyclopedia of American Cars is a useful but sometimes inaccurate reference book

January 30, 2025 Steve 0

(EXPANDED FROM 4/26/2013) Last weekend I made the trek to my favorite bookstore — Powell’s in Portland, Oregon. There I found a 1993 edition of the Encyclopedia of American Cars for $25. That struck me […]

Lamm and Holls
Readings

Lamm and Holls’s ‘A Century of Automotive Style’ is epic but uneven

January 9, 2025 Steve 2

(UPDATED FROM 3/23/2023) A Century of Automotive Style was first published in 1996, so it is a fairly old auto history book. Nevertheless, I would rank it as important enough to be updated. I say […]

Readings

‘Industrial Strength Design’ offers lush but shaky take on Brooks Stevens

December 24, 2024 Steve 2

(EXPANDED FROM 6/14/2023) For good or ill, Brooks Stevens was one of the most influential independent U.S. auto design consultants of the postwar era. Despite some shaky analysis and factual lapses, the best book about […]

Readings

‘My Dad Had That Car’ is a much bigger but not necessarily better book

December 5, 2024 Steve 2

(EXPANDED FROM 1/10/2022) Now that we’re once again hitting the peak of gift-giving season, let’s take a look at one of the more popular automotive books. My Dad Had That Car ranks among the top-15 […]

Readings

Foster and Glatch’s AMC book is splashy but suffers from pom-pom waving

November 18, 2024 Steve 5

I feel torn in writing a review about The Complete Book of AMC Cars (2024). New auto history books are rare enough these days that anyone who navigates the gauntlet of getting published deserves applause. […]

J. 'Kelly' Flory Jr.
Readings

J. ‘Kelly’ Flory Jr.’s American Cars series is pricey but valuable

April 18, 2024 Steve 0

The most valuable books I have bought of late have been J. “Kelly” Flory Jr.’s American Cars reference guides. This multi-volume set provides wide-ranging information on U.S.-made cars during the postwar era. Flory’s series has […]

Ward Packard
Readings

James Ward offers more nuanced take on Packard’s fall than other auto histories

February 26, 2024 Steve 35

(EXPANDED FROM 12/15/2022) James A. Ward’s Packard book, The Fall of the Packard Motor Car Company, is dwarfed by Automobile Quarterly’s epic tome edited by Beverly Rae Kimes (2002) as well as Stuart R. Blond’s […]

Posts pagination

« 1 2 3 … 8 »
  • 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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