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HomeReadings

Readings

Flammang Standard Imported Cars
Readings

Standard Catalog of Imported Cars, 1946-1990 is sort-of better than second edition

July 9, 2025 Steve 1

(EXPANDED FROM 5/1/2020) The Internet appears to be getting better as a source of information about cars. For example, Automobile Catalog offers basic product details about an admirably broad range of domestic and foreign brands. […]

Brock Yates
Readings

Brock Yates brilliantly analyzed fall of U.S. auto industry

June 17, 2025 Steve 1

(EXPANDED FROM 1/22/2021) The Decline and Fall of the American Automobile Industry is one of the most important automotive books of the last 50 years. That’s because Brock Yates presented what may very well be the […]

Exner bio offers mostly positive take on controversial car designer
Readings

Peter Grist views car designer Virgil Exner through rose-tinted glasses

June 3, 2025 Steve 9

(EXPANDED FROM 12/6/2022) Peter Grist stated that he tried to make this authorized biography of car designer Virgil Exner “as unbiased as possible” (p. 5). Even so, Visioneer has a family scrapbook quality, replete with childhood photos and […]

Wright On A Clear Day
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 […]

Charles K. Hyde Chrysler
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 […]

Encyclopedia of American Cars
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 […]

A Century of Automotive Style
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 […]

Posts pagination

« 1 2 3 … 8 »
  • 1965 Studebaker Cruiser proposal
    Car Life speculates about why Studebaker shut down its South Bend plant
    July 17, 2026 8
  • 1956 Lincoln
    The 1956 Lincoln’s styling proved to be a one-year wonder
    July 17, 2026 18
  • 1975 Mercedes-Benz 450 SL
    1975 Mercedes-Benz 450 SL lacked the taut brilliance of its predecessor
    July 14, 2026 6
  • 1988 Oldsmobile Toronado
    Did GM go too far in downsizing the 1986 Riviera, Toronado and Eldorado?
    July 10, 2026 16
  • J. 'Kelly' Flory Jr.
    J. ‘Kelly’ Flory Jr.’s American Cars series is pricey but valuable
    July 10, 2026 4
  • 1968 Pontiac Firebird green convertible
    1967-72 Pontiac Firebird shows limits of ad illustrations
    July 7, 2026 10
  • Miscellaneous ramblings about being on the road
    June 25, 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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