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Home1950s

1950s

1957 Mercury Colony Park 4-door hardtop rear quarter (col.cov)
History

Mercury took station wagons to the outer limits in 1957-60

November 28, 2025 Steve 6

(EXPANDED FROM 4/6/2023) A “Story Ideas Bank” request by CJ asked for more coverage of station wagons, so let’s take a step in that direction with a look at the 1957-60 Mercury. The Ford Motor […]

1966 Oldsmobile 442
Data Dive

Did smaller cars cannibalize GM’s premium-priced big cars in the 1960s?

November 25, 2025 Steve 30

(EXPANDED FROM 12/1/2023) The introduction of compacts for Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick represented a major change for these General Motors’ premium-priced brands. Did they help sales grow in a changing marketplace? Or did smaller cars […]

1951 Ford convertible
Data Dive

Was the 1949-51 Ford the end of the sensibly-sized ‘standard’ American car?

November 12, 2025 Steve 7

(EXPANDED FROM 4/26/2023) Reasonable people can debate when the Big Three automakers stopped building sensibly-sized cars during the postwar period. For example, one might point to the 1956 Ford because it was only slightly larger […]

Links

How far should AMC have gone to save the Hudson, Nash and Rambler brands?

November 11, 2025 Steve 13

(EXPANDED FROM 10/3/2023) Stephen Pellegrino has sparked a debate about the value of automotive brands by arguing that Hudson, Nash and Rambler were worth saving. His punchline is that “brand names mean something, and the […]

1953 Hudson Hornet
Media Analysis

Hudson article by Over-Drive Magazine reads like a human didn’t edit it

November 7, 2025 Steve 5

(EXPANDED FROM 10/27/2023) We haven’t checked in with our friends at Over-Drive Magazine lately, so what’s up? They continue to build a multi-faceted repository of information about American cars after initially trying to launch a […]

1958 Edsel retractable convertible
History

1958 Edsel with retractable roof hints at why the brand failed

October 24, 2025 Steve 5

(EXPANDED FROM 5/5/2023) One of the curious things about American cars is that even the most ridiculed models will invariably develop a dedicated fan club. As a case in point, some collectors of the infamous […]

Gallery

1964 Studebaker Hawk was a remarkable design that was past its prime

October 7, 2025 Steve 7

I would agree with 1964 Studebaker Hawk fans that it was a remarkable design. However, after an 11-year production run, the car was looking decidedly past its prime. But first let’s look on the positive […]

History

1933-42 Willys: A better template for an import beater than later compacts

October 6, 2025 Steve 29

(EXPANDED FROM 15/19/2023) The 1933-42 Willys gets far less attention than it deserves. The model 77 and its successors were important because they anticipated the American compacts of the 1950s and 1960s. In addition, the […]

Links

Ralph Kalal’s take on Packard raises useful questions but can be dogmatic

October 3, 2025 Steve 6

(EXPANDED FROM 3/15/2024) Ralph Kalal’s articles on Packard history have had a boomlet of interest among Indie Auto readers, so now could be a good time to expand on a review I wrote last year. […]

1954 Ford ad
Data Dive

Was the ‘Ford blitz’ to blame for the collapse of independent automakers?

October 2, 2025 Steve 40

(UPDATED FROM 10/28/2022) If I had to pick a favorite Indie Auto story, this one would be in my top five. It is one of the longest pieces I have written — roughly 4,600 words […]

Posts pagination

« 1 2 3 4 … 34 »
  • 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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