(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. […]
Indie Auto commentator Peter Wilding (2025) raised a good point when noting that he “never understood the idea of deliberately decontenting a car to be able to advertise a lower price, when hardly anyone actually […]
(EXPANDED FROM 3/4/2022) Automotive historians, both professional and armchair, tend to beat up too much on Roy Abernethy’s leadership of American Motors. Thus, Geeber (2021) offered useful context in responding to a denunciation of Abernethy. […]
(EXPANDED FROM 6/26/2023) The June 1968 issue of Road Test magazine took its rival, Motor Trend, to task for anointing the Pontiac GTO as Car of the Year. Columnist Byron Bloch argued that the award […]
(EXPANDED FROM 9/2/2022) The 1958 Imperial has received little attention by automotive historians even though it arguably represented the brand at its peak. Never again would Chrysler’s luxury car offer so many field-leading product innovations. […]
(EXPANDED FROM 11/1/2019) One way auto history websites can squeeze more profits from their content is to endlessly repost stories. That’s not a bad thing if the information is accurate, but it strikes me as […]
Mercury’s ad agency, Weiner, Cox & Baltz, thought that it had come up with a clever solution to a lingering problem: the brand’s cars were primarily bought by women. “Our data shows that women are […]
This seatbelt from a 1962 Ford pickup has been rusting for decades in the Olympic Mountains of Washington state. Go here for a photo essay. “Random Shots” is a regular feature that captures sublime and ridiculous moments […]
Maryann Keller was one of the most astute automotive analysts of the last half century. A short passage in her 1993 book, Collision, arguably sums up as well as anyone the primary reason why General […]
(EXPANDED FROM 4/22/2022) The 1963-64 Studebaker Avanti has been described by historian Patrick Foster as “one of the most beautiful automobiles ever to grace the road” (2008, p. 138). Even so, the premium-priced sporty coupe […]
Copyright © 2022 Olympia, Earth Media, LLC | All rights reserved