Lately I have been listening to an interview David Crippen did with Richard Teague in 1985. This was a few years after Teague retired from leading the design staff of American Motors (Wikipedia, 2025). The […]
(EXPANDED FROM 10/15/2021) A lingering point of contention in the auto history media has been whether the last-generation AMC Ambassador had as much interior room as the Big Three’s full-sized cars. The short answer: Not […]
“. . . Henry was himself growing a little dizzy with everything happening around him. And the more disoriented he became, the angrier he got. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Ford sat through […]
Automotive News has been celebrating its 100-year anniversary by running articles that offer historical context about current events. The Trump administration’s “Liberation Day” tariffs would be a particularly valuable topic for this treatment. Unfortunately, so […]
(UPDATED FROM 3/30/2023) Newly declassified intelligence documents show how a crash program by American automakers to switch to eggcrate grilles for their 1972-73 models thwarted a space alien invasion. The strategy worked so well that […]
(EXPANDED FROM 8/3/2023) The rise of the four-door subcompact generated a robust debate at Indie Auto a few years ago (go here), so I did a data dive to bring some facts to the table. […]
(EXPANDED FROM 11/1/2021) A 1956 Packard booklet hints at how its head James Nance got too big for his britches. A marketing piece titled, “Story of a Living Legend and the world in which it […]
(EXPANDED FROM 15/8/2023) General Motors’ 1973 mid-sized cars were a major focus of our discussion about William Mitchell’s tenure as head of design. Thus, I thought it would be a good time to expand on […]
William Mitchell was vice president of design at General Motors from December 1958 through July 1977 (Wikipedia, 2025). I have previously raised the question of whether he stayed in his position too long (go here). […]
(UPDATED FROM 9/20/2021) A few years back Hemmings published a for-sale ad about a 1966 Duesenberg prototype designed by Virgil Exner (Stohl, 2017). The car shared major styling themes with another one Exner subsequently designed — […]
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