Design Notes
How Toyota ruined the Scion xB
When the Scion xB was redesigned for the 2008 model year, it was upsized from a subcompact to a compact. That added a foot in length, almost three inches in width and more than 600 […]
2000s
Readings
Hiott’s VW book captures essence of old Beetle better than new one
Andrea Hiott has written an engaging and nuanced automotive history that transcends the usual “car guy” narratives. Thinking Small: The Long, Strange Trip of the Volkswagen Beetle offers a wealth of background about the political, economic […]
Auto Paedia
Halo cars are popular but not always a good idea
Halo cars tend to quite popular — even wetness inducing — among auto enthusiasts. That’s because the mission of halo cars is mostly to generate a positive buzz about a brand rather than high sales. So […]
Readings
Avanti book by John Hull provides a useful overview
To my mind, the Avanti’s history has two major parts: Under Studebaker and as an independent automaker. Of the Studebaker histories, Richard M. Langworth (1993) arguably offers the most detailed and analytically sophisticated narrative. The […]
Quotes
Mike Spinelli: How Jalopnik got its name
“I don’t know who the hell it was. I like to think it wasn’t me, but it probably was . . . and we had been drinking a little bit. And so somebody says Jalopnik. […]
Quotes
Donald Trump took a shovel to John DeLorean’s estate
“DeLorean spends the rest of his life in and out of court. He declares bankruptcy in 1999. His Bedminster estate is purchased by a Connecticut-based golf-course development partnership, who within two years will sell it […]
Media Analysis
Automotive News shows its bias in 2020 presidential coverage
The auto industry’s leading trade journal has put its thumb on the scales in reporting about the 2020 presidential race. Keith Laing’s (2020) comparison of Donald Trump and Joe Biden uses biased language and a […]
Quotes
Ralph Nader on Car and Driver magazine vilifying him
“Some of the commentary (in the 1960s and early ’70s) was so absurd as to invite permanent satire. Whoever writes the history of this will, I’m sure, be able to comment on how the automotive […]
Quotes
Mike Spinelli: Car buff readers can be sanctimonious nitpickers
“You know how it is when you are 12 years old and your parents do something that embarrasses you and you unload on them? Some people have never really left that (stage). I think that […]
Readings
Critique of automotive ‘atrocities’ snarks with the best — and worst
Automotive Atrocities! illustrates an increasingly popular genre: the car gallery. Authors take a theme — in this case cars that are supposedly infamous — and offer a few pages of info McNuggets. Repeat enough times […]