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2020s
Media Analysis
Do car ads need to talk down to people in order to be engaging?
One of the laziest kinds of clickbait in the auto history media are posts of old advertisements, commercials and various types of marketing videos. All too often the text that accompanies the ads could be […]
History
William Porter brought a thoughtful approach to his design work at GM
I can be quite critical of Automotive News, so in fairness I should note when they do good work. A case in point is a feature story by David Phillips (2025) about William L. Porter. […]
Current Events
Is this an example of good corporate crisis management?
My undergraduate education mainly focused on journalism, but I did take a public relations class. What I remember most about it were case studies that analyzed how corporations responded to crises. The faculty member emphasized […]
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Media Analysis
Automotive News declared war on Trump tariffs but only brought a squirt gun
Automotive News’ April 28 front page reminded me of a daily newspaper announcing the start of a war. Rather than the usual assortment of product launches and resume-polishing profiles of auto executives, the industry journal […]
Photo Essay
Can the soul of Olympia, Washington be found in its darkened streets?
Olympia, Washington was incorporated way back in 1859, and you can still see a few vestiges of its carless past in the victorian decor of some downtown buildings (Wikipedia, 2025). However, like many West Coast […]
Media Analysis
Could Trump’s tariffs force out of the U.S. market 11 car brands?
A recent Autoline After Hours (2025) episode had the breathless title, “11 Car Brands That Tariffs Could Force Out of U.S. Market.” I would imagine that this episode got an unusual number of views on […]
Multimedia
Could Joe Ligo’s American Motors TV series expand the audience for auto history?
I first wrote about Joe Ligo’s idea of making an American Motors film in early 2020. Two years later he announced that he was retooling the project and would do a six-part series for the […]
Photo Essay
Watching the sun set over the Busek Auto Museum
During the depths of the Covid pandemic I explored random back roads. For example, one Sunday close to sunset I came across a large building whose front yard was filled with rusting old cars. A […]