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Auto culture
Photo Essay
Still motion: A decaying Chevy truck on an abandoned homestead
(EXPANDED FROM 8/10/2023) The National Park Service is slowly renovating the Kestner homestead near Lake Quinault. However, one item is being left to nature’s whims — a circa 1941-46 Chevrolet panel truck once used in […]
Photo Essay
This small town is something of a working-class car museum
A huge sign in the center of Goldendale welcomes you to a “Sportsman’s PARADISE.” However, the city’s Chamber of Commerce insists that this has “Always Been A Car Town” (GCC, 2025). That’s partly because Goldendale […]
Media Analysis
How come a car that goes 0-60 in 9.7 seconds is now so terrible?
(EXPANDED FROM 2/3/2022) The attention economy can be unforgiving, so it makes sense that auto media outlets would be aggressive in marketing their content. For example, the other day Rob Delisa submitted a comment to […]
Photo Essay
Marrowstone Island can feel like a world removed from city life
Marrowstone Island doesn’t have much commerce on it. It actually doesn’t have many residents, either — under 1,000 as of the 2020 census (Wikipedia, 2025). Nevertheless, the 6.3-square-mile island off the coast of Port Townsend, […]
Quotes
If Americans weren’t so disgruntled in 1776 would we now be driving Austin Minis?
AAA recently projected that an unprecedented 72.2 million Americans would travel within the country during the Independence Day holiday weekend. Of that total, 61.6 million were expected to travel by car at least 50 miles […]
Photo Essay
Pacific Northwesterners can be quite eclectic in how they like to camp
When I moved to Ohio many years ago to enter a doctoral program, I camped out for a few days until I found a place to rent. When I mentioned that to a fellow student […]
Quotes
H. Donald Capps: Severe case of ‘autophobia’ permeates academia
Do you ever wonder why American automotive history can have such a dumbed-down quality? I would argue that a big reason why is that the subject has never gained much traction in the scholarly realm. […]
Media Analysis
Does a decline in car design — and car culture — mirror a decline in America?
American car-buff media tend to talk down to their readers to the point where I sometimes wonder whether editors — or at least their overseers on the business side — think we’re just a bunch […]
Photo Essay
Why don’t more people customize the paint schemes on their vehicles?
(UPDATED FROM 8/22/2023) This BMW reminded me of how rarely automobiles in the United States display customized paint schemes (or vinyl wraps). Note that I am talking about mass-market vehicles rather than custom jobs for […]