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Hotcars.com offers brilliant assessment of why the AMX didn’t sell very well
Us boomers can wax nostalgic about the great automotive journalists of the past. However, right under our noses a new generation is coming into its own that — truth be told — is even better […]
Data Dive
What’s Collectible Automobile’s beef with the 1978-80 Pontiac Grand Prix?
(EXPANDED FROM 8/25/2022) One of the more curious aspects of the postwar U.S. auto industry is the way that dramatic change was often normalized by the media — as long as it went in the […]
Editor's Note
What software would you use if you were launching an automotive website?
George Denzinger recently asked what software Indie Auto was considering switching to. This is pretty inside baseball, so thought it could be most useful to answer that question within the context of a larger discussion: […]
Quotes
Edward Niedermeyer: Reader sense of entitlement is ‘saddening’
“While [The Truth About Cars] has always thrived on pull-no-punches discourse, and though I have personally learned and grown from the criticism I received as editor here, the sense of entitlement demonstrated by some members […]
Media Analysis
Designer Bob Nixon distanced himself from the ill-fated AMC Pacer
(UPDATED FROM 10/4/2014) Collectible Automobile’s interviews can be a valuable means of documenting automotive history, but they can also lead us astray due to inaccuracies. For one thing, the memories of key participants can fade […]
Quotes
Dan Neil: Auto journalists feel great pressures
“The entire environment is incestuous. They introduce new cars. They fly journalists in and put them up at really nice hotels and, you know, treat them to experiences that they would never possibly in a […]
Editor's Note
A thank you to recent Indie Auto donors — you make this website possible
I recently paid Indie Auto’s quarterly sales taxes, so this is a good time to publicly thank all of you who have made a donation. Because we don’t run advertising (at least that isn’t satirical), the survival of […]
Current Events
Automotive News tiptoes around a potentially huge conflict of interest
The American automotive media has paid relatively little attention to the 2024 presidential race despite some observers suggesting that it could be unusually consequential. Andrew J. Hawkins (2024) concluded that this “election will decide what […]
History
Rambler pays price for not listening to Car and Driver about 1964 American
(EXPANDED FROM 2/8/2023) Curbside Classic’s recent republishing of a Car and Driver hit piece on the 1964 Rambler American illustrates how much power car buff magazines could have in molding public opinion. Here we are, […]