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Auto safety
Quotes
Detroit automakers created an exciting but insular realm
“Cars and the car business infect some people’s blood, which is why that agglomeration of machinery and brains and money we call Detroit functions as a state of mind as much as an industry, not […]
Fake Design
1965-69 Chevrolet Corvair: What if it had a front-engined companion?
(UPDATED ON 10/14/22) The second-generation Chevrolet Corvair was one of the best cars General Motors has ever built. Its styling was exceptionally clean for the mid-60s, which were dominated by fussy gingerbread designs. Meanwhile, the […]
Quotes
Why the safety-focused Tucker didn’t have seat belts
“(Preston) Tucker spoke with airline stewardesses and even an airline executive, who told him, ‘If we put a parachute under each seat, this would imply that an element of danger existed and would so terrify […]
Current Events
Whyte’s ‘The Sack of Detroit’ gives auto history a hard-core libertarian spin
As I was reading Paul Niedermeyer’s critique of Kenneth Whyte’s new anti-Nader book, I found myself wondering how the auto buff press would have responded if the book had been published in the early-70s. In […]
Satire
Mature reflections about societal collapse on Interstate 5
The interchange between U.S. Highway 101 and Interstate 5 running north is an asphalt monument to automotive freedom. This river of highway descends from the elite cliffs of Olympia, Washington’s westside into its more plebeian […]
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 […]
Drive-By Musings
NHTSA and automakers drag their feet on pedestrian safety
The federal government has been dragging its feet on pedestrian safety despite increasing fatalities. Jalopnik deserves a shout out for giving visibility to this underdiscussed issue. For example, Managing Editor Erin Marquis (2020b) recently pointed […]
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Media Analysis
Hemmings highlights late-70s attack against U.S. bumper regulations
Hemmings got political recently by highlighting a 1978 attack against U.S. bumper regulations then on the books. In his “Four Links” feature, Daniel Strohl (2020) pointed to a story in a staunchly libertarian magazine called […]