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HomeBrock Yates

Brock Yates

Olympia parking lot
Media Analysis

How should we view automotive writers who have attacked emissions regs?

January 15, 2026 Steve 2

Aaron Severson (2025) recently criticized a number of automotive writers for attacking emissions regulations. This got me thinking about how we should view these writers — who are often considered some of the leading lights […]

1969 Ford design film clay model
History

Late-1960s Ford car design film shows US automakers losing it

August 13, 2025 Steve 9

(EXPANDED FROM 4/28/2023) A late-1960s Ford promotional film offers a fascinating glimpse into the car and truck designs being worked on at the time. Perhaps more than intended, The Design Makers — Inside Ford Design, […]

1993 Cadillac Eldorado
Links

Dean’s Garage series on 1992 Cadillacs illustrates Detroit’s lack of self awareness

June 18, 2025 Steve 13

I have been so busy lately that I have tended to only scan the stories at Dean’s Garage. However, this morning I got out of the canoe long enough to read the articles and comment […]

Brock Yates
Readings

Brock Yates brilliantly analyzed fall of U.S. auto industry

June 17, 2025 Steve 1

(EXPANDED FROM 1/22/2021) The Decline and Fall of the American Automobile Industry is one of the most important automotive books of the last 50 years. That’s because Brock Yates presented what may very well be the […]

1982 DeLorean
History

1981-82 DeLorean illustrates Detroit’s failure to understand the rise of imports

January 20, 2025 Steve 21

(UPDATED FROM 9/23/2022) The easiest way to sum up the spectacular failure of the DeLorean Motor Company is to say that its founder was exceptionally unlucky. I am hard pressed to think of a worse […]

1968 Cadillac DeVille
Auto Paedia

Brock Yates called postwar U.S. auto leaders ‘Grosse Pointe myopians’

January 15, 2025 Steve 0

(EXPANDED FROM 11/1/2018) “Grosse Pointe myopians” is a pejorative term that automotive journalist Brock Yates (2018) gave to the management class of U.S. automakers in an essay published in the April 1968 issue of Car […]

1967 Cadillac convertible
History

What if GM and Ford were broken up in the 1960s?

December 11, 2024 Steve 24

(EXPANDED FROM 8/19/2022) The topic that has elicited the greatest blowback from Indie Auto readers has been my argument that the U.S. auto industry was less able to respond to a rising tide of imports […]

Media Analysis

How good were the top automotive journalists of the past?

September 25, 2024 Steve 3

Jim Volgarino recently suggested in our “Story Ideas” bank that we take a closer look at the top automotive journalists of the past: “I think Tom McCahill began the long line of auto writers that […]

Media Analysis

Auto buff media are rarely renegades anymore

June 28, 2024 Steve 12

(UPDATED 6/26/2024) If you subscribed to car buff magazines back when you were a kid, do you do so anymore? As a young lad I subscribed to up to five different magazines, but I wouldn’t […]

Olympia traffic at dusk
Drive-By Musings

Robert Atkinson Jr. suffers from the insularity that he complains about

April 16, 2024 Steve 1

Curbside Classic tends to avoid political debates in the comment threads for good reason. As a case in point, a reposting of Brock Yates’ “Grosse Pointe Myopians” essay drew Robert Atkinson Jr. (2024) to share […]

Posts pagination

1 2 … 4 »
  • 1954 Chevrolet was beginning of the end for GM’s brand hierarchy
    April 21, 2026 17
  • 1980 Pontiac Phoenix 5-door hatch
    Bigger didn’t prove to be better for General Motors in late-70s and 80s
    April 17, 2026 39
  • 1963 Ford Galaxie
    Might Detroit have embraced front-wheel drive earlier if McNamara had stayed at Ford?
    April 16, 2026 7
  • Cheap dealer car
    How much do Trump policies have to hurt auto industry before it supports Dems?
    April 14, 2026 19
  • 1975 Ford Thunderbird
    Ford design in the 1970s was a real step down from the previous decade
    April 10, 2026 24
  • 1981 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
    The sad story about buying a 1981 Monte Carlo right out of college
    April 9, 2026 2
  • Why the 1968-69 Javelin was not Richard Teague’s best AMC sporty coupe
    April 6, 2026 9
  • Mitsubishi dealer in Spokane
    Indie Auto is moving — although you may barely notice
    April 8, 2026 4
  • 1956 Buick hood scoop
    Readers brainstorm ideas for future Indie Auto stories
    October 14, 2022 136
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  • Steve on 1967 Pontiac Grand Prix convertible didn’t catch on
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  • Albert Fredrick Godwin on 1967 Pontiac Grand Prix convertible didn’t catch on
  • Randerson on Bigger didn’t prove to be better for General Motors in late-70s and 80s
  • SCAMPMAN on Bigger didn’t prove to be better for General Motors in late-70s and 80s
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  • Terrance Smith on Even Motor Trend complained about the 1967 Cadillac Eldorado’s brakes
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