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HomeCaprice

Caprice

1969 Ford LTD
Literature

1969 Ford LTD attacked GM’s hierarchy of brands in multiple ways

February 12, 2026 Steve 10

(EXPANDED FROM 7/5/2023) The LTD was one of the Ford Motor Company’s biggest successes in the 1970s because it attacked General Motors’ hierarchy of brands in multiple ways. After failing to beat the popular Impala […]

1968 Plymouth VIP
History

1966-69 VIP: Why Plymouth couldn’t sell brougham

September 25, 2025 Steve 15

(EXPANDED FROM 3/7/2023) At least on paper, the VIP luxury series suggested that Plymouth was keeping up with the Chevrolet Caprice and Ford LTD in the late-60s. However, the car’s terrible sales suggest that something […]

1970 Ford LTD
Data Dive

Was the decontented Ford LTD ‘essentially like an Impala’?

May 21, 2025 Steve 9

(EXPANDED FROM 8/29/2023) A few years ago Curbside Classic’s Paul Niedermeyer stopped by to critique our story, “1969 Ford LTD attacked GM’s hierarchy of brands in multiple ways.” He repeated the following quote from the […]

1957 Oldsmobile
Auto Paedia

How the greenhouse on US cars has evolved from the late-40s to present

January 28, 2025 Steve 0

(EXPANDED FROM 10/27/2021) Greenhouses have not typically changed as frequently as other parts of the American automobile’s external styling, but they go a long way toward summing up the dominant design approach of a given […]

1968 Chevrolet Impala taillights
Design Notes

1968 Chevrolet Impala shows how much American cars changed in 10 years

October 24, 2024 Steve 4

We recently took a look at a 1958 Impala, so let’s fast forward 10 years. The 1968 Impala illustrates how much the U.S. auto industry had changed in one decade. The 1968 Impala was almost […]

1969 an 1977 Plymouth Fury
History

1969-77 Plymouth: Fuselage wasn’t so bad compared to anti-fuselage

May 3, 2024 Steve 13

(EXPANDED FROM 5/13/2022) Ponderous styling of the so-called “fuselage” Plymouths has been pointed to as the biggest reason why sales were smaller than the well-regarded platform it replaced (e.g., auto editors of Consumer Guide, 2022). Output for […]

Data Dive

The 1965-73 Ford LTD may not have impacted Mercury very much

April 11, 2024 Steve 10

(EXPANDED FROM 1/28/2022) Indie Auto commentator Geeber recently discussed how premium-priced big cars did better than their lower-priced brethren as the 1970s progressed. His comment, which is worth reading in full (go here), spurred me […]

1977 Monte Carlo
Fake Design

Was the 1973-77 Chevrolet Monte Carlo’s styling ‘honest’?

December 22, 2023 Steve 36

(EXPANDED FROM 12/24/2021) Curbside Classic commentator XR7Matt (2014) offered a fascinating justification for the stylistic excesses of the 1973-77 Chevrolet Monte Carlo: “Space efficiency is marketing buzz that everyone has fallen for in recent years, it’s actual day […]

1991 Chevrolet Caprice - Motor Trend's Car of Year
Quotes

Maryann Keller: General Motors once again punished its media critics

April 13, 2023 Steve 5

“GM’s old critics were sharpening their knives. In January [1992] David E. Davis, editor and publication director of Automobile magazine, gave a biting speech to the Washington Auto Press Association in which he blasted past […]

Letters to the Editor

Consultants led General Motors astray by calling for less brand autonomy

January 23, 2022 Steve 9

DECG50 has weighed in with an additional round of thoughtful analysis about product proliferation at General Motors in response to these (go here and here) posts. Steve, thanks for furthering the discussion and for the […]

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    The sad story about buying a 1981 Monte Carlo right out of college
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    Indie Auto is moving — although you may barely notice
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    Readers brainstorm ideas for future Indie Auto stories
    October 14, 2022 136
Society of Automotive Historian award to Indie Auto

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