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Bigger, glitzier, more powerful: The auto industry’s holy trinity
(EXPANDED FROM 11/1/2019) The dominant tendency of the U.S. auto industry has been to make its vehicles bigger, glitzier and more powerful. In recent decades both domestic and foreign automakers have embraced this practice. Indeed, […]
Current Events
Automotive News fails to mention obvious ways to cut weight of EVs
Automotive News recently bemoaned how heavier electric vehicles “are causing safety and pollution problems.” The news report by Richard Truett (2023) pointed to heavy battery packs as the main “culprit” but also weight gains caused […]
Quotes
Chevrolet Corvair advertising shows gender roles in 1960s
“Chevrolet marketers wanted to preserve ‘sportiness’ and ‘performance’ as masculine activities, but at the same time realized that women appreciated a good-handling car as much as their male counterparts. So, Chevrolet repurposed the performance attributes […]
Design Notes
1968-69 Oldsmobile Cutlass: Was this a peak moment for GM styling?
(EXPANDED FROM 7/16/2021) The Oldsmobile Cutlass tends to receive less attention than General Motors’ other three 1968-69 mid-sized cars. This is unfortunate because the Cutlass was arguably the cleanest of the bunch. Let’s go a step […]
Random Shots
An automotive time machine with an open door
Since I began visiting Lake Quinault in the mid-1980s, I have noticed this 1953 Chevrolet sitting in a garage. The garage’s door has always been open and the Chevy has not appeared to have been […]
Quotes
Maryann Keller: General Motors once again punished its media critics
“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 […]
Quotes
The Economist points to origins of ‘the biggest industrial collapse ever’
“The problem in the 1970s was not really the arrival of better, smaller, lighter Japanese cars; it was GM’s failure to respond in kind. Rather than hitting back with superior products, the company hid behind […]
Data Dive
Langworth and Norbye made excuses for General Motors’ big-car fixation
While updating our 1971-78 Cadillac Eldorado story, I pulled down from my bookshelf The Complete History of General Motors: 1908-1986. This Consumer Guide book written by Richard M. Langworth and Jan P. Norbye (1986) threw […]
Fake Design
The 1938-40 Graham didn’t just fail because of ‘sharknose’ styling
(EXPANDED FROM 1/15/2021) The 1938-40 Graham is a popular topic in the auto history media because of the car’s infamous “sharknose” styling. What gets little, if any, attention is that even if the design had […]