(EXPANDED FROM 7/2/2021) Patrick Foster has questioned whether the 1964 Rambler Tarpon show car would have sold better than the Plymouth Barracuda if it had reached production. His rationale was that neither compact sporty coupe […]
The 1971-72 Dodge Demon is a weird historical anomaly in that it showed the Chrysler Corp. at both its best and worst. Giving the compact A-body an entry-level sporty coupe turned out to be the […]
(EXPANDED FROM 3/4/2022) Automotive historians, both professional and armchair, tend to beat up too much on Roy Abernethy’s leadership of American Motors. Thus, Geeber (2021) offered useful context in responding to a denunciation of Abernethy. […]
(EXPANDED FROM 2/6/2023) A few years ago Curbside Classic reposted a comment from a guy named Rob who had a “soul-crushing experience” driving a 1959 Rambler American to high school hangouts (Niedermeyer, 2023). In 1968 […]
(UPDATED FROM 11/18/2022) The original Ford Mustang was the automotive equivalent of The Beatles rock band. The U.S. auto industry had never seen anything like it — a small sporty car that proved so popular […]
(EXPANDED FROM 3/19/2021) This story has received more reader pushback than almost any other single piece that I have published in Indie Auto. Even so, I think that it epitomizes what this blog is all […]
(EXPANDED FROM 1/7/2022) When writing about the 1953-54 Plymouth, I wondered whether there could have been a compromise between the practicality of Chrysler head K. T. Keller and the trendiness of his successor, Tex Colbert. Let’s apply that question to […]
CEO Lynn Townsend hinted at why the Chrysler Corporation arguably neglected its aging line of compacts in the first half of the 1970s. Townsend told Forbes in 1973, “The subcompacts are just too small. The […]
Indie Auto reader FF stopped by to respond to our story, “1957 Rambler Rebel was so close yet so far from legendary.” The idea that the Rebel was more expensive or costly in relation to […]
(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, […]
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