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HomeCurbside Classic

Curbside Classic

2024 Mitsubishi Outlander
Data Dive

Why did Mitsubishi fail in the United States?

January 7, 2025 Steve 28

(EXPANDED FROM 2/9/2024) There was good news and bad news about Mitsubishi’s U.S. sales in 2024. The good news: Sales were up 25 percent, led by its Mirage economy cars. The bad news: This was […]

1964 Chevrolet Corvette
Literature

1953-73 Chevrolet Corvette ads gingerly showed changing gender roles

December 30, 2024 Steve 9

(EXPANDED FROM 6/10/2022) One of the more common types of clickbait on auto history websites is to post an old-car ad and throw in a few paragraphs of background. Cranking out lots of short, breezy […]

Current Events

High cost of cars could make automakers exceptionally vulnerable

November 7, 2024 Steve 12

I would like to offer two additional thoughts about Paul Niedermeyer’s (2024) recent article that discusses the auto industry abandoning low-priced cars in the U.S. market. First, the election of Donald Trump as president increases […]

1964 Rambler American 440H two-door hardtop
History

Rambler pays price for not listening to Car and Driver about 1964 American

October 18, 2024 Steve 31

(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, […]

1962 Plymouth Valiant
History

A deeper dive into why Chrysler’s 1962 B-body wasn’t a stretched compact

October 8, 2024 Steve 7

Our recent story on the 1962 Chrysler B-body (go here) has generated a debate among auto history writers. In the article, I sided with those who had argued that the downsized Plymouth and Dodge were […]

1966 Oldsmobile Toronado
Links

Motor Trend’s predictions in late-1964 were decidedly hit and miss

October 2, 2024 Steve 7

Motor Trend’s November 1964 issue predicted a few things that didn’t happen. They included: Of these two items, a sporty Pontiac sounded more plausible — and perhaps reflected an effort by the likes of John […]

1962 Plymouth Fury 2-door hardtop
History

Were the downsized 1962 Plymouth and Dodge based on a stretched compact?

September 24, 2024 Steve 13

In a recent story about the 1962 Plymouth and Dodge, Bill McGuire (2024) of Mac’s Motor City Garage stated that the downsized cars were based upon a stretched version of the compact Plymouth Valiant and […]

1949 Plymouth
Data Dive

Were the 1949 Chryslers to blame for the automaker losing the No. 2 spot to Ford?

September 19, 2024 Steve 34

Paul Niedermeyer (2024) recently commented that the “new 1949 Chrysler Corp. line has to be seen as a failure inasmuch as Ford regained the #2 spot, and never looked back. Excellent cars, but not what […]

1968 AMC AMX
Fake Design

1968-70 AMX was American Motors’ answer to a question nobody asked

September 3, 2024 Steve 15

(EXPANDED FROM 3/24/2023) Our recent discussion about a smaller, more internationally-flavored Ford Mustang led me to expand on a previously-posted story about the 1968-70 AMX. American Motors was arguably in a better position than Ford […]

1953 Studebaker Commander 2-door coupe
History

Should Nash have combined with Studebaker rather than Hudson in 1954?

August 19, 2024 Steve 11

Curbside Classic commentator Steve (2018) has argued that Nash-Kelvinator should have combined with Studebaker rather than Hudson for an interesting set of reasons. He effectively follows the advice of Aaron Severson (2024), who recently suggested that […]

Posts pagination

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  • 1962 Ford Galaxie 500
    Did the 1960-64 big Ford sell so poorly because of cannibalization?
    October 16, 2026 34
  • 1969 Ford Thunderbird 4-door Landau
    Was 1969 the beginning of the end for the Ford Thunderbird four-door Landau?
    October 14, 2026 7
  • Is Jaguar smart to run away from its design heritage?
    October 8, 2026 21
  • AMC Pacer clay model
    Why does Joe Ligo’s PBS series sanewash AMC’s mid-70s recklessness?
    October 6, 2026 20
  • 2026 Ram pickups
    A pyrrhic regulatory rollback and how poorly the 1978 Matador coupe sold
    October 2, 2026 12
  • 1962 Chrysler 300
    Did the 1962-65 Chrysler 300 ‘dilute’ the letter series?
    September 29, 2026 7
  • 1968 Ford Mustang
    Three rules led to a stultifying level of conformity in 1960s U.S. car design
    September 24, 2026 12
  • Internet problems reminded me of U.S. automakers in the 1970s
    May 2, 2026 1
  • 1956 Buick hood scoop
    Readers brainstorm ideas for future Indie Auto stories
    October 14, 2022 146
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