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HomeDesign excesses

Design excesses

1970 Mercury Cougar El Gato
History

1970 Mercury ‘El Gato’ Cougar raises intriguing questions

February 18, 2026 Steve 2

(EXPANDED FROM 1/23/2024) Bill McGuire’s (2021b) story about the Mercury El Gato got me thinking about Ford’s conflicted design direction in the early-70s. The concept car hinted at what the 1969-70 Cougar might have looked […]

1958 Packard left headlight pod
Multimedia

Jay Leno hypes the Slate Truck and the Hubcap Club criticizes the 1958 Packard

February 4, 2026 Steve 11

Let’s take a back-to-back look at two videos: a Jay Leno’s Garage episode about the forthcoming Slate Truck and a Hubcap Club take on the controversial 1958 Packard. While Leno enthusiastically hyped the forthcoming electric […]

1970 Buick Riviera
Design Notes

The 11 worst single-year redesigns of postwar American cars

January 16, 2026 Steve 36

(EXPANDED FROM 7/14/2023) I grant you that top-whatever rankings can be clickbaity, but I decided to do this story for a specific reason. In the postwar years Detroit tended to assume that rapid-fire restylings were […]

1975 AMC Pacer
The Best of Indie Auto

Seven mistakes that killed the AMC Pacer — and American Motors

January 9, 2026 Steve 45

(EXPANDED FROM 9/8/2023) The 1975-80 AMC Pacer may have been a memorable car, but it was also a key factor in American Motors’ demise as an independent automaker. What’s particularly tragic is that the Pacer’s […]

1958 Edsel Pacer 2-door hardtop
Fake Design

Did the 1958 Edsel look good — especially compared to GM’s cars?

December 31, 2025 Steve 11

A recent study found that more than 20 percent of videos recommended to new YouTube viewers were low-quality content made from artificial intelligence (Down, 2025). This aligns with my anecdotal sense that there has been […]

1973 Valiant VJ Charger
History

1970 Plymouth Barracuda should have been like an Australian Valiant Charger

December 26, 2025 Steve 16

(EXPANDED FROM 9/29/2023) The 1970 Plymouth Barracuda and its sibling the Dodge Challenger proved to be a costly mistake that epitomized Detroit’s slowness in responding to changing times. Indeed, the Chrysler Corporation’s early-1970s pony cars […]

1961 Buick LeSabre
Design Notes

The 1961 Buick was a pivot point for GM’s troubled brand

December 19, 2025 Steve 3

(EXPANDED FROM 12/23/2022) The 1961 Buick represented a pivot point for General Motors’ troubled premium-priced brand. The car’s styling lurched from the swaggering flamboyance of the 1950s to the utilitarian conservatism of the 1962-64 models. […]

Parody ads about the auto industry and media
Our Sponsors

Trending Books: You will never ‘unsee’ this car book

December 5, 2025 Steve 0
1957 Mercury Colony Park 4-door hardtop rear quarter (col.cov)
History

Mercury took station wagons to the outer limits in 1957-60

November 28, 2025 Steve 6

(EXPANDED FROM 4/6/2023) A “Story Ideas Bank” request by CJ asked for more coverage of station wagons, so let’s take a step in that direction with a look at the 1957-60 Mercury. The Ford Motor […]

1963 Lincoln Continental hood ornament
Fake Design

1961-63 Lincoln Continental was not as iconic as often described

November 20, 2025 Steve 12

(EXPANDED FROM 6/9/2023) The 1961-63 Lincoln has been lauded as one of the most iconic car designs of the postwar era. It’s true that the exceptionally clean styling of the so-called “Kennedy Continentals” represented a […]

Posts pagination

« 1 2 3 … 20 »
  • 1950 Nash Rambler hood ornament
    Speedreaders.info is a rare source of book reviews, but quality varies
    June 3, 2026 0
  • 1958 Lincoln
    1958-60 Lincoln: Failing to beat GM at its own game
    June 2, 2026 12
  • 1957 Nash Ambassador
    Three videos: The death of car culture, rich people’s cars and the 1957 Nash
    May 29, 2026 6
  • 1963 Mercury Marauder
    1963 Mercury Marauder: Ford tries to do a premium-priced car on the cheap
    May 27, 2026 11
  • Did 1964 Ramblers share more parts between size classes than competitors?
    May 26, 2026 1
  • 1976 Tatra T-613
    Tatra was yet another automaker that deemphasized aerodynamics by 1970s
    May 22, 2026 12
  • Patrick Foster shows how International Harvester failed to adapt
    May 13, 2026 5
  • 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 141
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