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HomeFord Motor Co.

Ford Motor Co.

1968 GM premium big cars
Data Dive

1965-68 GM big cars: The end of different strokes

April 28, 2025 Steve 13

(EXPANDED FROM 7/21/2023) General Motors had one of those “be careful what you ask for” problems. In 1962 the automaker captured three-fourths of the premium-priced, big-car market. This was a key reason why GM sold […]

1958 Edsel Citation 4-door hardtop
Quotes

Should the Ford Motor Company have kept the Edsel alive?

April 26, 2025 Steve 9

Automotive historian Thomas E. Bonsall argued that the 1958 Edsel wasn’t a flop. Indeed, he insisted that the Ford Motor Company shouldn’t have given up on the brand so quickly. The “real failure in the […]

Circa 2002 Ford Thunderbird taillight
Fake Design

Was the 2002-5 Ford Thunderbird two-seater inspired or stupid?

April 22, 2025 Steve 13

I have mixed feelings about the 2002-5 Ford Thunderbird. I am glad the automaker brought back the storied nameplate and think that this generation had a few interesting design touches. That said, the car strikes […]

1972 Lincoln Continental Mark IV
Links

Knudsen’s favored 1972 Mark IV design borrowed from the Eldorado

April 16, 2025 Steve 10

(EXPANDED FROM 8/5/2022) A few years ago Dean’s Garage posted a fascinating story about the battle over the 1972 Lincoln Continental Mark IV’s styling. Jim and Cheryl Farrell (2022) described how a design proposal championed […]

Quotes

Henry Ford II driven ‘crazy’ by call for smaller cars

April 5, 2025 Steve 2

“. . . Henry was himself growing a little dizzy with everything happening around him. And the more disoriented he became, the angrier he got. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Ford sat through […]

1972 Chevrolet Camaro front quarter
Satire

Declassified 1970s documents spark debate among auto historians

April 1, 2025 Steve 4

(UPDATED FROM 3/30/2023) Newly declassified intelligence documents show how a crash program by American automakers to switch to eggcrate grilles for their 1972-73 models thwarted a space alien invasion. The strategy worked so well that […]

1956 Mercury Montclair 4-door hardtop
History

1956 was an odd transition year for Ford’s Mercury brand

March 27, 2025 Steve 9

(EXPANDED FROM 3/3/2023) The 1956 Mercury represented the end — at least for the next four years — of Edsel Ford’s original conception of the brand. Since it was introduced 1939, Mercury had been positioned […]

1968 Datsun 510 4-door sedan
Data Dive

Four-door subcompacts were not exotic in late-60s and early-70s

March 26, 2025 Steve 23

(EXPANDED FROM 8/3/2023) The rise of the four-door subcompact generated a robust debate at Indie Auto a few years ago (go here), so I did a data dive to bring some facts to the table. […]

2025 BMW XM front left
Links

How long will automotive styling be dominated by brutalism?

March 18, 2025 Steve 15

Question-of-the-day features tend to be vapid, so I usually ignore them. However, I must admit to getting drawn into a Jalopnik query about what are the ugliest cars on the market today (Bellwood, 2025). The […]

1969 Ford Club Wagon
Quotes

How Ford responded to safety issues with the original Econoline van

March 15, 2025 Steve 5

Indie Auto reader James E. Duvall recently commented about how the Falcon-based Econoline van and truck had such a front-end weight bias that they could flip on their front end under intense braking unless there […]

Posts pagination

« 1 … 7 8 9 … 26 »
  • 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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