Constant Reader suggested in the “Story Ideas Bank” the following scenario: “You’re 25 & just bought your first new Chevy, at what ages and which models would be your moves up the Sloan Ladder?” That […]
One of the best parts of Curbside Classic is the comment section. For example, a story about the 1961 Studebaker Lark had a wide-ranging discussion about why why American Motors did better than Studebaker-Packard in […]
(EXPANDED FROM 12/24/2021) Curbside Classic commentator XR7Matt (2014) offered a fascinating justification for the stylistic excesses of the 1973-77 Chevrolet Monte Carlo: “Space efficiency is marketing buzz that everyone has fallen for in recent years, it’s actual day […]
(EXPANDED FROM 10/22/2021) One of the most pervasive myths in US automotive history is that a V8 engine became essential to an automaker’s success in the first half of the 1950s. This narrative is summed […]
Curbside Classic has just reposted one of my favorite articles — a magazine-length piece by Don Andreina (2023) about the 1972-77 Fiat 130 coupe. Although the car never made it to U.S. shores, the author […]
The December 2023 issue of Collectible Automobile has a photo feature of a 1967 Rambler Rebel SST hardtop. As usual, the images are first rate and the accompanying text give a nuts-and-bolts overview of the […]
(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, […]
(UPDATED FROM 12/18/2020) A year before he died in 1995, former American Motors head George Romney made a presentation to an AMC convention. A two-part video of the talk was filmed by Paul Lehman. The […]
Paul Niedermeyer (2023) recently suggested that the 1961 Rambler American’s “two-box” styling “just doesn’t work for me.” That makes sense. The newly reskinned car represented one of the most extreme — and awkward — examples […]
It’s an old trick in the U.S. auto industry to blame consumers for bad corporate behavior. Automotive News (2022) recently lent a helping hand by playing the victim card to justify the lack of improvement […]
Copyright © 2022 Olympia, Earth Media, LLC | All rights reserved