(EXPANDED FROM 1/8/2021) When writing a story about the 1974 AMC Ambassador, I came across American Motors car brochures for 1979 and 1980 that took the unusual step of picturing the company’s headquarters in Southfield, Michigan. […]
(UPDATED FROM 4/25/2024) Industry coverage by journalists from outside the automotive media can be a mixed bag. They are less likely to succumb to the groupthink that can undercut reporting from the likes of Automotive […]
(EXPANDED FROM 2/26/2024) James A. Ward’s Packard book, The Fall of the Packard Motor Car Company, is dwarfed by Automobile Quarterly’s epic tome edited by Beverly Rae Kimes (2002) as well as Stuart R. Blond’s […]
(UPDATED FROM 11/24, 2023) A March 1964 Car Life article offers a fascinating take on why Studebaker shifted production from its South Bend main plant to a much smaller one in Hamilton, Ontario — which […]
(UPDATED FROM 7/17/2023) Pete DeBest thought he had it made. He followed his dad into the car business by landing a gig at Pontiac’s ad agency as a copy writer. Things went great at first. […]
In a comment thread we have been debating Ford design in the 1970s (go here). That sparked me to think in greater depth about how that automaker’s styling chops were a real step down from […]
(EXPANDED FROM 4/28/2023) A late-1960s Ford promotional film offers a fascinating glimpse into the car and truck designs being worked on at the time. Perhaps more than intended, The Design Makers — Inside Ford Design, […]
(EXPANDED FROM 1/22/2021) The Decline and Fall of the American Automobile Industry is one of the most important automotive books of the last 50 years. That’s because Brock Yates presented what may very well be the […]
The May 19th print edition of Automotive News ran two commentaries that debated California’s ability regulate pollution caused by the automobile industry. In the first commentary, Reporter Larry P. Vellequette (2025) acknowledged that the industry […]
I have mixed reactions to Joe Ligo’s (2025) fourth episode of his six-part television series on American Motors. This 30-minute program focuses on the automaker’s two final big-ticket redesigns before losing its independence: the 1974 […]
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