Indie Auto
header-advert
  • Home
  • About
    • Introduction
    • Editor’s Notes
    • Story Ideas Bank
    • Why All The Data?
    • Fake Stuff
    • About Those Photos
    • Talk Legal To Me
    • Privacy Policy
  • All Our Features
    • Ad Nauseam
    • Bird Chatter
    • Calendar
    • Current Events
    • Data Dives
    • Design Notes
    • Drive-By Musings
    • Fake Designs
    • Gallery
    • Histories
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Links
    • Literature
    • Media Analysis
    • Multimedia
    • Our Sponsors
    • Photo Essays
    • Quotes
    • Random Shots
    • Satire
  • Look It Up
    • In Auto Paedia
    • By author
    • By automaker or brand
    • By time period
    • By topic
    • By vehicle type
  • Readings
    • General Reference
    • Specific Brands & Automakers
    • Auto Culture, Policy & Business Strategy
    • Bibliography
    • Where To Buy Your Books
    • Recently-Posted Readings
  • Links
    • Bibliography of Links
  • Contact
    • Emails & Newsletter
    • Rejected Comments
  • Donate
HomeMid-sized cars

Mid-sized cars

1967 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme
History

Was the 1966 Olds Cutlass Supreme the first mid-sized brougham model?

March 5, 2026 Steve 21

(EXPANDED FROM 2/14/2024) This is one of Indie Auto’s more hotly debated stories. Here I question Paul Niedermeyer’s (2024) contention that the 1966-67 Cutlass Supreme brought the “Great Brougham Epoch” to the mid-sized field. “With […]

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 […]

1963 Ford lineup
Links

In 1959 Road & Track predicted front-wheel-drive big cars within a few years

January 5, 2026 Steve 2

(EXPANDED FROM 12/19/2023) The November 1959 issue of Road & Track made bold predictions about what would come next after a wave of new compact cars. “Detroit Beat” writer Don Mac Donald stated that “Detroit, […]

1980 Ford Fairmont
Literature

1980 Ford Fairmont emphasized cheap practicality to compete with GM’s X-cars

December 9, 2025 Steve 12

(EXPANDED FROM 10/4/2023) The Ford Fairmont had sold well in its first two years but in 1980 was confronted by formidable new competition — Chevrolet’s Citation. If this were still the good old days we […]

1970 Pontiac GTO
Links

Motor Trend gushes about the 1970 Pontiac GTO — right before it tanks

December 5, 2025 Steve 5

(UPDATED FROM 12/4/2023) Nineteen-seventy would be disastrous for the Pontiac GTO, but you’d never guess that from a Motor Trend article at the beginning of the model year. Indeed, Bill Sanders wrote that Pontiac’s muscle […]

1951 Kaiser hood ornament
Design Notes

The redesigned 1951 Kaiser was not quite anatomically correct

December 4, 2025 Steve 13

(EXPANDED FROM 4/20/2023) The 1951 Kaiser was trumpeted as having “anatomic design” — that is, it was made to fit the needs of the human anatomy. Although the car’s unusually taunt body had some aesthetic […]

Oldsmobile's ads were more innovative than the cars
Drive-By Musings

Dr. Oldsmobile stops by to complain about improper nomenclature

December 2, 2025 Steve 5

“Dr. Oldsmobile” stopped by to complain about nomenclature used in the story, “Road Test columnist attacks Motor Trend for Car of Year awards to Pontiac.” The good doctor asked: “Who calls a 4-4-2 a Cutlass […]

1966 Oldsmobile 442
Data Dive

Did smaller cars cannibalize GM’s premium-priced big cars in the 1960s?

November 25, 2025 Steve 30

(EXPANDED FROM 12/1/2023) The introduction of compacts for Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick represented a major change for these General Motors’ premium-priced brands. Did they help sales grow in a changing marketplace? Or did smaller cars […]

1951 Ford convertible
Data Dive

Was the 1949-51 Ford the end of the sensibly-sized ‘standard’ American car?

November 12, 2025 Steve 7

(EXPANDED FROM 4/26/2023) Reasonable people can debate when the Big Three automakers stopped building sensibly-sized cars during the postwar period. For example, one might point to the 1956 Ford because it was only slightly larger […]

1953 Hudson Hornet
Media Analysis

Hudson article by Over-Drive Magazine reads like a human didn’t edit it

November 7, 2025 Steve 5

(EXPANDED FROM 10/27/2023) We haven’t checked in with our friends at Over-Drive Magazine lately, so what’s up? They continue to build a multi-faceted repository of information about American cars after initially trying to launch a […]

Posts pagination

1 2 … 10 »
  • 1967 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme
    Was the 1966 Olds Cutlass Supreme the first mid-sized brougham model?
    March 5, 2026 21
  • 1976 Plymouth Volare 2-door coupe
    Splashy new cars often were the biggest disasters during the postwar period
    March 3, 2026 1
  • Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
    March 2, 2026 12
  • 1968 Chevrolet C10 pickup
    Was the 1967-68 Chevrolet C10 the ‘first modern pickup’?
    February 27, 2026 7
  • 1941 Studebaker Commander 2-door coupe
    1941 Studebaker Commander: Ending its big cars on a high note
    February 26, 2026 11
  • 1961 De Soto
    Video histories of DeSoto and American Motors aren’t as good as books
    February 24, 2026 3
  • 1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk front with hood open
    Four lingering questions about Aaron Severson’s take on the 1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk
    February 20, 2026 6
  • Thank yous, power outages and format changes
    October 31, 2025 0
  • 1956 Buick hood scoop
    Readers brainstorm ideas for future Indie Auto stories
    October 14, 2022 134
Society of Automotive Historian award to Indie Auto

Recent Comments

  • Scampman on Splashy new cars often were the biggest disasters during the postwar period
  • Steve on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • kim in lanark on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • Lori H. on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • kim in lanark on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • Don on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • Steve on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • Troy on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • Steve on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • Philco Ford on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • Hondadriver on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • stewdi on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • kim in lanark on Reader questions Chrysler’s future as it passes 100th anniversary
  • Scampman on Was the 1967-68 Chevrolet C10 the ‘first modern pickup’?
  • stewdi on Four lingering questions about Aaron Severson’s take on the 1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk

Archives

Categories

Tags

1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s American Motors Auto culture Auto history media Auto media Automotive News Automotive Views Business strategies Chevrolet Compact cars Curbside Classic Design Design excesses Dodge Electric vehicles Engineering Fake advertising Ford Ford Motor Co. Full-sized cars General Motors Journalism standards Luxury cars Management culture Marketing Mid-sized cars Parody Patrick R. Foster Plymouth Premium-priced cars Public policies Rambler Reader comments Richard M. Langworth Stellantis Studebaker
Follow Us
  • Facebook
  • RSS Feed
Search
Archives
Categories
Help keep the lights on
Quinault at night

Copyright © 2022 Olympia, Earth Media, LLC | All rights reserved