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HomeMid-sized cars

Mid-sized cars

1970 Pontiac GTO
Links

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

December 4, 2023 Steve 2

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 car may not […]

1966 Oldsmobile 442
Data Dive

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

December 1, 2023 Steve 13

(EXPANDED FROM 1/21/2022) 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 […]

1966 Ford Fairlane
Gallery

Ford gets back into the mid-sized game with redesigned 1966 Fairlane

November 15, 2023 Steve 4

Even though Ford came out with one of the first mid-sized cars in 1962, only three years later it was pummeled by General Motors and Chrysler. In 1965 even American Motors’ mid-sized lineup outsold Ford’s […]

1976 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu Classic
Data Dive

1964-77 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu shows growth of mid-sized American cars

November 2, 2023 Steve 3

Earlier this week a number of commentators discussed General Motors’ mid-sized cars (go here and here), so I thought I would add a new layer to the conversation by sketching the evolution of the Chevrolet […]

1953 Hudson Hornet
Media Analysis

Hudson became a badge-engineered Rambler and other tales by Over-Drive Magazine

October 27, 2023 Steve 5

We haven’t checked in with our friends at Over-Drive Magazine lately, so what’s up? Welp, they’ve got a third “issue” that doesn’t appear to be a magazine anymore — just stories posted on their website. […]

1973 Buick Century
Letters to the Editor

1973 Buick Century looked better than Olds Cutlass

October 26, 2023 Steve 5

DB stopped by to offer a response to our story, “1973 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme: Monument to a fading dream.” There was no downsizing which hindsight would have been the right direction. I have owned three […]

Drive-By Musings

Was the 1972 Fiat 130 coupe influenced by mid-1960s Ramblers?

October 5, 2023 Steve 1

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 […]

1980 Ford Fairmont
Literature

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

October 4, 2023 Steve 9

The Ford Fairmont had sold well in its first two years of production but in 1980 was confronted by formidable new competition — Chevrolet’s Citation. If this were still the good old days we would […]

1967 Rambler Rebel SST 2-door hardtop white
Media Analysis

Collectible Automobile’s 1967 Rambler Rebel SST feature is pretty but vapid

September 23, 2023 Steve 2

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 […]

1974 Oldsmobile Omega
Quotes

The switch to smaller cars began before the first oil embargo in late-1973

September 11, 2023 Steve 7

The shift to smaller cars was happening before the first oil embargo, which stretched from October 1973 through March 174 (Wikipedia, 2023). In an October 1972 column, Popular Science Automotive Editor Jan P. Norbye walked […]

Posts pagination

« 1 … 5 6 7 … 10 »
  • A sad reason bridges aren’t just used for driving over
    June 15, 2025 1
  • 1964 Studebaker Challenger
    Brooks Stevens’s rejection of brand continuity was bad for small automakers
    June 14, 2025 0
  • EVs need a George Romney to champion them in the next few years
    June 13, 2025 16
  • Citroen SM
    Citroen SM: A surprisingly conventional next step
    June 12, 2025 5
  • 1936-37 Cord 810/812 tried to do too much at once
    June 11, 2025 10
  • 1963 Studebaker Daytona convertible
    Classic film shows human side of Studebaker’s end
    June 10, 2025 15
  • Once upon a time, car wheels were 36-to-42 inches in diameter
    June 9, 2025 5
  • Brooks Stevens’s 1965 Studebaker Lark concept: Almost a baby Continental
    June 6, 2025 5
  • 1949 Packard Super Eight
    Packard kept a bigger foothold in the luxury-car field than commonly assumed
    June 5, 2025 9
  • Exner bio offers mostly positive take on controversial car designer
    Peter Grist views car designer Virgil Exner through rose-tinted glasses
    June 3, 2025 9
  • 1970 Mercury Cyclone
    1970 Mercury Montego had a last-of-the-wine quality
    June 2, 2025 2
  • A query, a thank you and an update on miscellaneous stuff
    April 4, 2025 0
  • 1956 Buick hood scoop
    Readers brainstorm ideas for future Indie Auto stories
    October 14, 2022 124
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