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History
1963-65 Buick Riviera shows GM’s struggle with personal coupes
(UPDATED FROM 12/14/2023) The 1963-65 Buick Riviera was one of the more memorable designs of the 1960s. However, the car didn’t really look like a Buick. Nor did it sell very well — arguably due […]
Letters to the Editor
Reader argues that success of GM’s hierarchy of brands was ‘dumb luck’
Indie Auto reader Captain My Captain recently weighed in on our story, “How might GM have better adapted its hierarchy of brands to changing times?” He offers an unusually in-depth and colorful assessment, so I […]
Drive-By Musings
How might GM have better adapted its hierarchy of brands to changing times?
Michael Karesh (2026) stopped by to comment on our review of Thomas Bonsall’s book about the Edsel. I think that Karesh makes an important point about General Motors’ handling of its passenger-car brands. Thus, I […]
History
Was the 1966 Olds Cutlass Supreme the first mid-sized brougham model?
(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 […]
Design Notes
The 11 worst single-year redesigns of postwar American cars
(EXPANDED FROM 7/14/2023) I grant you that top-whatever rankings can be clickbaity, but I decided to do this story for a specific reason. In the postwar years Detroit tended to assume that rapid-fire restylings were […]
Design Notes
The 1961 Buick was a pivot point for GM’s troubled brand
(EXPANDED FROM 12/23/2022) The 1961 Buick represented a pivot point for General Motors’ troubled premium-priced brand. The car’s styling lurched from the swaggering flamboyance of the 1950s to the utilitarian conservatism of the 1962-64 models. […]
Drive-By Musings
Dr. Oldsmobile stops by to complain about improper nomenclature
“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 […]
Data Dive
Did smaller cars cannibalize GM’s premium-priced big cars in the 1960s?
(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 […]
Design Notes
Chrysler brand looked the least weird of automaker’s 1961 line
(EXPANDED FROM 6/13/2022) While the 1961 Chrysler was hardly a stylistic masterpiece, it strikes me as being the least weird of the automaker’s lineup. The Plymouth suffered from a bizarre shark-faced fascia and the Imperial’s […]