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HomePersonal coupes

Personal coupes

1966 Oldsmobile Toronado and drivetrain
Design Notes

1966 Oldsmobile Toronado: Just another shiny thing from General Motors

January 19, 2024 Steve 19

(EXPANDED FROM 6/18/2021) In selecting the 1966 Oldmobile Toronado as its Car of the Year, Motor Trend (2005) took out its pom-poms and gushed that “never in the 14-year history of this award has the […]

1978 Cadillac Eldorado
Gallery

Was the 1978 Cadillac Eldorado the most excessive car of the brougham era?

January 5, 2024 Steve 21

Reasonable people can debate what was the most excessive car of the brougham era, but I would propose the 1978 Cadillac Eldorado for top honors. To be more specific, I would point to the top-of-line […]

1983 Ford Thunderbird
Drive-By Musings

What were Detroit’s top-five most iconic vehicle designs from 1980-2000?

January 2, 2024 Steve 2

Michael Karesh (2023) of TrueDelta recently asked, “Which cars (model and year) from the Detroit Three since 1980 do you feel qualify as design icons?” I would invite you to check out the ensuing debate […]

1977 Monte Carlo
Fake Design

Was the 1973-77 Chevrolet Monte Carlo’s styling ‘honest’?

December 22, 2023 Steve 35

(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 […]

1967 Buick Electra 225
Data Dive

Trajectory of top-end Buicks shows GM’s strengths and weaknesses

December 15, 2023 Steve 5

Working on the 1963-65 Buick Riviera story got me curious about the long-term trajectory of the brand’s high-end family cars. A low point was the 1958 recession, when the Roadmaster and Limited together garnered under […]

1963 Buick Riviera
History

1963-65 Buick Riviera shows GM’s struggle with personal coupes

December 14, 2023 Steve 17

(EXPANDED FROM 7/27/2022) 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 […]

1968 Ford Thunderbird
Data Dive

1958-76 Thunderbird: The rise and fall of the Ford that shook up GM

November 17, 2023 Steve 6

(EXPANDED FROM 10/1/2021) The four-seater Thunderbird was a surprisingly pivotal car for the Ford Motor Company during the postwar period. The T-Bird showed that the No. 2 automaker could better compete against mighty General Motors if it pioneered new […]

1975 AMC Pacer
History

Six mistakes that killed the AMC Pacer — and American Motors

September 8, 2023 Steve 44

(EXPANDED FROM 9/9/2022) 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 […]

1967 Pontiac Grand Prix convertible grille closeup
Design Notes

1967 Pontiac Grand Prix convertible didn’t catch on

September 1, 2023 Steve 6

I get most of my automotive photographs at an annual car show sponsored by the LeMay Collections in Marymount. One of my favorite cars at this year’s event, which was held last Saturday, was a […]

1967 Cadillac Eldorado
Quotes

Car and Driver scolds Cadillac for 1967 Eldorado’s ‘unsafe’ brakes

May 25, 2023 Steve 3

“(T)he standard brakes on Cadillac’s spiffy new Eldorado are a treacherous, unsafe Achilles heel on an otherwise pleasant luxury vehicle. Even though the Eldorado is nearly identical to the Toronado in technical detail, we had […]

Posts pagination

« 1 … 3 4 5 … 7 »
  • 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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