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
HomeThe Henry Ford Museum

The Henry Ford Museum

Budd XR-400
Fake Design

The XR-400 wouldn’t have ‘saved’ AMC but it pointed in a useful direction

July 22, 2026 Steve 6

(EXPANDED FROM 7/7/2023) A while back Stéphane Dumas quite rightly noted that another alternative to the 1964 Rambler Tarpon concept car was the XR-400. This was a 2+2 convertible proposed to American Motors in 1962 […]

1965 Ford Mustang
Quotes

Donald Frey tells how he knew the 1965 Ford Mustang would be approved

October 16, 2025 Steve 6

Ford executive Donald N. Frey shared with David Crippen (1986) how he found out from Henry Ford II that the 1965 Mustang would be approved. “I remember one day I was in the styling studio, we […]

1957 Ford Skyliner
Quotes

How a ‘cockamamie’ corporate structure resulted in the 1957 Ford

February 22, 2025 Steve 11

Former Ford Motor Company executive Donald Frey explained to David Crippen (1986) why he thought that the automaker’s “cockamamie” decision-making structure led to major quality-control problems with the 1957 Ford. “As it turned out, preceding […]

Ford 1960s design film
Media Analysis

Automobile in American Life and Society is valuable but badly needs updating

May 10, 2024 Steve 1

(EXPANDED FROM 12/6/2021) Our discussions about Ford Motor Company internal politics drew me to reread some oral histories at a website called the Automobile in American Life and Society. Interviews with George Walker, Eugene Bordinat, […]

Media Analysis

Car and Driver endorsing Dan Gurney for prez showed auto media’s insularity

September 3, 2023 Steve 4

Journalist Bruce McCall (2002) once called Detroit a “self-isolated world” that “matches that of any West Virginia hollow for insularity.” I was reminded of his quip when reading Car and Driver magazine’s endorsement of Dan […]

  • 1972 Lincoln Continental Mark IV
    Is David Kiley right that Ford should replace Lincoln with a new brand?
    September 2, 2026 16
  • 1972 Buick Skylark Custom grille
    1972 Buick Skylark Custom represented the end of an era
    September 1, 2026 5
  • 1959 Ford Thunderbird
    1959 Ford Thunderbird was a gimmicky but hugely important car
    August 26, 2026 11
  • Compact cars became the neglected stepchildren of U.S. automakers
    August 21, 2026 21
  • 1980 AMC brochure cover with picture of American Center building
    AMC’s Roy D. Chapin Jr. succumbed to the illusion of bigness
    August 19, 2026 2
  • 1980 Ford Thunderbird and 1956 model
    Ford’s design talent in the 1970s wasn’t enough to halt a dramatic slide in sales
    August 14, 2026 13
  • 1973 Buick Riviera
    Why wasn’t the 1971 ‘boat-tail’ Buick Riviera shrunk to compact size?
    August 14, 2026 24
  • Internet problems reminded me of U.S. automakers in the 1970s
    May 2, 2026 1
  • 1956 Buick hood scoop
    Readers brainstorm ideas for future Indie Auto stories
    October 14, 2022 141
Society of Automotive Historian award to Indie Auto

Recent Comments

  • Randerson on 1972 Buick Skylark Custom represented the end of an era
  • Randerson on Is David Kiley right that Ford should replace Lincoln with a new brand?
  • RONALD D SIEBER on Is David Kiley right that Ford should replace Lincoln with a new brand?
  • kim in lanark on Is David Kiley right that Ford should replace Lincoln with a new brand?
  • kim in lanark on Is David Kiley right that Ford should replace Lincoln with a new brand?
  • Scampman on Is David Kiley right that Ford should replace Lincoln with a new brand?
  • samuel a simpson on Is David Kiley right that Ford should replace Lincoln with a new brand?
  • Geeber on Is David Kiley right that Ford should replace Lincoln with a new brand?
  • Don on Is David Kiley right that Ford should replace Lincoln with a new brand?
  • kim in lanark on Is David Kiley right that Ford should replace Lincoln with a new brand?
  • Philco Ford on Is David Kiley right that Ford should replace Lincoln with a new brand?
  • Adam B on Is David Kiley right that Ford should replace Lincoln with a new brand?
  • Geeber on 1972 Buick Skylark Custom represented the end of an era
  • Steve on Is David Kiley right that Ford should replace Lincoln with a new brand?
  • Steve on 1972 Buick Skylark Custom represented the end of an era

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