(UPDATED FROM 7/26/2021) A few years ago Peter DeLorenzo (2021) argued that the auto industry had “reached the nadir of design. And it isn’t pretty.” The big reason why: Cars look so blandly similar that […]
(UPDATED FROM 12/11/2023) The Consumer Reports 1975 Buying Guide was fairly positive about imported cars but cautioned about dealer service. The annual guide, which was published in December 1974, noted that some foreign brands had […]
(EXPANDED FROM 2/16/2022) The Beetle was such a hot commodity in 1959 that total Volkswagen registrations almost topped 120,000 units. That may have been tiny by Detroit standards, but back then it was unprecedented for […]
How might Robert McNamara have influenced Ford if he had remained company president for a few more years? This is a question that emerged from the comment thread in our recent Don Frey story. Let’s […]
(EXPANDED FROM 9/25/2023) Should I be embarrassed to admit that the first car magazine I subscribed to was Motor Trend? When I was around 11 years old I was enticed by one of those promotional […]
EXPANDED FROM 3/14/2022) In a Hemmings post about a 1971 Saab 96 for sale, Mike McNessor (2014) described the car as “irresistible and timeless as the VW Beetle or the Mini.” He went on to wonder […]
(EXPANDED FROM 3/20/2023) Back in 1963, advertising executive Fred Manley presented a slide show parody about how to improve Volkswagen’s legendary “Think small” ad. The “best practices” he presented look hilariously misguided when applied to […]
One of the laziest kinds of clickbait in the auto history media are posts of old advertisements, commercials and various types of marketing videos. All too often the text that accompanies the ads could be […]
Car-buff magazines have tended to focus primarily on entertaining their readers. Thus, they have mostly avoided serious topics until they become too pressing to ignore. That’s why I find interesting how Motor Trend magazine covered […]
(EXPANDED FROM 8/3/2023) The rise of the four-door subcompact generated a robust debate at Indie Auto a few years ago (go here), so I did a data dive to bring some facts to the table. […]
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