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Home2025May

Month: May 2025

Automotive News April 28, 2025
Media Analysis

Automotive News declared war on Trump tariffs but only brought a squirt gun

May 13, 2025 Steve 3

Automotive News’ April 28 front page reminded me of a daily newspaper announcing the start of a war. Rather than the usual assortment of product launches and resume-polishing profiles of auto executives, the industry journal […]

1971 Plymouth Valiant 4-door sedan
History

1971 Plymouth Valiant sedan impressed media more than buying public

May 12, 2025 Steve 7

(EXPANDED FROM 3/27/2023) A Popular Science road test ranked the 1971 Plymouth Valiant four-door sedan above its newest rivals among the low-priced brands — the Ford Maverick and AMC Hornet (Norbye and Dunne, 1971). That […]

Olympia bridge at night
Photo Essay

Can the soul of Olympia, Washington be found in its darkened streets?

May 11, 2025 Steve 9

Olympia, Washington was incorporated way back in 1859, and you can still see a few vestiges of its carless past in the victorian decor of some downtown buildings (Wikipedia, 2025). However, like many West Coast […]

1951 Kaiser 2-door coupe
Quotes

Jack Mueller’s rationale for GM not selling V8s to Kaiser is questionable

May 10, 2025 Steve 2

Jack Mueller’s book on Kaiser-Frazer weighed in on the question of why General Motors did not end up selling the automaker its Rocket V8 engine. He pointed to evidence that the Oldsmobile Division initially showed […]

1970 Cadillac Eldorado
Gallery

Was the 1969-70 Eldorado the best-looking postwar Cadillac?

May 9, 2025 Steve 5

When I was expanding a John DeLorean book review the other day, I dug up a 1967 General Motors ad that included a photograph of a Cadillac Eldorado. That got me wondering: Was the 1967-70 […]

Autoline After Hours
Media Analysis

Could Trump’s tariffs force out of the U.S. market 11 car brands?

May 8, 2025 Steve 6

A recent Autoline After Hours (2025) episode had the breathless title, “11 Car Brands That Tariffs Could Force Out of U.S. Market.” I would imagine that this episode got an unusual number of views on […]

Wright On A Clear Day
Readings

DeLorean’s book is still one of best critiques of General Motors

May 7, 2025 Steve 24

(EXPANDED FROM 4/1/2022) On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors ranks right up there with Brock Yates’ The Decline and Fall of the American Automobile Industry (1983) in articulating where Detroit went wrong. Yet it should […]

1958 Packard left headlight pod
Design Notes

The 1958 Packard went too far in styling, size and pricing

May 6, 2025 Steve 17

(EXPANDED ON 9/30/2022) Indie Auto doesn’t generally dwell on collectible cars, but a restoration of a 1958 Packard shed light on what I have found to be one of the bigger peculiarities of the postwar […]

Circa 1958 Rambler American 2-door sedan
Multimedia

Could Joe Ligo’s American Motors TV series expand the audience for auto history?

May 5, 2025 Steve 10

I first wrote about Joe Ligo’s idea of making an American Motors film in early 2020. Two years later he announced that he was retooling the project and would do a six-part series for the […]

Busek Museum truck
Photo Essay

Watching the sun set over the Busek Auto Museum

May 4, 2025 Steve 2

During the depths of the Covid pandemic I explored random back roads. For example, one Sunday close to sunset I came across a large building whose front yard was filled with rusting old cars. A […]

Posts pagination

« 1 2 3 4 »
  • Is Jaguar smart to run away from its design heritage?
    October 8, 2026 21
  • AMC Pacer clay model
    Why does Joe Ligo’s PBS series sanewash AMC’s mid-70s recklessness?
    October 6, 2026 20
  • 2026 Ram pickups
    A pyrrhic regulatory rollback and how poorly the 1978 Matador coupe sold
    October 2, 2026 12
  • 1962 Chrysler 300
    Did the 1962-65 Chrysler 300 ‘dilute’ the letter series?
    September 29, 2026 7
  • 1968 Ford Mustang
    Three rules led to a stultifying level of conformity in 1960s U.S. car design
    September 24, 2026 12
  • 1976ish Toyota Corolla
    Data on imports sheds light on their dramatic gains from 1964-80
    September 18, 2026 5
  • 1974 Chrysler New Yorker
    1974 Chrysler New Yorker was a tragedy that played out on four levels
    September 16, 2026 16
  • 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
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