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Year: 2026
Media Analysis
Automotive Hall of Fame post on Robert McNamara is still riddled with fact errors
(EXPANDED FROM 1/17/2024) More than two years ago we pointed out that the Automotive Hall of Fame posted remarkably inaccurate information about former Ford Motor Company executive Robert McNamara. Their fact errors still haven’t been […]
History
1969-77 Plymouth: Fuselage wasn’t so bad compared to anti-fuselage
(EXPANDED FROM 5/3/2024) Ponderous styling of the so-called “fuselage” Plymouths has been pointed to as the biggest reason why sales were smaller than the well-regarded platform it replaced (e.g., auto editors of Consumer Guide, 2022). Output for […]
Gallery
1974-76 Elite shows how Ford was late to the party with mid-sized personal coupes
(EXPANDED FROM 2/27/2024) The 1974-76 Ford Elite highlights one of the Ford Motor Company’s bigger mistakes of the 1970s. The automaker was too slow in entering the mid-sized personal coupe field. The Elite was a […]
Data Dive
Langworth and Norbye made excuses for General Motors’ big-car fixation
(EXPANDED FROM 2/27/2023) Indie Auto was partly created to spark more robust debates in U.S. auto history. As a case in point, a few years go I questioned a take by Richard M. Langworth and […]
Design Notes
2006-2010 Dodge Charger: A cartoonish attempt at rip-roaring nostalgia
(EXPANDED FROM 10/2/2023) The 2006 Dodge Charger’s styling was greeted with mixed reviews when the car was introduced. Perhaps the most pointed criticism came from Car and Driver writer Larry Webster (2005), who stated that […]
Links
Speedreaders.info is a rare source of book reviews, but quality varies
(EXPANDED FROM 4/21/2023) Auto history books get surprisingly little attention in the buff media. If a newly published book is mentioned at all, it tends to be done with a modestly rewritten press release. Analytically […]
History
1958-60 Lincoln: Failing to beat GM at its own game
(EXPANDED FROM 11/10/2023) The Edsel is generally pointed to as the Ford Motor Company’s biggest post-war flop, but the 1958-60 Lincoln deserves a consolation prize. This car represents the disastrous final phase of Ford’s no-holds-barred […]
Multimedia
Three videos: The death of car culture, rich people’s cars and the 1957 Nash
Our first video, from the YouTube channel America Revisited (2026), argues that the country’s car culture is dying off with the Baby Boomers. The video goes on to suggest that car culture was about “freedom […]
Gallery
1963 Mercury Marauder: Ford tries to do a premium-priced car on the cheap
(UPDATED FROM 1/30/2024) The 1963 Mercury Marauder “fastback” two-door hardtop represented the beginning of a new era for the Ford Motor Company. The utilitarian sensibilities of its former leader, Robert McNamara, were eclipsed by an […]