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
Home1950s

1950s

2006 Ford Five Hundred
History

How often did renaming a car fail to help it sell better?

December 16, 2024 Steve 21

(EXPANDED FROM 6/8/2022) A few years ago Karl Ludvigsen (2022) wondered whether some cars that were renamed should not have been. For example, he noted that Ford might have benefitted by keeping the Cortina name […]

1967 Cadillac convertible
History

What if GM and Ford were broken up in the 1960s?

December 11, 2024 Steve 24

(EXPANDED FROM 8/19/2022) The topic that has elicited the greatest blowback from Indie Auto readers has been my argument that the U.S. auto industry was less able to respond to a rising tide of imports […]

1960 Lincoln Premiere 4-door hardtop
Data Dive

In 1960 Lincoln moved upmarket despite struggling sales

December 10, 2024 Steve 14

(EXPANDED FROM 8/9/2022) A few years ago Corey Lewis (2022) wrote that the 1960 Lincoln’s entry-level model was “rebranded as simply ‘Lincoln,’ to compete with the new base model Chrysler New Yorker (1960-1962) and Series […]

Fake Design

1957-58 Plymouth: Suddenly it could have been 1962!

December 6, 2024 Steve 17

(EXPANDED FROM 1/7/2022) When writing about the 1953-54 Plymouth, I wondered whether there could have been a compromise between the practicality of Chrysler head K. T. Keller and the trendiness of his successor, Tex Colbert. Let’s apply that question to […]

Readings

‘My Dad Had That Car’ is a much bigger but not necessarily better book

December 5, 2024 Steve 2

(EXPANDED FROM 1/10/2022) Now that we’re once again hitting the peak of gift-giving season, let’s take a look at one of the more popular automotive books. My Dad Had That Car ranks among the top-15 […]

1950 fake Kaiser Special
Multimedia

Who needs real automotive historians when you have AI?

December 4, 2024 Steve 4

YouTube has decided that I have an interest in classic cars, so it shares with me the latest videos on that topic. For example, today at the top of my feed was a video about […]

1974 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
History

Was GM’s approach to 1970s car design superior to Mercedes-Benz’s?

November 19, 2024 Steve 3

For its September 1973 issue, Motor Trend published a pro/con feature asking whether “romantic” styling was dead. In other words, did new considerations such as safety and pollution laws as well as more emphasis on […]

Readings

Foster and Glatch’s AMC book is splashy but suffers from pom-pom waving

November 18, 2024 Steve 5

I feel torn in writing a review about The Complete Book of AMC Cars (2024). New auto history books are rare enough these days that anyone who navigates the gauntlet of getting published deserves applause. […]

1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk
Gallery

1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk: A match made in hell

November 12, 2024 Steve 25

(EXPANDED FROM 4/2/2021) After Studebaker and Packard combined in 1954, Motor Trend anticipated the possibilities of the two automakers sharing resources. For example, the magazine imagined Studebaker’s lightweight cars getting Packard’s “monstrous new V8 engine, […]

1963 Studebaker Lark Wagonaire
History

Could Studebaker have come out of the 1970s as successful as Jeep?

October 31, 2024 Steve 18

(EXPANDED FROM 4/23/2021) A few years ago our story on Brooks Stevens’s redesign of the 1964 Studebaker generated enough debate that I decided to further flesh out an alternative scenario. To wit, Studebaker would have […]

Posts pagination

« 1 … 16 17 18 … 35 »
  • 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
Society of Automotive Historian award to Indie Auto

Recent Comments

  • Scampman on U.S. cars often suffered from weak styling continuity and boxy shapes in 1970-80s
  • Steve on U.S. cars often suffered from weak styling continuity and boxy shapes in 1970-80s
  • Scampman on U.S. cars often suffered from weak styling continuity and boxy shapes in 1970-80s
  • Steve on U.S. cars often suffered from weak styling continuity and boxy shapes in 1970-80s
  • Scampman on U.S. cars often suffered from weak styling continuity and boxy shapes in 1970-80s
  • Steve on U.S. cars often suffered from weak styling continuity and boxy shapes in 1970-80s
  • Gary S on U.S. cars often suffered from weak styling continuity and boxy shapes in 1970-80s
  • kim in lanark on Is Jaguar smart to run away from its design heritage?
  • Scampman on 1974 Chrysler New Yorker was a tragedy that played out on four levels
  • Scampman on 1974 Chrysler New Yorker was a tragedy that played out on four levels
  • Scampman on 1974 Chrysler New Yorker was a tragedy that played out on four levels
  • Steve on Was the ‘Ford blitz’ to blame for the collapse of independent automakers?
  • Scampman on Was the ‘Ford blitz’ to blame for the collapse of independent automakers?
  • Scampman on Was the ‘Ford blitz’ to blame for the collapse of independent automakers?
  • Scampman on Was the ‘Ford blitz’ to blame for the collapse of independent automakers?

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