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HomeAmerican Motors

American Motors

1967 Pontiac Tempest Custom Sprint
Data Dive

Ford got crushed in 1960s mid-sized field despite early entrance

March 7, 2025 Steve 11

(EXPANDED FROM 3/31/2023) Compacts and personal coupes generated an outsized amount of media attention during the 1960s, but the most important emerging market segment turned out to be mid-sized cars. Sales rose steadily to the […]

1953 Hudson Hornet
Gallery

1953 Hudson Hornet was both peak ‘step down’ and the beginning of the end

March 4, 2025 Steve 6

(EXPANDED FROM 1/15/2021) The 1953 Hudson Hornet’s styling strikes me as being peak “step down.” As a case in point, this was the last year for the rounded rear end. It looked dated compared to […]

1965 Plymouth Barracuda and Rambler Tarpon
History

Might the Rambler Tarpon have sold better than the Plymouth Barracuda?

February 26, 2025 Steve 12

(EXPANDED FROM 7/2/2021) Patrick Foster has questioned whether the 1964 Rambler Tarpon show car would have sold better than the Plymouth Barracuda if it had reached production. His rationale was that neither compact sporty coupe […]

Roy D. Chapin Jr.
Links

Roy D. Chapin Jr. oral history showed little self awareness about AMC tenure

February 17, 2025 Steve 1

Roy D. Chapin Jr. showed little self awareness when recounting his tenure as head of AMC from 1967-77. He participated in an oral history project sponsored by the Henry Ford museum. The Automobile in American […]

1970.5 AMC Gremlin
Drive-By Musings

How much did postwar automakers decontent cars to keep the price down?

February 10, 2025 Steve 6

Indie Auto commentator Peter Wilding (2025) raised a good point when noting that he “never understood the idea of deliberately decontenting a car to be able to advertise a lower price, when hardly anyone actually […]

1965 Pontiac Grand Prix
Links

Road Test columnist attacks Motor Trend for Car of Year awards to Pontiac

February 6, 2025 Steve 16

(EXPANDED FROM 6/26/2023) The June 1968 issue of Road Test magazine took its rival, Motor Trend, to task for anointing the Pontiac GTO as Car of the Year. Columnist Byron Bloch argued that the award […]

1957 Oldsmobile
Auto Paedia

How the greenhouse on US cars has evolved from the late-40s to present

January 28, 2025 Steve 0

(EXPANDED FROM 10/27/2021) Greenhouses have not typically changed as frequently as other parts of the American automobile’s external styling, but they go a long way toward summing up the dominant design approach of a given […]

1969 Pontiac Firebird fake ad
Drive-By Musings

How typical was car snobbery in postwar high schools?

January 27, 2025 Steve 23

(EXPANDED FROM 2/6/2023) A few years ago Curbside Classic reposted a comment from a guy named Rob who had a “soul-crushing experience” driving a 1959 Rambler American to high school hangouts (Niedermeyer, 2023). In 1968 […]

Satire

Hotcars.com offers brilliant assessment of why the AMX didn’t sell very well

January 6, 2025 Steve 1

Us boomers can wax nostalgic about the great automotive journalists of the past. However, right under our noses a new generation is coming into its own that — truth be told — is even better […]

1968 AMC AMX
Letters to the Editor

Reader argues that ‘AMX was not a sectioned Javelin’

January 2, 2025 Steve 5

SG stopped by to comment on our story, “1968-70 AMX was American Motors’ answer to a question nobody asked.” AMX was not a sectioned Javelin. It was designed first and was supposed to be a […]

Posts pagination

« 1 … 6 7 8 … 18 »
  • 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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