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HomeManagement culture

Management culture

1971 Mercury Cougar XR7
Media Analysis

Collectible Automobile sheds little light on why 1971 Mercury Cougar was ugly

August 6, 2024 Steve 17

When I saw that the 1971 Mercury Cougar was on the cover of the latest Collectible Automobile issue, I was particularly curious about one thing: Did Semon Knudsen have much influence on the car’s huge […]

1971 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight
Links

Oldsmobile’s John Beltz sounded like a rather cautious GM executive

May 29, 2024 Steve 9

John Beltz has been pointed to as one of the more forward-looking General Motors’ executives of the early-70s, but he came across as rather cautious in a lengthy Motor Trend (1970) interview. He was the […]

1984 Chevrolet Corvette
Ad Nauseam

Ad man goes too far in trying to sell the 1984 Corvette to its aging clientele

December 18, 2023 Steve 1

Greg was mostly impressed with prototypes of the 1984 Chevrolet Corvette he inspected while helping to prepare an advertising campaign. The all-new design was much roomier than the previous model. That wasn’t an accident. General […]

Letters to the Editor

Why General Motors didn’t realize that Oldsmobile was in trouble

November 27, 2023 Steve 20

Our “Story Ideas Bank” sometimes morphs into debates about specific historical events. George Denzinger recently weighed in on the death of Oldsmobile. This is a thoughtful analysis so I am elevating it to the front page. […]

Parody ads about the auto industry and media
Our Sponsors

Auto & Debt: This economy car has the speed you really need

November 9, 2023 Steve 0
1936 Terraplane
Letters to the Editor

Did Great Depression, path dependency color independents’ postwar choices?

September 27, 2023 Steve 0

DECG50 offered an intriguing response to our article, “Did early-postwar independent automakers try too hard to be different?” I’m front-paging the comment to give it wider attention. I wonder if the lingering effects of the depression […]

1974 Oldsmobile Omega
Quotes

The switch to smaller cars began before the first oil embargo in late-1973

September 11, 2023 Steve 7

The shift to smaller cars was happening before the first oil embargo, which stretched from October 1973 through March 174 (Wikipedia, 2023). In an October 1972 column, Popular Science Automotive Editor Jan P. Norbye walked […]

1962 Jaguar XK-E
Ad Nauseam

What happened when a secretary secretly wrote a Jaguar XK-E ad

September 4, 2023 Steve 0

Back in the early-60s men mainly wrote ad copy. So when Joan Maisel landed a job at a major ad agency in New York City, she got stuck doing secretarial work even though she was […]

Parody ads about the auto industry and media
Our Sponsors

GM’s one neat trick to reduce vehicle complexity and cost

August 24, 2023 Steve 1
1970 Chrysler 300 2-door hardtop
Quotes

Lynn Townsend’s hubris led to Chrysler’s decline in 1969-70

July 24, 2023 Steve 1

“It has become fashionable to assume that when a company does a multibillion-dollar business, there is little that one man — even the man at the top — can do to sway its fortunes. ‘These […]

Posts pagination

« 1 … 3 4 5 … 8 »
  • 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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