I had to get my Toyota serviced this week, so let’s take a quick look at what the Japanese automaker is currently trying to sell us Americans. Of course, this is but one data point […]
Political media scholar Dave Karpf (2025) has called Tesla’s recently announced new master plan “bad. Sloppy. Ludicrously vague.” What’s more, he says that it is “significantly less coherent than the previous three master plans (from 2006, 2016, […]
(EXPANDED FROM 7/18/2023) Our discussion about the Ford Maverick got me thinking about Lee Iacocca. More than any other car, the Maverick reflected how Iacocca’s sensibility differed from that of Robert McNamara, the father of […]
Even when Daryl Bates was old and near death, he still vividly remembered that moment in 1976. Back then he was a pretty optimistic person, but this time he simply couldn’t shake off his funk. […]
(EXPANDED FROM 5/21/2024) A drive through a lovely rural area in Oregon reminded me of a Volkswagen Cabrio commercial from decades ago. The spot did an unusually good job of showing the sensuousness of driving. […]
The late Thomas E. Bonsall was one of the better American automotive historians, but some of his takes could be rather “old-school.” For example, in his book about the Edsel, he concluded that the 1958 […]
(EXPANDED FROM 3/20/2023) Back in 1963, advertising executive Fred Manley presented a slide show parody about how to improve Volkswagen’s legendary “Think small” ad. The “best practices” he presented look hilariously misguided when applied to […]
(EXPANDED FROM 6/19/2020) If I may be honest, a goodly portion of the auto history books on my bookshelf aren’t very good. Many amount to little more than pom-pom waving for a given automaker. Most […]
(EXPANDED FROM 12/8/2023) One of my lingering questions from a Collectible Automobile story about the Mercury Park Lane was why it didn’t sell better in 1968 (Biel, 2021). This was arguably the first year that […]
Copyright © 2022 Olympia, Earth Media, LLC | All rights reserved