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HomeThe Truth About Cars

The Truth About Cars

Circa 1958 Rambler American 2-door sedan
Multimedia

Could Joe Ligo’s American Motors TV series expand the audience for auto history?

May 5, 2025 Steve 10

I first wrote about Joe Ligo’s idea of making an American Motors film in early 2020. Two years later he announced that he was retooling the project and would do a six-part series for the […]

Quotes

Commentators explain how a fat Corvette stops space aliens

April 19, 2025 Steve 0

Some of the web’s most important writing is buried in auto blog comment sections. One of my all-time favorites is a soliloquy by Truth About Cars commentator Petezeiss (2014). In response to criticisms of the 2015 Corvette Z06’s weight gain, […]

Photo Essay

Automotive deaths: Where are our memorials?

March 9, 2025 Steve 4

(EXPANDED FROM 7/31/2020) I have driven past the above-shown memorial for so many years that I was surprised to see it gone last summer, presumably because of a road-improvement project. While making this stretch of […]

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 […]

Quotes

Edward Niedermeyer: Reader sense of entitlement is ‘saddening’

December 3, 2024 Steve 1

“While [The Truth About Cars] has always thrived on pull-no-punches discourse, and though I have personally learned and grown from the criticism I received as editor here, the sense of entitlement demonstrated by some members […]

Media Analysis

Auto buff media are rarely renegades anymore

June 28, 2024 Steve 12

(UPDATED 6/26/2024) If you subscribed to car buff magazines back when you were a kid, do you do so anymore? As a young lad I subscribed to up to five different magazines, but I wouldn’t […]

1969 Dodge Charger an 1968 Coronet
Media Analysis

Why I stopped commenting on automotive blogs

January 15, 2024 Steve 13

(EXPANDED FROM 5/1/2020) Today someone commented on this post, which I wrote more than four years ago. So perhaps it’s time for an update on automotive-blog comment threads. Around 15 years ago I started to […]

Links

Jalopnik gets better — but for how long?

July 13, 2023 Steve 10

(EXPANDED FROM 9/18/2020) A few years ago I starting reading Jalopnik again after a long lapse because its content appeared to have improved. However, I still don’t check out the website daily because there’s too […]

Thurston BPA transmission station
Editor's Note

Ronnie Schreiber helps us hone our bullshit detectors

February 23, 2023 Steve 1

Ronnie Schreiber recently submitted a comment to our story, “Peter DeLorenzo draws questionable lessons from automotive history.” What follows is his entire comment in unedited form: “I find it interesting that the environmentalists who warned […]

"The Unfortunate History of the AMC Pacer" film
Multimedia

Video by Joe Ligo offers good overview of the AMC Pacer’s demise

May 31, 2022 Steve 0

(UPDATED FROM 1/25/2014) Joe Ligo has produced a well-rounded overview of the AMC Pacer’s short and mostly unhappy life. The almost 35-minute documentary is posted on YouTube. “I’m impressed with the film,” wrote Truth About […]

Posts pagination

1 2 … 5 »
  • Is Jaguar smart to run away from its design heritage?
    October 8, 2026 20
  • 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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