Putting Autocade’s Mediawiki behind Cloudflare

This is not a bad problem to have, but it could get expensive:     Therefore, today I made the decision to switch Autocade to Cloudflare. I had been warned by people who know far more about this than me that it will affect the statistics, so I’ll have to get over not being able […]

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Autocade’s top 10, August 2023

  Although Autocade’s viewership has gone down, it’s still fascinating (maybe only to me) to see what the top 10 look like since the site was reinstalled last year.   Toyota Corolla (E210) (7,307 views) Ford Taunus 80 (5,830 views) Daewoo Winstorm (4,943 views) Opel Astra J (4,688 views) Ford Fiesta Mk VII (4,683 views) […]

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The golden age of Pontiac illustrations

The gargantuan full-size 1971–6 Pontiacs (Laurentian, Catalina, Parisienne, Bonneville, Grand Ville and Grand Safari) went up on Autocade last week, and they reminded me of the golden era of Pontiac illustrations. That era didn’t stretch into the 1970s that much: you saw them for the 1967s through to the 1971s, before photography took over. I […]

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GM and Ford keep falling down the top 10 table

It’s bittersweet to get news of the Chevrolet Corvette from what’s left of GM here in New Zealand, now a specialist importer of cars that are unlikely to sell in any great number. And we’re not unique, as the Sino-American firm pulls out of entire regions, and manufactures basically in China, North America, and South […]

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Rocketman’s most annoying scene

Originally noted at NewTumbl, this is the sort of stuff that can annoy me in films.    This is a scene from Rocketman, where Elton John (Taron Egerton) arrives at the Troubador in Los Angeles in 1970. Car people, spot the problems.    If you’re like me, you’re going: Elton’s in a 1978 Lincoln Continental […]

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Brand, sub-brand or model? China’s getting into a confusing phase

The Dongfeng Aeolus AX7. But just where does Aeolus sit when it comes to indexing in Autocade? This is something that might have to come out in the wash, and it might take years.    I think we can all agree that Ssangyong is a marque or a make, and Korando is a model. Never […]

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Autocade reaches 4,300 models before the month is out

A very quick note, probably more for me than anyone else: the 4,300th model went up on Autocade tonight. It was slightly deliberate, since I checked the stats for the site to see we were up to 4,299. I’ve a folder of models to be added, and I admit I scrolled down a little to […]

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Could this happen one day at GM?

The MG line-up in New Zealand. Could it be part of a bigger portfolio of brands later this decade?   In the context of what has happened with Holden, and Peter Hanenberger’s thoughts on the direction of GM, I wonder how far away we are from seeing these headlines: Cash-strapped GM sells passenger car brands […]

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Peter Hanenberger’s unintended post mortem of Holden

The 2009 Chevrolet Caprice SS, sold in the Middle East but made in Australia.   I came across a 2017 interview with former Holden chairman Peter Hanenberger, who was in charge when the company had its last number-one sales’ position in Australia. His words are prescient and everything he said then still applies today.   […]

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The death of Holden

GM pulled out of Russia and India, so with hindsight, those of us Down Under, with a far smaller total population, shouldn’t have thought we were particularly special.    Even where GM remains, such as South Korea, there’s a broken model range, with a big gap where the Cruze used to be.    It’s becoming […]

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