Motor Americana was started as a spin-off from another venture, Middle Americana. I realized how many automotive topics I wanted to cover that fell just outside the purview of that project. Influenced by David Tracy, Jason Torchinsky, Aging Wheels, and Phil Edwards, I want to capture automotive history and stories. Sometimes that’s the convoluted development of 1990s electric vehicles to comply with California emissions board regulations, and sometimes that’s a way-too-long road trip in a way-too-beat 20-year-old car that didn’t deserve to live, but I’m impulsive, and rusting Toyotas in fields do something for my soul. (Follow the series on the Sequoia. It’s going to be a treat.)
There will be repairs and rebuilds and modifications here. Don’t expect regular updates, but when they happen, they’ll be as unnecessarily wordy as everything else I do. The reality is I’m keeping my own aged duo of car and motorcycle alive. I do need something to continually run so I can get to my real-world job, so I can’t always have a project. But I want to always have a project.
Long-term, I want to be able to help tell other people’s stories, or give them a platform to share theirs. So if you have an uncle or a sister who was involved in developing, manufacturing, or marketing of some import GM-branded Daewoo or the original Nissan Titan? Reach out at [email protected] and I’ll be sure to take a look. I want to hear their stories. I want their stories to get told.
Lastly, I mentioned Middle Americana. It’s a YouTube channel, focused on the sort of small-town storytelling that falls by the wayside. Filming and producing that content takes a lot of work and time, but I enjoy making it, and I just suggest you check it out.
