A little history about North American small cars

There was a nice article in yesterday's Globe & Mail paper about the (mostly failed) attempt of U.S. automakers to enter the small car market in the early 1960's. [article link] A quote from an auto journalist at the time still rings true today; it's taken a recession and high gasoline prices to start to change buying habits, and only slightly.

"Personally I go along with the thinking that America is basically a big-car country with big-car needs. I feel that unless we have a depression of major size or 60 cents a gallon gasoline, the so-called big cars will still grab off 80 per cent of the market.”
-- Tom McCahill, Modern Mechanix (circa 1960)