Dodge sold six Darts in Jul-Sep despite axing the compact in 2016. Wagoneer sales more than doubled but Grand Wagoneer bombed. Sales of the ancient Dodge Durango also swelled by a healthy 44 %.

In 1986, I was summoned to Carroll Shelby’s ranch. That is not an invitation you ignore. You postpone whatever you had planned for the day, you get in your car—it was about a two-hour drive—and you ...