by Dr. Bud E. Bryan Road Kill is one man's musings about life, love and automobiles, not necessarily in that order. Dr. Bryan is a bit of a loose cannon (and that would be different than how?-ed.), so his stories will be sporadic, sometimes chaotic, but hopefully, always entertaining. He has racing experience, life experience and other experiences we don't really care to know about, actually. We don't know what he is a Dr. of exactly, either (he gets kind of "excitable" when pressed), so we don't go there. At any rate, here goes... The Car Thing. Austin, Texas. The last few years around this time, I've talked about our favorite cars, but what's the point of that really? I see the car books falling all over themselves trying to anoint this car or that car as the latest, greatest thing to come along ever - until the next year when they do it all over again. I mean, cars these days are all generally good and getting better all the time, aren't they? Sure, some are clearly better than others, but fortunately there really aren't any truly crappy cars for sale here anymore. As enthusiasts, we all know that this is the absolute "golden age" of automobiles. Hell, there are so many great cars available at virtually every price point these days that if you can't find something that suits you maybe you're just not cutout for the whole car thing anymore. And what is it about this "Car Thing" anyway? Do you ever get the feeling that we're kind of right up against the redline with it, that with the emerging economies around the world and the growing thirst for oil that these nations have that what we've known and come to take for granted for so long is about to come unraveled? Not to mention the growing anti-car movement that seems to be emerging in this country, with people going out of their way to dismiss the automobile as some sort of evil contraption that should be banned or at least neutered before it eradicates the human race or some such nonsense. Let's face it - the future looks fairly grim for the Car Thing as best as I can tell. The movement to efficiency is a good thing and all don't, get me wrong, but where we're headed seems to be in the exact opposite direction of automotive enthusiasm. Instead, I sense the anti-car movement - and their idea of future automobiles being benign, inoffensive, touchy-feely, huggable transportation devices that power themselves with grass clippings and then drive themselves to designated recycle stations at a preprogrammed time does not sit well with me, as I'm sure it doesn't for a lot of enthusiasts out there. Trying to detach the human spirit from the feeling of freedom and mobility that the automobile provides is a useless endeavor. As much as the emerging anti-car movement would like us all to remove ourselves from any sense of fun and adventure that automobiles provide, as we like to say around here - it's just notgonnahappen.com. The automobile remains one of our last personal forms of expression, and this fact cannot be overestimated. If cars had been only plastic, steel and rubber devices - souless appliances that existed only for their stated mission of getting from point "A" to point "B" and that's it - where would this country be today? How about nowhere? The automobile powered this country's economic engine and continues to do so today (although things are definitely looking a little rough around the edges up in Detroit these days, I'll admit). So to have the anti-car movement even suggest that with one giant snap of Big Brother's fingers we'll be able to set aside the enthusiasm, exuberance, romance and adventure that have grown up around the automobile is simply silly. The one ingredient that absolutely baffles the anti-car zealots about the Car Thing is passion. People passionate about automobiles are frightening to the anti-car zealots, because we're talking generally about a group that has purged passion out of their lives at every opportunity. Passion is a volatile notion to these car haters, because passion means there are winners and losers. Passion means that you have a point of view that might run contrary to the hand-holding group hug mentality. And passion means that a person might strive to be great instead of hanging back in the pack and compete just for the joy of competing. Passion is anathema to the anti-car zealots because they don't understand the basic visceral appeal of the freedom, mobility and adventure - not to mention the personal expression - that the automobile stands for. And passion is the singular ingredient in this whole Car Thing that allows me to retain a shred of optimism about a future that right now looks pretty foreboding. Adios until the next time. (autoextremist)

Trying to detach the human spirit from the feeling of freedom and mobility that the automobile provides is a useless endeavor.

...The automobile remains one of our last personal forms of expression, and this fact cannot be overestimated. If cars had been only plastic, steel and rubber devices - souless appliances that existed only for their stated mission of getting from point "A" to point "B" and that's it - where would this country be today?

Passion is anathema to the anti-car zealots because they don't understand the basic visceral appeal of the freedom, mobility and adventure - not to mention the personal expression - that the automobile stands for.

[post="58647"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Well said. I agree wiht most of the article, but damnit this is NOT the Golden Age of the Automobile..... you missed it by almost 4 decades... <_<

Yes there is a wonderfull variety of cars and esp. performance vehicles but darnit the stylign these days just does not cut it nine times out of ten.

For every sexy and unique car like a Infiniti M45 and Chevy Corvette there are three dozen Camcords out there.

Look at a postcard form the 50s or 60s... even the smallest blurry image of the butt of a car is enough to tell it appart... these days if the lens is slightly out of Focus you have to wonder weather you're looking at a Camry, Altima, Accord, Stratus, Impala, Taurus or Lucerne... it's the age of the cookie cutter car. SAd but true.

At least the retro and futurist trends seem to be taking us in the right direction. :)

Look at a postcard form the 50s or 60s... even the smallest blurry image of the butt of a car is enough to tell it appart...

This is ssssooo true!

Earlier this week, my aunt and I sifted through some of Gramps' things in order to get ready for the family to divy up what each of us wants this coming Friday. During that time, I came across a brochure for Lena IL from the early 1970s. I, of course, saw it, picked it up, and instead of looking through it ... I focused on the picture on the cover ... and immediately spotted a Ford LTD, Chevrolet Caprice/Impala and, of course, a Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Now, if that were a brochure from today, not only would you not see any new Monte Carlos or Impalas in the picture, but you would not be able to tell if the car was a Toyota or a Chevrolet or a Ford or a Hundai or a Honda....

*shrugs*


Cort, "Mr MC" / "Mr Road Trip", 32swm/pig valve/pacemaker
MC:family.IL.guide.future = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort/
Models.HO = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort/trainroom.html
"It's coming down to nothing more than apathy" ... The Fray ... 'Over My Head'