"PETER COGGON -> ROSS SAUER"  wrote in
news:20459$MATZDOBRE{at}JamNNTPd:

 RS>> The thing is, our "car culture" was pretty much created during
 PC>   the RS> 1950's, where car makers sold fantasies, not reality.

 PC>    Hmmmm, seem to remember the GM ... "See the USA in your
Chevrolet"!

That was before my time, but I have sen videos of those Dinah Shore ads.
They were cute.

 PC>    Post WW2 and Korea and I guess big car sales and gimmicks and the
 PC> start to what was under the hood, and that all important tag on the
 PC> car "V8" and whatever the motor size to power the rocket.

Not to mention the horribly impractical and simply ugly body styles, way
too much sheet metal going into gimmicks like those horrendous fins on
cars.

 RS>> They looked at the average car buyer as a kid in a pedal car
 PC>   going RS> "Vroom vroom."

 RS>> Cars make you sexy.

 RS>> Cars make you glamourous.

 RS>> Etc...

 PC>     I'll never forget the years of "fins" on cars and the
rocket look
 PC> except of course on the highway ....and if high winds they lifted
 PC> off the road into the ditch going vroom vroom.

 PC> I agree on the "chic" cars and well the gals also had
their "boy
 PC> grabbers".

 PC> Wrapping it all up in chrome and the engine... oh yeah.  Lots more too
 PC> you are right.

I think the most blame here goes to Harley Earl.
He ran GM like his own little kingdom, and they simply made lousy cars.

 RS>> The sales pitches nowadays have changed, mostly for the better.

 RS>> They emphasize safety far more.

 RS>> But just watch the average TV ad for a 4-wheel drive vehicle.
 RS>> The vehicle is barreling through snowdrifts.

 PC>    The is a big difference between the cars you mentioned and nowadays
 PC> as laws were passed and all the others we both , all too well know.

There's a Youtube video of two GM cars being crash-tested by running
them into each other at high speed, one a near brand-new one, the other
a 1950's GM car.
VERY big difference!

 PC> Funny as I got to your comments on the 4-wheel there came on TV here
 PC> an ad for the KIA...in the gargae...snowplow goes past and the KIA
 PC> pulls out and over the pile left by the plow ...  Yeah... nice going
 PC> Ross.

 RS>> In reality that's a good way to run into something far more
 PC>   solid. 

 PC>     Hmmmm ... yeah I thought about that in the ad too 

Yup.

 RS>> The one thing that still pisses me off about cars today, is the
 PC>   number RS> of electronic gadgets being pushed.

 RS>> GPS maps are one thing, accessing the Internet or watching a DVD
 PC>   while RS> driving is just plain stupid.

 PC>   Aaah Ross..but the beauty of all this electronic stuff is you can
 PC>   not
 PC> repair it in your driveway...you have to bring it to the shop.

 PC>   They recently talked here about GPS and driving and the distraction
 PC> but in lots of countrys they don't allow drivers to do this or others.

The big "safety push" nowadays is stopping people from texting while
driving.
Face it, people are going to be stupid and continue doing that.

 PC>   Ross... a note before I go.... I see those commenting on your
 PC>   original
 PC> posting have got you on  a motorbike and not cycling along on the
 PC> pedals .    Spring is nearby ...as I just saw a neighbour, out on
 PC> his bike , pedaling up the road.    Times are changing Ross....
 PC> time are changing....

It is March, it's going to be better weather now.

--- Xnews/5.04.25