Cars Change, People Change

The car we drove in our youth as compared to what we drive today often reflects how we have changed as a society and as an individual.
Remember back to the car you drove and your friends drove in high school; how have your choices changed today? Ah yes! The cars with names like “Charger”, “Challenger”, “Super Sport” and “Grand National” were common sites prowling the streets and burger joints of our youth. Names such as these implied strength, power and speed. And the names for the various parts and options on these cars were powerful; names like: “Air-Grabber”, “Shaker Hood”, “Max Wedge”, “Cross-Ram”, “Rock Crusher” and “Pistol Grip”. Even the color options had clever names, “Limelight Green”, “Go-Mango”, “Plum-Crazy Purple” and “Triple Black”.
My “Gear-Head” buddies and I craved cars with these descriptions. These cars were bought cheap and fixed up to go fast, very fast. The weekends were spent fixing and tinkering with these cars. “Parts”, always looking for parts; parts stacked in your garage, parts in the trunk, trading parts with your buddy; parts, parts and more parts. You collected parts and tinkered until you had everything you needed to build your very own “Dual-Quad, Hemi, Shaker Hood, Pistol Grip, posi-traction Dodge Charger” and could describe this without grunting like a caveman.
In our effort to go faster, considerable time was spent under the hood. It would be simple to change the carburetor from a “spread-bore” to a “double-pumper” or the intake manifold from a dual-plane to a single plane high rise, all to go faster. All unnecessary items were removed, things like air conditioning, heaters, cruise control, spare tires and sometimes extra seats, all to go faster. Little or no attention was paid to the steering, brakes, tires or safety equipment; none of these things helped us go fast. Remember your buddy with the big-block powered Camaro that would launch harder than the space shuttle, but, because of its antiquated drum brakes, you hoped and prayed to the Heaven’s above that it would stop before you got to Indiana? Those were the good old days, huh?
Today your choice in cars has changed due to responsibilities, awareness of safety and changes in our culture. Now the cars have subdued, safe names like: “Caravan”, “Cavalier”, “Prius”, “6”, “Expedition” and “Aztek”. They have descriptions such as “Minivans”, “traction control” and “Hybrid”; with ”Air-Bags”, “satellite radio” and “DVD players”. No longer are we obsessed with high horsepower and speed, but, creature comforts and safety. Our cars now have anywhere from five to seven seat-belts and as many air bags. We have gone away from driving big heavy cars with tiny brakes; now the cars are smaller and lighter and come with brakes that would stop a jumbo jet.
Working on our cars has become a past time as well. Cars have became increasingly difficult to repair and most of the “tinkering” has been engineered away or done by an on-board computer. With demands on time from family, no time is available to work on a car anyway.
When we were young we kept our cars clean and shining, but, now our cars are most likely an embarrassment. Time would be spent cleaning, polishing and waxing the paint that was left on our prized muscle car so we could “cruise” the strip. The interior would be meticulously cared for; the ripped seats would be shining like new and there would be no trash of any kind in the floor or ash tray. Open the door on most family cars today and you will find Cheerios, French fries, socks, diaper bags, sunscreen and toys. Toys, toys, toys; everywhere toys – under the seats and in every possible pocket or cup holder. Speaking of cup holders – your old car left the factory with zero cup holders; you added three when you climbed in; your two hands and the space between your legs. The factory now offers eighteen cup holders in a car that seats only seven passengers.
Now speed is not important anymore, it has taken a back seat (no pun intended) to safety, comfort and economy. The benefits of thirty years of engineering are apparent in the mechanical marvels we drive every day. It makes one shudder to think of how fast and unsafe we use to drive in our youth.