DRIVER'S SIDE DIATRIBE By Al Vinikour al@motorwayamerica.com I’ve written several columns recently about some of the “good old days” in automotive history. I was waiting at a stoplight the other day and looked over at the 1956 Pontiac sitting next to me and the first two things I noticed was it had a hood long enough to launch B-52s; and a hood ornament of Chief Pontiac fashioned of chrome with a lighted plastic insert of the Chief.
I have written about car lines that have “gone into real estate” and alluded to the fact that someday I’d write another column about particular models that have bitten the dust. Today’s the day, Peoples. What does this have to do with my usual ranting? Everything! I’m not particularly fond of change and constantly burying the names of vehicles manufacturers have created an entire collection of new names.
The other day I was stuck waiting for a lengthy train (111 cars to be exact) to pass by. Consequently, I had some time to think, which may never be a good idea where my brain is concerned. I was looking around the vehicle I was driving and thinking about all the things that used to be found in cars that are nevermore. Things like:
Can you remember far enough back when all cars had full-size spares in their trunk? Maybe you were distracted by the hordes of dinosaurs that roamed the earth and didn’t have the time to see things around you, but trust me, they all had big tires (the cars not the dinosaurs). And one reason they were able to have full-size tires is because practically every vehicle had a full-size trunk. And there was no alternative except not having a spare.
For the first few decades in automotive history, almost without exception, cars were equipped with manual transmissions. Although an automatic transmission was first developed in about 1900 for marine use it wasn’t until almost 40 years later it became available for everyday use in an automobile.
For the millions of us who are old enough to have had our Bar Mitzvahs in the 1950s and 1960s there was nothing more closely auto-related than the sweet sound and brute power of a high-performance V8. Forget that Cadillac produced the first mass-market V8 in 1914, they didn’t produce a 425 horsepower behemoth like Ford did in 1965.
One of the most important elements of a vehicle — hands down — is the horn. Oh, sure, things like seat belts, disk brakes, stability control and the like save lives…but a horn is the true extension of the driver.
There are a lot of auto-related things I don’t understand. (Full discloser: I’m from Indiana so there’s not much I do understand.) I don’t understand why, when given a perfectly good set of turn signals, so many drivers refuse to use them. I don’t understand why people buy an automatic transmission but will use paddle shifters that enables them to shift gears like they’re driving a stick shift.
It was a big day for the Kozlowski Family. Linda and her husband Kenn (his grandparents put an extra “N” in a trust fund for him when he was born). They had saved for four years to buy a brand new Ford Focus. Even though they’d purchased the base model it felt to them like they had the keys to a Rolls Royce.
One of my readers brought up a great suggestion for a column. He commented about drivers who must have gotten their licenses at a K-Mart Blue Light Special and are squiring their kids around?
DRIVER'S SIDE DIATRIBE
DRIVER'S SIDE DIATRIBE
DRIVER'S SIDE DIATRIBE
DRIVER'S SIDE DIATRIBE
DRIVER'S SIDE DIATRIBE
DRIVER'S SIDE DIATRIBE
DRIVER'S SIDE DIATRIBE
DRIVER'S SIDE DIATRIBE
DRIVER'S SIDE DIATRIBE
