I find myself very interested in the automobile question even though I haven’t owned a car in over 20 years. It’s easy for me because I live in a big city with a good public transportation system. I figured I didn’t need the expense of a car and if I needed one I could always rent. I’ve rented cars three times in the last ten years.
I still remember my first car. It was a 1965 Rambler (which I bought in 1977). It got good gas milage and was extremely reliable. It might have been an ugly car, but it did everything I wanted to and never gave me big gas or repair bills. I’ve sworn not to buy another car until AMC makes another Rambler.
But I know that most people want cars. They want big cars. They want cars with more flash than a Rambler. A few years ago the government tried to set milage standards for cars so Detroit gave their cars AGH (Automobile Growth Hormone) and created the SUV. The SUV was neither sporty nor was it utilitarian, but it was big, bloated, and was very lucrative for automakers. I would mention though that if SUVs are so profitable and people want them so badly, why are the last two US automakers (and what’s left of Chrysler)in such financial trouble?
But if Detroit wants to make bulgebuggies and people want to buy them the solution is simple. Mount cannons on SUVs and call them tanks. Nobody has emission or milage standards for tanks. The Ford F-150 weighs about as much as a tank anyway. Americans can claim that Detroit’s new Sports Utility Tanks are guaranteed under the constitution. The automakers will be making the high-profit cars they really want to build. The public would have the expensive 6 ton rolling junkboxes some people here say they want to have. It’s a win-win.
Although road rage might be a bit messier.
I have to admit though I miss the 6 ton cars from the 50s with tail fins and 1500 lbs. of chrome. Now those babies were worth destroying the environment for.
