Here PDL AE rant of the week. www.autoextremist.com
FOR NO BETTER REASON, INDEED.
DateMONDAY, MAY 25, 2020 AT 12:30PM
By Peter M. De Lorenzo
Detroit. In the midst of the ongoing pandemic, it’s interesting to see articles appearing praising the automobile in these social distancing times we find ourselves in. Cars and trucks are being used for mobile birthday parties, community gatherings and even the revival of drive-in movie theaters. It’s as if the entire country has rediscovered our American mobility culture that has powered this country for well over 100 years.
It seemed like just yesterday that we were being inundated with tales of how ride sharing would rule our immediate future and autonomous pod cars that could be summoned at our whims would be de rigueur in the not-too-distant future. The anti-car zealots were rubbing their hands with glee at the imminent demise of the automobile, because those evil mobility devices responsible for all of the world’s sins – both real and imagined – would soon be relegated to the dustbin of history.
And then the pandemic happened, and now all of a sudden, cars – with their unique social distancing properties built-in - are cool again. I for one am not surprised that this has happened. But it’s a good time to take a look at our car culture and ask a few pertinent questions.
How did the car “thing” evolve from desiring faster horses, to the building of transportation that transformed the world? What propelled the automobile from being an extravagant convenience, to a cultural touchstone that’s such an inexorable part of the American fabric that even the most hostile of the anti-car hordes can’t seem to dampen our collective enthusiasm for it?
Is it the fashion statement? The fundamental sense of motion and speed? The image-enhancing power that automobiles possess? Or all of the above?
If anything, I keep going back to the one thing that’s undeniable about our collective love for the automobile, the one thing that no computer simulation - no matter how powerful or creatively enhanced - can compete with. And that is the freedom of mobility.
The ability to go and do, coupled with the freedom to explore and experience is not only a powerful concept, it is fundamental to the human experience, which is why the automobile in all of its forms remains so compelling and undeniably intoxicating.
That the automobile has progressed from a device built around convenience and comfort to something more, much more, is easy to understand. That rush of freedom that we all experienced in our first solo drive in an automobile is something that cannot be duplicated or brushed aside. It is ingrained in our spirit and etched in our souls.
I have talked to the most strident anti-car people over the years, and they love to say, “I’m not into cars,” but it’s weird, because inevitably, after acknowledging that it’s fine that they don’t share my passion for the automobile, something very interesting happens.