Cars Archives

Status Symbol, anyone?

Cars
Sep 15, 2025
3 Comments

Today you will be spared from politics. So much to work through that I decided against it all, just saying. You will also be spared a plethora of jokes about cars. Just think what you’ll be missing.

You will further be spared long treatises of the evil of cars, their environmental impact, their cost for pocketbook, life and limb. Let it suffice to say that many cities, both here and more so abroad, are excluding or limiting gas powered cars from their centers or altogether. Predictions that that would spell the end of civilization have not been borne out. In fact, tactics like car free Sundays, or congestion pricing, have had enormous positive consequences. I said I’d spare you, I know, but here is just one example: The MTA in NYC reports that crossing times in congestions zones have dropped, making the Brooklyn Bridge 13% faster, the Holland Tunnel 36 % faster, and the Lincoln Tunnel 5 % faster. Crashes in the Manhattan congestion zones are down 14%, injuries down by 15% and ridership on public transportation significantly up.

Here are snapshots of a car-free Portland city center during this weekend, making way for safe biking, bands and general people at play.

But back to the classic cars:

You will be offered views of boys and their toys (and yes, seems a gender specific hobby to maintain and travel these beauties around the show circuit.) The photographs were taken at the Danville Hot Summer Sundays Car Show.

457 vintage classics, I was told, lined up across 1.2 miles in the center of town. I confess I very much like driving and like looking at cars, snazzy ones like these in particular, even though I own something more utilitarian. My first car was a 1969 orange VW Beetle (1960s Beetles are traded for an insane price these days, up to $30.000!); it’s a practical, small Subaru right now. Cars last for 10 years or more in our household.

The toys:

The boys:

As I said, I like looking at cars. But I don’t have to spell out my reactions to what you find expressed in car enthusiasts’ proclamations:

“In many societies, cars serve as potent status symbols, reflecting an individual’s economic standing and personal identity. The type of car a person drives often communicates a message about their lifestyle, values, and aspirations. Whether it’s a luxury sedan, a rugged off-road vehicle, or a vintage classic, cars play a pivotal role in shaping how individuals perceive themselves and how they are perceived by others.

Car enthusiasm is more than just a hobby; it’s a lifestyle choice that transcends materialism. Cars serve as cultural artifacts, embodying the values, aspirations, and identities of enthusiasts. They reflect the artistry and craftsmanship of different eras, telling stories of innovation, design, and societal trends.

From vintage classics to modern marvels, each car represents a unique piece of history and heritage. Car enthusiasts embrace the cultural significance of these vehicles, preserving and celebrating their timeless appeal. ” (Ref.)

I’d rather listen to some music… here is the playlist of car songs for your next drive:

Tracy Chapman Fast Car Janis Joplin Mercedes Benz, Rod Stewart Let me be your car, Gary Numan Cars, Beach Boys 409, Wilson Pickett Mustang Sally, Bruce Springsteen Racing in the Street.

Drive safely! Lots of rage out there.

Mechanics

Cars
Aug 7, 2016
4 Comments

We’ll end this week with a few beautiful photographs of a friend of mine, Dale Schreiner, who has spent a lot of time photographing the quintessential trade that keeps all of our cars going: the car mechanic. In this particular case his friend Brent. I really think of them as car doctors – they need to do the diagnostics of what is wrong; they need to find appropriate solutions that include some kinds of surgery and handiness with the right tools. It is hard physical labor in addition to solving tricky problems with occasional improvisation. They need to deal with the insurance folks and anxious owners that compare to patients’ parents. And they develop a relationship to the “patient” – if only pretending to faint when you bring in your 20 year-old van for the umpteenth time…..

Here is a clip of Tati’s Traffic – a movie that still brings tears of laughter to me after all these years. I guess I am easily amused – inside and outside of the car. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2dfuqi_trafic-1971-jacques-tati-ending_shortfilms

And that ends our musings on automobiles.

Of Cars and Men

Cars
Aug 6, 2016
1 Comments

Owners of special cars can be divided into two groups: the nice and the not so nice.

I happily chat up the first category – they happen to be older, enamored with their automobiles, crazy to share every single detail and, if you are lucky, invite you to sit in their car (although don’t even think about driving it.) There is a true community out there of car collectors, and they spend every penny they have to provide the vehicles with original parts and details. Their cars sit still for the most part unless they are moved to shows and exchanges, as below in Annapolis. (And, by the way, most of them are men, thus the gendered title….) the very nice owner of this car let me even hold his recent trophy!)

I will not approach the other group, who drives the current version of luxury automobiles, environment be damned. I am too polite to put my thoughts in words about these status symbols other than this: the status quo will be that they will never meet me.

Owners of all cars (and for that matter pedestrians,) can be divided in two groups as well – those who drive (walk) and text or dial a phone, and those who don’t. Even those of us who know the dangers of distracted driving are known to do it. And hands-free won’t cut it. The data simply show that it is a matter of divided attention, not a matter of phone in hand. Why is talking so bad, you ask, when we do it all the times with passengers in the car? Well, passengers assess the danger level of situations and shut up when you try to merge onto I-5, or some such, or understand while you stop talking when concentrating on a tricky spot. Your phone partner doesn’t. Here are some sobering data (not yet adjusted for the current Pokemon Go craze, which puts pedestrians and their surround in all kinds of dangerous situations.)

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that in 2012 driver distraction was the cause of 18 percent of all fatal crashes – with 3,328 people killed – and crashes resulting in an injury – with 421,000 people wounded.
Forty percent of all American teens say they have been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a way that put people in danger, according to a Pew survey.
The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that text messaging creates a crash risk 23 times worse than driving while not distracted.
Eleven percent of drivers aged 18 to 20 who were involved in an automobile accident and survived admitted they were sending or receiving texts when they crashed.

Our colleague Ira Hyman has done some nifty research on this issue – here is an abstract about his work on inattentional blindness http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/acp.1638/abstract

Tales from the Hood

Cars
Aug 4, 2016
0 Comments

Early cars used to have radiator caps with a thermometer sticking out to warn about potential overheating. In the 1920s these were replaced by ornaments, sometimes called mascots, really tools for branding as the modern advertising field would now call them.

WW II saw many of the cars dragged to scrapyards, hood ornaments carefully removed, before the scavenged car metal would be made into tanks and ships. You should be so lucky that your grandparents saved these mascots – they are now objects of desire in an intense collectors’ market, fetching up to $200.000. A piece.

Many of them are elaborate, beautiful, in tune with the design of the cars they adorned. These days we don’t have them because they could hurt bikers or pedestrians, if there was a collision. In fact, those cars who STILL have them as a matter of pride, Rolls Royce for example, have them in retractable form….or they flattened them out, like the current Jaguar symbol.

And then there is the alternative to a sculptured hood ornament……

I photographed many of these in garages here in PDX, in Texas, Florida, and in the car museum in Balboa Park in San Diego. Worth a visit. http://sdautomuseum.org

Bumper Stickers

Cars
Aug 3, 2016
2 Comments

Have you ever contemplated the fact that bumper stickers (or any other form of messaging on cars) often seem funny when you agree with the statement, but most times not at all funny if you happen to disagree? I categorize them as follows: there are bumper stickers I find puzzling – why would I want to announce to the world that my daughter is an honor student in Pre-K? There are bumper stickers that I find ostentatious – you really need to announce Ivy League connections? There are bumper stickers that make me cringe – the ubiquitous fish with legs, for example, that makes fun of a Christian symbol in favor of evolutionary theory is in my opinion bad taste – leave those symbols alone.

There are bumper stickers that are supposed to be funny, but I’m missing the point.