What God Hath Wrought #1 - a photo on Flickriver

            The fire-engine red Impala convertible, 1958-1972. Proof positive that God wanted man to be truly, truly happy. There's no way you could be driving this car down Route 66, the sun kissing your skin, that long red hood stretched out in front of you and acres of red and white vinyl upholstery caressing your backside, and not have a permanent grin when you stopped at that roadside cafe for a burger and fries.

Once upon a time (well within my memory), these were not antiques. People drove these in all 4 seasons. Kids rode (as I did) standing up on the floor of the back seat. In the winter, you threw a couple of snow tires out back, and kept on driving.

And there was no yammering about "safety", "child booster seats", "air bags", "ABS", "yaw control", "FWD", "AWD", "4WD" or all this other garbage people think will keep them from somersaulting off the road and killing themselves if they're stupid enough to go 70mph in a snowstorm. Or drive anywhere, any distance, in any season after "a couple of drinks". Hell, there's people who shouldn't get behind the wheel after drinking a glass of water with lemon squeezed into it.

No backup cameras then. If you thought your kid might be playing behind the car, you -- get this -- GOT OUT AND LOOKED BEHIND THE BLEEPING CAR! No tire-pressure sensors, either. You checked your tires (cold) with a tire gauge. If one was a little low, you filled it up. Slow leak? Get it repaired.

Will we ever get back to that level of personal responsibility, so that GM and other automakers can again build glamorous cars like this that the average man could afford? Will possession of a driver's license ever be considered a privilege again instead of an inalienable right for anyone with a body temperature, a pulse and fifteen bucks? Will we ever again have convertibles that got 18-20mpg with a 283 V8 and had room for 6 people (8 in a pinch) and their luggage? Are we doomed to an existence of Aveos, Volts, Fiestas, Fiat 500's, Priuses, Leafs and and boiled-sweet-potato-shaped crossovers? I think you already know the answer to that one.

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Taken in: United States / Illinois / Union (show map)

Taken on: August 3, 2003

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Sets appears in: • GM Products

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Camera: Minolta Co., Ltd. DiMAGE S414, f/8.0, 1/180 sec, 15.5mm, ISO 64 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Minolta Co., Ltd. DiMAGE S414
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.006 sec (1/180)
Focal Length:	15.5mm
ISO:	64
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Auto, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Contrast:	High
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Ver.1.00u
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