We are no longer building cars that stand out.
Once upon a time, cars were built that were distinctive and unique. No-one ever mistook a 1956 Thunderbird or 1966 Mustang or a Datsun 280Z for any other kind of car. Even today, these cars remain recognizable - and valuable.
However, a great deal of cars are built today will not have the same lasting power. Most of them merge into one another, a flow of curves and body types to reduce drag, increase gas mileage, and go farther. And to a great extent, they all look almost exactly the same.
In other words, we have exchanged the unique for the utilitarian.
As I pondered this, I realized that in the age of intellectual achievement, this seems to be true more and more. Our houses or apartments look them same. Our appliances all look almost the same, with only features differentiating one from the other. Any computer looks like any other and smartphones compete only in how big their screen can be.
And more and more, what we produce is ephemeral. The appliances and cars with planned obsolescence. The computer programs and TV shows that are replaced in popularity on an almost annual basis. The things we buy, use, dispose of, and promptly forgot that we owned.
Maybe this is the natural progression of technology, that as we move through what we can do and achiever it becomes more and more amazing, yet more and more passing. We moved from stone and wood to metal and leather and steel and concrete and computers. At every step something more amazing, yet each thing seeming to pass more quickly into the ether. We view ruins that were built 2000 years ago; cities from the gold and silver rushes of 200 years ago weather away and vanish.
As the homogenization of the uniqueness of items continues to dwindle and the inevitable move to own and use less and less continues, we will find ourselves in an age where the original, the lasting, the hand made and hand built and distinctive will find more and more value - not just because it has aesthetic or historical value but because it remains distinctive and memorable in a world which no longer generates its memories in things it built but in something far less lasting - the feelings and memories of an individual, which will never outlive them. We are exchanging the record for our being in the physical world for a mental record which we can only record in things that, all too often, pass away in the blink of an eye.
Agree. Man made is unique. (Like when we make jerky - each batch is different.)
ReplyDeleteBut automation (as socialism) requires uniformity.
Cars; new cars will never be able to endure like the old ones. Simply put, the older cars were as much art as they were vehicles. Face it; engines, transmissions, rear ends; they were what they were, and every carmaker was selling pretty much the same thing. They only way to make a brand stand out was to make it LOOK different. These days it's the other way around. with all the regs for gas mileage and such, the appearance of cars is going to be limited. You put a block of clay into a wind tunnel and tune it for minimum drag, and it's going to come out the same shape every time, whether the engineers work for GM or Nissan. The technology INSIDE the car is where it's at now. Unfortunately, this makes for pretty reliable planned obsolescence, as today's high technology will be next month's bargain basement item. The technology in my wife's Acura MDX was cutting edge in '08 looks and acts STONE AGE by today's standards! This is exactly what the carmakers want; cars that feel old, have flickering displays, and parts you can't find ANYWHERE. This is what we've got; the next step in the disposable society...
ReplyDeleteMy "car" is a Jeep Wrangler; a vehicle that has been largely unchanged for 75 years. It's only nods to the modern are air conditioning and fuel injection. It's 22 years old. The paint is burning off, thanks to the desert sun. Still, every time we're out and about in it, people say "I love your Jeep" or "Wanna sell your Jeep?" The reason for this is simple; a classic Jeep is what it is, and has, for the most part never changed. It's a vehicle that can take you anywhere... even to yesterday...
Linda - Great point. Automation by its definition requires conformity to be "automatic". Which is odd, given how much we are supposed to be ourselves these days.
ReplyDeletePete, I am fortunate in that I have never much cared for the technology in cares (good heavens, I drive a standard, for goodness sake). Just more to go wrong with it - currently in my 9 year old car the CD player and the "bluething" do not work - no problem, the radio still does.
ReplyDeleteIf I had my choice, I would get an original Toyota Landcruiser. Man, those things were tanks.
If we had our choice, we'd want a Corvair Van. Or a Chevy Nomad station wagon. :)
ReplyDeleteLinda, for me it would be a 1966 or 1967 Mustang. A 1971 Mach 1 is also a fine runner up.
ReplyDelete