I suppose we'll someday see the old British car hobby roll into the
sunset because of changes in technology, taste, and awareness. But I
doubt it'll happen all that quickly, since our little cars are almost
functionally equivalent to new cars. It'd be a chore to drive a Model T
to work every day though there are tons of great old Fords all over the
country, but it's not hard to drive a Triumph every day if you want. And
these cars are really cool and reasonably cheap so there'll be more
30-somethings like me when I'm 50-something.
You can argue I'm wrong about functional equivalence when it comes to
safety. Yes, small old cars lose to big cars, old and new. All cars lose
to SUVs, and SUVs lose to runaway motor homes. The biggest safety
advance in the short history of the automobile is the seat belt (or was
it brakes?) and with belts in my TR4 I haven't hesitated to take my
family all over Colorado. This summer we're planning to drive to
Annapolis via Chicago and the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. I choose
wind in my boys hair and smiles on their faces over video screens in the
back seat; it's a little more dangerous than a new car, but my kids
snowboard, hike in the mountains, and climb trees too.
For that matter, the pervasive danger of 3 ton steel cacoons has been
overblown by the media -- I think last year only 1 in 6 cars on the road
in Colorado were SUVs. I wasn't clever enough to google up that
statistic, but 1 in 7 cars in Washington state were SUVs in 2002. (1)
That's a lot more then the 1 in 50 on American roads in the mid-80's,
but still there are a lot more cars than SUVs. The SUV ranks were still
growing in 2004, when 1 in 4 new cars in the US were SUVs (2) -- but
there are lots more cars. Not everyone in America buys the
SUV-equals-safety marketing program, and the recent upward shift in U.S.
gas prices along with growing consumer backlash (3) might be signs that
the mega-SUV era will end before Triumphs disappear from the earth.
After ten more years I think SUVs will just be tall wagons marketed as
trucks (perhaps many already are?) and Triumphs will be available at the
MINI dealership. I could be wrong on that last one.
Finally, let's not demonize our SUV-driving fellow Americans, Randall.
;) In 11/2004 1 in 7 new cars sold in the UK were SUVs (2) so the lure
of big steel cocoons spans the Atlantic. Hopefully they at leasts bought
those sweet new Range Rovers and the Series II Disco.
(1)http://news.theolympian.com/Census2000/20020314.shtml
(2)http://www.newstatesman.com/Economy/200411290004
(3)I don't have a link, but I'm thinking of how quickly the H2 went from cool
to profoundly uncool. Is it just me? I feel bad for the guy who drops his kid
off at our elementary school in his yellow H2.
--
Steven Newell
Littleton, CO
'62 TR4, '66 Volvo 122S wagon, '76 Mercedes 240D, '71 Merc 250C
AND formerly: '92 Range Rover Classic, '97 Discovery, '77 CJ5, '47 CJ2A
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